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Wallace G. Wilkinson

American politician (1941-2002)

PersonDied aged 60humanQ889162

Also known as Wallace Glenn Wilkinson

Born: December 12, 1941
Died: July 5, 2002
Birthplace: Casey County
Place of death: Lexington
Citizenship: United States
Occupation: politician
Positions held: Governor of Kentucky(1987–1991)
Education: University of Kentucky
, Campbellsville University

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Wallace Glenn Wilkinson was an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the state's 57th governor. Wilkinson dropped out of college at the University of Kentucky in 1962 to attend to a book retail business he started. The business rapidly became a national success, and Wilkinson re-invested his profits in real estate, farming, transportation, banking, coal, and construction ventures, becoming extremely wealthy. In 1987, he joined a crowded field in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. After running behind two former governors and the sitting lieutenant governor for most of the race, Wilkinson began to climb in the polls after hiring then-unknown campaign consultant James Carville. Wilkinson campaigned on a promise of no new taxes and advocated a state lottery as an alternative means of raising money for the state. Wilkinson surprised most political observers by winning the primary and going on to defeat his Republican challenger in the general election.

Overview

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34 statements · 3% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Sex or gender: male
Member of political party: Democratic Party
Religion or worldview: Christian churches and churches of Christ
Cause of death: stroke
Given name: Wallace
Manner of death: natural causes
Family name: Wilkinson

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14 identifiers linking Wallace G. Wilkinson across the web's reference databases

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Source last edited July 2, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). Wallace G. Wilkinson (Q889162). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/wallace-g-wilkinson-Q889162