Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Lawrence Wetherby/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Ian Rose via FACBot (talk) 12:38, 24 January 2015 (UTC) [1].[reply]

Lawrence Wetherby[edit]

Nominator(s): Acdixon (talk · contribs) 22:04, 1 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

After a long absence from FAC, due in part to the addition of a second child to our family, I've decided to resume pursuit of a Governors of Kentucky featured topic with this nomination. (Three more GAs need to attain FA status for a featured topic; four after next year's gubernatorial election.) Although it has been a while since I've worked on the article – a recent copyedit notwithstanding – I still have access to the sources and believe this article provides a comprehensive overview of Wetherby's life. I will try to address any concerns promptly, although the time I can devote to editing is much more uneven than it used to be. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 22:04, 1 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Welcome back! - Dank (push to talk) 23:23, 1 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Hope you'll have a chance to review at some point. You always have good comments. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Comments, leaning toward support.

  • No better/other pictures? At least on my display, the infobox picture is a bit out of focus. I'm not a huge fan of adding pictures just for window dressing, but maybe there are a couple other illustrations of things in the article we could dig up, if no other photos of Wetherby are available.
  • Not that I'm aware of, unfortunately. Until very recently, the article used his official gubernatorial portrait under a fair use rationale. Recently, I learned of the {{PD-US-no-notice}} template – and its associated copyright implications, obviously – and scoured the Kentucky Virtual Library for a free alternative for Wetherby, among others. This was the best I found, which isn't saying much, but at least it's free. For other images we could use in the article, my KYVL search also turned up freebies of Earle C. Clements and Bert T. Combs, while we already had a good quality photos of Happy Chandler and Alben Barkley. There's also an aerial shot of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant that opened during Wetherby's administration and is mentioned in the article. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • Please run the External Links tool and update/post archive links as needed. I show three dead links.
  • Do we need the citation in the lead? I feel like the sentence is not likely to be challenged, unless someone asked you to put it there.
  • No one asked me to put it there. I just always try to cite almost everything I add. Removed. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm a bit puzzled by the link to Term limits in the United States in the lead, since the article states Kentucky has a two-term limit. Do they count partial terms?
  • No. The state constitution was amended in 1992 to allow governors to succeed themselves once. It had been a one-term limit since the state's second constitution was ratified in 1799. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Chandler did not support Wetherby's 1956 bid to succeed Democrat Alben Barkley in the Senate, which contributed to his loss..." This reads awkwardly to me. I think it's the "Chandler did not support ... which contributed" construction. Maybe "Chandler's failure to support ... contributed"?
  • Beginning a section with "Also in 1943" was jarring. Maybe a matter of opinion.
  • Probably the wording came first and the section break later, without a corresponding copyedit. Fixed. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Over the course of his administration, he increased funding to education by $20 million." This doesn't mean as much without the context. $20 million on top of what?
  • The source only says it was an increase of $20 million over what it had been in 1950. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • "support peaceful implementation of the Supreme Court's school desegregation order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education" The wording is strange here. Can we revise?
  • It doesn't seem that strange to me, but I've changed it to "to peacefully implement desegregation as required by the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education". Is that better? Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:24, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • "He failed in his efforts to amend the state's constitution to allow the governor to succeed himself in office." This sentence seems to offer some explanation of the statement in the lead that he was limited to one term.. I'm assuming later on Kentucky amended the constitution to allow two consecutive terms? Or is the linked article incorrect?

Looking good overall. --Laser brain (talk) 02:28, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Support, everything looks good and my comments have been addressed. I haven't looked too hard at source formatting but I'll speak up if I see anything. --Laser brain (talk) 21:37, 3 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Source review - spotchecks not done

  • Source for Methodism?
    • Can't remember where I originally found it, but I've found and added a new cite. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:09, 10 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Chandler's charges may have been inaccurate, but they were effective; he defeated Combs in the primary and went on to win the general election" - not sure we can draw that conclusion without OR, the charges are not the only possible reason for his victory
  • How are you ordering the Harrison refs?
    • By book title. The Kentucky Encyclopedia is ordered on 'K'; A New History of Kentucky is ordered on 'N'; Western Kentucky University is ordered on 'W'. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:09, 10 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • Be consistent in how you present the editors of larger works - first name or last name first
  • Compare FNs 1, 5 and 41
  • "Kleber in 'As Luck Would Have It'" isn't correct - he wrote that article
    • Yes. I'm using "in" to mean "in which source" to disambiguate between multiple sources by the same author. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 15:09, 10 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • FN14: which Harrison?
  • Retrieval dates aren't needed for GBooks links
  • University Press of Kentucky or The University Press of Kentucky? Nikkimaria (talk) 04:00, 10 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I looked at just the lead section and did some copyediting; feel free to revert, as always. If you ping me, I'll be happy to watchlist this page and discuss anything in the lead. - Dank (push to talk) 22:05, 12 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Support Leaning support. Welcome back! I didn't find much to address here, but I have a few questions:

