By Ray Hill With the sudden death of U. S. senator William Brimage Bate, Tennessee would send someone else to the Senate. Bate had died just days after being sworn-in for his fourth term. Indeed, only two men had ever been elected to serve a fourth term in the United States Senate from Tennessee. […]
By Ray Hill Andrew Jackson once said, “A man who is born and reared among this people deserves but little credit for being a soldier and a gentleman, for he can’t help it.” That description fit William Brimage Bate. Bate had certainly lived a full life and had been a soldier, lawyer, newspaperman and politician. […]
By Ray Hill William Gannaway “Parson” Brownlow had been elected governor of Tennessee in 1865, taking the oath of office four days before General Robert E. Lee tendered his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Governor Brownlow was engaged in a heated reelection campaign against former congressman Emerson Etheridge. The Parson had pledged vengeance […]
By Ray Hill William Gannaway Brownlow, better known to Tennesseans as “Parson” Brownlow, was another Volunteer State governor who made it to the United States Senate. Brownlow was as colorful a character, perhaps even more so, than his predecessor, Andrew Johnson. By trade, Brownlow was a journalist, minister of the cloth, and politician. Orphaned at […]
By Ray Hill Governor Andrew Johnson easily overcame the powerful opposition of the Whig Party in Tennessee, as well as the more conservative elements in his own Democratic Party to win election to the United States Senate in 1857. Nor was Andrew Johnson satisfied to merely remain in the Senate. At the 1860 Democratic presidential […]
By Ray Hill Only nine men have made the transition from governor of Tennessee to United States senator. One of those nine was one of the most successful politicians to take part in Tennessee’s turbulent politics: Andrew Johnson. In fact, Andrew Johnson prospered politically during the Civil War, the most tempestuous time in Tennessee’s history. […]
By Ray Hill All across the nation governors or former governors frequently attempt to make the transition to the United States Senate. Former governor Phil Bredesen, who is running for the Senate this year, is just one such an example. Nor is it particularly odd, at least in Tennessee, for a governor to wait some […]
By Ray Hill Dan Kuykendall (pronounced Kirk-en-dall) was the first Republican to be elected to Congress from West Tennessee since 1882. Kuykendall was also the first Republican to represent E. H. Crump’s former domain of Memphis in the House of Representatives; Kuykendall was also the last Republican to represent the area in Congress. Kuykendall was […]
By Ray Hill “Live so that when you die, even the undertaker will be sorry.” Sign that hung in the business office of Jim Cummings. James H. Cummings is likely a name unfamiliar to most readers, but during his time he was a power and a man to be reckoned with. When he died in […]
By Ray Hill After Congressman J. Will Taylor died suddenly on November 14, 1939, there was not unexpectedly, a fight inside the Republican Party to succeed him. The nominee was to be named in a convention by the counties comprising Tennessee’s Second Congressional district and would go on to compete in a special election. There […]
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