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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr. |image=Kirk Fordice of MS.jpg |office=60th Governor of Mississippi |term_start=January 14, 1992 |term_..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr.
|image=Kirk Fordice of MS.jpg
|office=60th [[Governor]] of [[Mississippi]]
|term_start=January 14, 1992
|term_end=January 11, 2000
|preceded=Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr.
|succeeded=David Ronald "Ronnie" Musgrove
|birth_date=February 10, 1934
|birth_place=[[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]
|death_date=September 7, 2004 (aged 70)
|death_place=[[Jackson]], Mississippi
|resting_place=Parkway Memorial Cemetery<br>
(Ridgeland, Madison County)<br>
|spouse=Patricia Louise Owens "Pat" Fordice<br> (married 1955-1999, divorced)<br>
Ann G. Creson (married 2000–2003, divorced
|children=Angela Fordice Roselle<br>
Daniel Fordice<br>
Hunter Fordice<br>
James Fordice
|occupation=[[Business]]man
|party= [[Republican Party|Republican]]
|religion=[[United Methodist]]
|branch=[[United States Army]]<br>
Army Reserve<br>
|serviceyears=1957–1959; Reserve: 1959–1977
|battles=[[Vietnam War]]
|rank=[[Colonel]]
}}
'''Daniel Kirkwood Fordice, Jr.''', known as '''Kirk Fordice''' (February 10, 1934 – September 7, 2004), was a [[business]]man who was elected in 1991 as the 60th [[Governor]] of [[Mississippi]]. He held the office for two terms from 1992 to 2000. Fordice was his state's first [[Republican Party|Republican]] governor since [[Reconstruction]], when Adelbert C. Ames (1835-1933), a native of [[Maine]], served from 1874 to 1876.
His administration ended the year after he divorced his wife of forty-four years and the mother of his four children, the popular First Lady Patricia Louise Owens "Pat" Fordice (1934-2007), and married a childhood sweetheart, Ana G. Creson Fordice, but they stayed together for only three years. Though he espoused [[conservative]] positions, Fordice's personal life did much to undermine the reputation of his governorship. He was the first Mississippian since 1956 to have served two consecutive terms, as the state previously had a one-term-and-out policy, still followed in [[Virginia]]. Hugh Lawson White (1881-1965) served two nonconsecutive terms from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1952 to 1956.
==Background==
Fordice was born in [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], to Daniel Fordice, Sr. (1901-1977), and Aileen Augustine Fordice (1904-1996), who are both interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.<ref>Daniel Kirkwood Fordice (1901-1977) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 18, 2021.</ref> Fordice studied engineering at [[Purdue University]] in West Lafayette, [[Indiana]], and earned Bachelor of Science and [[Master of Science]] degrees in 1955 and 1956, respectively. After graduation from Purdue, he served with the [[United States Army]] as an engineering officer in the 1st Infantry Division for two years. He remained in the Army Reserve until 1977, having retired with the rank of [[Colonel]].<ref name=bio>Kirk Fordice: Sixty-first and Sixty-second Governor of Mississippi: 1992-1996; 1996-2000 - 2004-09 (ms.gov), accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
==Career==
Fordice settled in Vicksburg in Warren County along the [[Mississippi River]], a city known for the Union Army's siege of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] stronghold in the [[American Civil War]]. Fordice began a career in heavy construction and took over the company of his father, and became wealthy. He won the governorship of Mississippi in the 1991 election, first taking the Republican [[primary]] against state auditor Pete Johnson and the [[general election]] against [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] incumbent Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. (born 1948), <ref>THE 1991 ELECTION: Mississippi; Fordice Seized Anti-Incumbent Anger - The New York Times (nytimes.com), accessed October 25, 2021.</ref> who four years earlier had defeated the highly-regarded Republican businessman [[Jack Reed|Jack Raymond Reed. Sr.]] (not to be confused with the Jack Reed who is the very [[liberal]] Democratic [[United States Senator]] from [[Rhode Island]]). Reed, a Tupelo businessman, lost to Mabus, 53 to 47 percent, until that time the best Republican gubernatorial showing in Mississippi during the 20th century. Fordice was re-elected in 1995 against the then Democratic Mississippi Secretary of State Richard "Dick" Molpus (born 1949), and Fordice's second inauguration was held on January 16, 1996.