  • "Thanks to his father's influence, Wetherby became interested in local politics at an early age." I'm not clear on the father's influence part. All we know of him is his name and profession. Was he involved in politics, too?
    • The source doesn't say. The exact quote is, "It was his father who instilled in Lawrence and his brother George an interest in politics." The source also mentions that the father was "the scion of an old Kentucky family", but doesn't elaborate. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 17:29, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • OK, we can't do more than the sources. --Coemgenus (talk) 23:13, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • "...former governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler, who was about to be released as baseball commissioner." "be released" is kind of strange phrasing, but I'm not sure what would be better.
    • I'm open to suggestions. He wasn't really fired, and properly speaking, his contract didn't expire either. He was angling for a contract extension, but twice failed to get the required three-fourths majority, so he eventually resigned. This sentence should reflect the difficulty in securing a new contract, since that's what the speculation about his candidacy was probably based on. The owners refused to vote on an extension in December 1949, and the vote failed in December 1950 and again in March 1951, after which Chandler announced his resignation, effective in June 1951. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 17:29, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • You could just say "...was about to resign as baseball commissioner" although I take your point that it's not the whole story. Your call, it's not significant enough to hold up my support. --Coemgenus (talk) 23:13, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • "What time he was in the state, he campaigned for his former lieutenant governor, Wetherby." This sounds a little informal. Maybe "When he was able to visit the state..." or something like that.
  • That's all. Nice article, nice series. I've enjoyed reading them over the years. --Coemgenus (talk) 13:57, 2 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
    • Appreciate the kind words and the review. Sorry for the delay. I'm usually off-wiki around the holidays. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 17:29, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • Looks good, I'll change to support. Good luck! --Coemgenus (talk) 23:13, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]


Support. Good to see you back at FAC; I always enjoy your articles. I've one minor question, below, but it does not affect my support.

  • "Early in Wetherby's term, the state's revenues were inflated by the Korean War": does the source say why the war inflated the revenues? It's not immediately obvious to me how this would happen. It might not be relevant enough to put in the article, but a footnote would be helpful.
    • I had the same question, but the source doesn't seem to provide the answer. The article for Governor Clements mentions that the war increased tax receipts, but that just kicks the can down the road, I think. Why did the war increase tax receipts? That's also not obvious to me. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 14:25, 12 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      If the source doesn't say, I guess we can't either. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:30, 13 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

-- I did some spot checks for close paraphrasing on the online sources. A couple of phrases are taken close to verbatim from the source, but they're very generic phrases. For example, "In March 1943 he was appointed the first trial commissioner of Jefferson County juvenile court" in the source becomes "In March 1943, he was appointed the first trial commissioner of the juvenile court" in the article. This seems OK to me. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 15:33, 10 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

    • Thanks for the review and the welcome back. Seeing this article get enough reviews not to fail on that basis encourages me. Hopefully, I can make another couple of FAC runs soon. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 14:25, 12 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note -- did I miss an image review? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 04:56, 11 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Image check - all OK

  • File:Lawrence-Wetherby.jpg - do you have any additional background info on the publication of this image, maybe in a yearbook or somewhere else? We should be reasonably sure, that it 1) was published in the 1950s somewhere in the US and 2) had no copyright notice. Or, alternatively, any chance for a better documented image? GermanJoe (talk) 02:22, 21 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
    • Answering the second question first: no, I haven't found a better documented image. Until recently, the article featured a fair use image, but I ran across this while searching through the Kentucky Virtual Library. What I know about this image comes from http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt75736m0s6q_407_1/guide. It indicates that the images in the collection from whence this picture was taken are "photographs predominately transferred to university archives from the public relations department". To me, this indicates a strong likelihood that the image was published in the 1950s in the US, since PR departments aren't typically in the habit of taking images that don't see the light of day. The "without notice of copyright" bit is based on the fact that there is no notice on the print itself, and no indication that there is one on the back, which is typically noted in these collections. There are separate collections for photos from yearbooks, so I doubt this was published there. That's about the extent of what I can say about it. Acdixon (talk · contribs) 14:28, 21 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • Thanks for the additional information, I went ahead and added some of those details to the image information for clarity. The file is listed under "publication year 1951" in the source website's catalog, that's good enough. And I agree with your assessment of the copyright notice: details about each single item are quite thorough in that catalog (remarks about the item's condition, authorship, and so on), a copyright notice would have been mentioned. Changed to all OK above. GermanJoe (talk) 08:30, 22 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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