By Ray Hill Joseph Wellington Byrns was almost surely the most popular political figure inside Tennessee’s “Hermitage District.” That was the Congressional district in Tennessee which encompassed Nashville and the “Hermitage”, home of General Andrew Jackson. For nearly twenty-eight years, that same district had been represented by Jo Byrns. Tall and lean with white hair […]
By Ray Hill Kenneth D. McKellar, Tennessee’s senior United States senator, had won a thumping renomination inside the Democratic primary, beating Congressman Finis Garrett, the Minority Leader of the U. S. House of Representatives. Tennessee Republicans had nominated James A. Fowler, the mayor of Knoxville, to run in the general election. One of the […]
By Ray Hill Tennessee politics was in flux in 1928 due to the nomination of New York governor Alfred E. Smith as the Democratic nominee for president. Smith, a cigar-chomping, derby hat wearing product of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen was a pronounced wet who openly favored abolishing the prohibition laws. Even worse, at least to […]
By Ray Hill Former governor Prentice Cooper was running hard for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate against incumbent Albert Gore, who was seeking a second term. The sixty-two year old Cooper toured the state accompanied by his much younger and attractive wife and three small sons. Some Tennesseans certainly got a […]
By Ray Hill Prentice Cooper, former three-time governor of Tennessee, had been on the comeback trail in a crowded primary election to win the Democratic nomination to claim his residency in the governor’s mansion. While some might have discounted the wealthy former governor’s chances of winning the nomination, nobody really knew just how the race […]
By Ray Hill Prentice Cooper of Shelbyville, three times governor of Tennessee, had announced he would once again seek to become the Volunteer State’s chief executive on New Year’s day in 1958. The sixty-two year old Cooper was one of many prospective candidates all of whom were warily circling one another. Prentice Cooper’s own announcement […]
By Ray Hill Albert Gore had been in the United States Senate for six years and had to face the voters once again in 1958. Gore had spent fourteen years in the House of Representatives before challenging Tennessee’s longest serving United States senator, Kenneth D. McKellar. The forty-four year-old Gore had toppled the formidable Senator […]
“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 with most readers, but during his time he was a power and a man to be reckoned with. When he died in 1979, […]
By Ray Hill The trio of colorful legislators who exerted enormous influence in the Tennessee General Assembly for decades – – – Walter M. “Pete” Haynes, I. D. Beasley, and James H. Cummings – – – were commonly known in Nashville as the “Triumvirate” or “the Unholy Trinity.” The late John Bragg served in the […]
By Ray Hill For decades the Tennessee General Assembly was largely ruled by three men: Walter M. “Pete” Haynes of Decherd; I. D. Beasley of Carthage and James H. Cummings of Woodbury. Known as the “Unholy Trinity”, the three men were powerful legislators and highly important in their respective communities. Beasley, Haynes and Cummings were […]
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