Governor Fordice advocated tax cuts and succeeded in eliminating the capital-gains taxes for Mississippi-based companies. The state enjoyed unprecedented prosperity during his two terms in office.<ref name=bio/>He urged the abolition of [[affirmative action]], a policy announced in 1965 by then U.S. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson. He supported reductions in the public welfare system, expanded capital punishment, and the building of more prisons. Fordice also alarmed Jewish groups when he referred to the United States as "a Christian nation" during a Republican governor's conference. [[South Carolina]] Governor [[Carroll Campbell]] quickly offered a correction, adding [[Judeo-Christian|"Judeo-"]] as a prefix to Christian, but Fordice reiterated his claim. Then he apologized for any offense that his words may have triggered.<ref>America's Heritage: Are we a Christian Nation? — The Forerunner, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
Fordice also refused to discuss any increase in public school salaries even though Mississippi ranked 49th in the nation in regard to educator pay. When teachers discussed going on strike, Fordice ordered that any teacher who did so would be quickly fired.<ref>"Rant, Listen, Exploit, Learn, Scare, Help, Manipulate, Lead". ''The New York Times.'' January 28, 1996, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
In August 1996, Fordice signed an executive order banning recognition of same-sex marriages in Mississippi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/queerlaw-edit/msg00020.html Sun Herald via Findlaw.com: State lawmakers opposed to gay marriages|title=State lawmakers opposed to gay marriages|publisher=legalminds.lp.findlaw.com|accessdate=October 25, 2021}}]</ref> In 2004, Mississippi voters passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman and further banning recognition of same-sex marriages from other states and countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/2004-11-02-ms-intiative-gay-marriage_x.htm USA Today: Amendment banning gay marriage passes|title=Amendment banning gay mariage|publisher=''[[USA Today]]''
|date=November 2, 2004|accessdate=October 25, 2021}}</ref> In 2015, the [[United States Supreme Court]] upheld same-sex arrangements in the ''Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) opinion, which claims that the [[Fourteenth Amendment]] guarantees the fundamental right of marriage to all individuals regardless of sexual preference.
<ref>Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 1039, 576 U.S. 644 (2015): Case Brief Summary - Quimbee, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
Fordice served as a chairman of the Southern Governors Association,<ref name=bio/> but he indicated that he would have left his governorship early but would not give any advantage to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Ronald "Ronnie" Musgrove who was running to succeed Fordice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E2DC103BF93AA1575BC0A96F958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fM%2fMusgrove%2c%20Ronnie The New York Times: POLITICAL BRIEFING; Now, a New Episode Of the Fordice Saga|title=Now a New Episode of the Fordice Saga|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=November 7, 1991|author=Ronald Smothers|accessdate=October 25, 2021.</ref> Musgrove won the election anyway but was himself unseated in 2003 by the Republican candidate, former [[Republican National Committee]] chairman [[Haley Barbour]].
==Personal life==
Fordice's divorce from Pat deeply embarrassed many of his former supporters to turn away from him, as Pat was such a popular First Lady with her own solid record of achievement.<ref>Patricia Louise “Pat” Owens Fordice (1934-2007) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref> The controversy included 65-year-old Fordice's threat to "whip your ass" when reporter Bert Case went to Fordice's house to question him.<ref>Bert Case and Gov. Kirk Fordice - YouTube, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
Fordice served as president of the Associated General Contractors of America, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Southern States Energy Board, and the Southern Technology Council. After retiring, Fordice settled in Madison County in suburban Jackson.<ref name=bio/>
He died of [[leukemia]] at the age of seventy with his ex-wife Pat by his side. He and Pat have a double grave marker in
Parkway Memorial Cemetery in Ridgeland in Madison County.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fordice, Kirk}}
[[Category:Mississippi]]
[[Category:Memphis]]
[[Category:Tennessee]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Engineers]]
[[Category:Former Governors]]
[[Category:Republican Governors]]
[[Category:Mississippi Governors]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United States Army}}
|name=Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr.
|image=Kirk Fordice of MS.jpg
|office=60th [[Governor]] of [[Mississippi]]
|term_start=January 14, 1992
|term_end=January 11, 2000
|preceded=Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr.
|succeeded=David Ronald "Ronnie" Musgrove
|birth_date=February 10, 1934
|birth_place=[[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]
|death_date=September 7, 2004 (aged 70)
|death_place=[[Jackson]], Mississippi
|resting_place=Parkway Memorial Cemetery<br>
(Ridgeland, Madison County)<br>
|spouse=Patricia Louise Owens "Pat" Fordice<br> (married 1955-1999, divorced)<br>
Ann G. Creson (married 2000–2003, divorced
|children=Angela Fordice Roselle<br>
Daniel Fordice<br>
Hunter Fordice<br>
James Fordice
|occupation=[[Business]]man
|party= [[Republican Party|Republican]]
|religion=[[United Methodist]]
|branch=[[United States Army]]<br>
Army Reserve<br>
|serviceyears=1957–1959; Reserve: 1959–1977
|battles=[[Vietnam War]]
|rank=[[Colonel]]
}}
'''Daniel Kirkwood Fordice, Jr.''', known as '''Kirk Fordice''' (February 10, 1934 – September 7, 2004), was a [[business]]man who was elected in 1991 as the 60th [[Governor]] of [[Mississippi]]. He held the office for two terms from 1992 to 2000. Fordice was his state's first [[Republican Party|Republican]] governor since [[Reconstruction]], when Adelbert C. Ames (1835-1933), a native of [[Maine]], served from 1874 to 1876.
His administration ended the year after he divorced his wife of forty-four years and the mother of his four children, the popular First Lady Patricia Louise Owens "Pat" Fordice (1934-2007), and married a childhood sweetheart, Ana G. Creson Fordice, but they stayed together for only three years. Though he espoused [[conservative]] positions, Fordice's personal life did much to undermine the reputation of his governorship. He was the first Mississippian since 1956 to have served two consecutive terms, as the state previously had a one-term-and-out policy, still followed in [[Virginia]]. Hugh Lawson White (1881-1965) served two nonconsecutive terms from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1952 to 1956.
==Background==
Fordice was born in [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], to Daniel Fordice, Sr. (1901-1977), and Aileen Augustine Fordice (1904-1996), who are both interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.<ref>Daniel Kirkwood Fordice (1901-1977) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 18, 2021.</ref> Fordice studied engineering at [[Purdue University]] in West Lafayette, [[Indiana]], and earned Bachelor of Science and [[Master of Science]] degrees in 1955 and 1956, respectively. After graduation from Purdue, he served with the [[United States Army]] as an engineering officer in the 1st Infantry Division for two years. He remained in the Army Reserve until 1977, having retired with the rank of [[Colonel]].<ref name=bio>Kirk Fordice: Sixty-first and Sixty-second Governor of Mississippi: 1992-1996; 1996-2000 - 2004-09 (ms.gov), accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
==Career==
Fordice settled in Vicksburg in Warren County along the [[Mississippi River]], a city known for the Union Army's siege of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] stronghold in the [[American Civil War]]. Fordice began a career in heavy construction and took over the company of his father, and became wealthy. He won the governorship of Mississippi in the 1991 election, first taking the Republican [[primary]] against state auditor Pete Johnson and the [[general election]] against [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] incumbent Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. (born 1948), <ref>THE 1991 ELECTION: Mississippi; Fordice Seized Anti-Incumbent Anger - The New York Times (nytimes.com), accessed October 25, 2021.</ref> who four years earlier had defeated the highly-regarded Republican businessman [[Jack Reed|Jack Raymond Reed. Sr.]] (not to be confused with the Jack Reed who is the very [[liberal]] Democratic [[United States Senator]] from [[Rhode Island]]). Reed, a Tupelo businessman, lost to Mabus, 53 to 47 percent, until that time the best Republican gubernatorial showing in Mississippi during the 20th century. Fordice was re-elected in 1995 against the then Democratic Mississippi Secretary of State Richard "Dick" Molpus (born 1949), and Fordice's second inauguration was held on January 16, 1996.
Governor Fordice advocated tax cuts and succeeded in eliminating the capital-gains taxes for Mississippi-based companies. The state enjoyed unprecedented prosperity during his two terms in office.<ref name=bio/>He urged the abolition of [[affirmative action]], a policy announced in 1965 by then U.S. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson. He supported reductions in the public welfare system, expanded capital punishment, and the building of more prisons. Fordice also alarmed Jewish groups when he referred to the United States as "a Christian nation" during a Republican governor's conference. [[South Carolina]] Governor [[Carroll Campbell]] quickly offered a correction, adding [[Judeo-Christian|"Judeo-"]] as a prefix to Christian, but Fordice reiterated his claim. Then he apologized for any offense that his words may have triggered.<ref>America's Heritage: Are we a Christian Nation? — The Forerunner, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
Fordice also refused to discuss any increase in public school salaries even though Mississippi ranked 49th in the nation in regard to educator pay. When teachers discussed going on strike, Fordice ordered that any teacher who did so would be quickly fired.<ref>"Rant, Listen, Exploit, Learn, Scare, Help, Manipulate, Lead". ''The New York Times.'' January 28, 1996, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
In August 1996, Fordice signed an executive order banning recognition of same-sex marriages in Mississippi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/queerlaw-edit/msg00020.html Sun Herald via Findlaw.com: State lawmakers opposed to gay marriages|title=State lawmakers opposed to gay marriages|publisher=legalminds.lp.findlaw.com|accessdate=October 25, 2021}}]</ref> In 2004, Mississippi voters passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman and further banning recognition of same-sex marriages from other states and countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/2004-11-02-ms-intiative-gay-marriage_x.htm USA Today: Amendment banning gay marriage passes|title=Amendment banning gay mariage|publisher=''[[USA Today]]''
|date=November 2, 2004|accessdate=October 25, 2021}}</ref> In 2015, the [[United States Supreme Court]] upheld same-sex arrangements in the ''Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) opinion, which claims that the [[Fourteenth Amendment]] guarantees the fundamental right of marriage to all individuals regardless of sexual preference.
<ref>Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 1039, 576 U.S. 644 (2015): Case Brief Summary - Quimbee, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
Fordice served as a chairman of the Southern Governors Association,<ref name=bio/> but he indicated that he would have left his governorship early but would not give any advantage to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Ronald "Ronnie" Musgrove who was running to succeed Fordice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E2DC103BF93AA1575BC0A96F958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fM%2fMusgrove%2c%20Ronnie The New York Times: POLITICAL BRIEFING; Now, a New Episode Of the Fordice Saga|title=Now a New Episode of the Fordice Saga|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=November 7, 1991|author=Ronald Smothers|accessdate=October 25, 2021.</ref> Musgrove won the election anyway but was himself unseated in 2003 by the Republican candidate, former [[Republican National Committee]] chairman [[Haley Barbour]].
==Personal life==
Fordice's divorce from Pat deeply embarrassed many of his former supporters to turn away from him, as Pat was such a popular First Lady with her own solid record of achievement.<ref>Patricia Louise “Pat” Owens Fordice (1934-2007) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref> The controversy included 65-year-old Fordice's threat to "whip your ass" when reporter Bert Case went to Fordice's house to question him.<ref>Bert Case and Gov. Kirk Fordice - YouTube, accessed October 25, 2021.</ref>
Fordice served as president of the Associated General Contractors of America, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Southern States Energy Board, and the Southern Technology Council. After retiring, Fordice settled in Madison County in suburban Jackson.<ref name=bio/>
He died of [[leukemia]] at the age of seventy with his ex-wife Pat by his side. He and Pat have a double grave marker in
Parkway Memorial Cemetery in Ridgeland in Madison County.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fordice, Kirk}}
[[Category:Mississippi]]
[[Category:Memphis]]
[[Category:Tennessee]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Engineers]]
[[Category:Former Governors]]
[[Category:Republican Governors]]
[[Category:Mississippi Governors]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United States Army}}