By Ray Hill President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, coming off his greatest reelection campaign, had announced he was submitting legislation to Congress to expand the United State Supreme Court. Roosevelt’s proposal was widely and bitterly attacked in much of the press and despite huge Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress, many Democrats were openly opposed […]
By Ray Hill February 5, 1937 was a Friday and President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly announced his intention to ask Congress to enlarge the United States Supreme Court. Roosevelt was fresh from a smashing reelection campaign in 1936, which saw the president carry every state in the union, save for Maine and Vermont. The Democratic […]
By Ray Hill With just weeks away from Election Day, the three candidates competing for the Democratic nomination for the U. S. Senate, incumbent John Knight Shields, General Lawrence D. Tyson, and Nathan L. Bachman, picked up the pace of their respective campaigns. Shields had delayed officially opening his campaign until July 16, speaking in […]
By Ray Hill The race for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in Tennessee in 1924 came down to three men: the incumbent senator, John Knight Shields, General Lawrence D. Tyson and former state Supreme Court justice Nathan L. Bachman. All three were from East Tennessee; Shields lived on his estate “Clinchdale” in […]
By Ray Hill By the last week of June, it was obvious to virtually everyone Senator John Knight Shields was in deep political trouble. Shields had been the last man elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to serve in the United States Senate after having served for a decade on the state Supreme Court. Shields […]
By Ray Hill General Lawrence D. Tyson of Knoxville had officially kicked off his campaign for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in Trenton, Tennessee. The General spoke before a crowd estimated at 5,000 persons. Tyson flayed the incumbent, Senator John Knight Shields, as well as criticizing the record of the third candidate […]
By Ray Hill Tennessee’s senior United States senator, John Knight Shields, was a candidate for a third term in 1924. Shields faced two formidable opponents inside the Democratic primary: General Lawrence D. Tyson of Knoxville and former state Supreme Court Justice Nathan L. Bachman of Chattanooga. All three candidates hailed from East Tennessee and Shields […]
By Ray Hill John Knight Shields, Tennessee’s senior United States senator, had first been elected in 1913. Shields had served for a decade on the Tennessee Supreme Court before becoming the last man to be elected to the U. S. Senate by the state legislature. Shields had been reelected in 1918, defeating Tom C. Rye, […]
By Ray Hill Samuel Watkins Overton, Jr. came from one of Tennessee’s most prominent families; Overton was the great-great grandson of Judge John Overton, a contemporary of General Andrew Jackson and the founder of Memphis. Overton joined the law firm founded by Senator Kenneth D. McKellar in 1922. An aristocrat by Tennessee standards, Watkins Overton […]
By Ray Hill Lawrence Davis Tyson had been elected to the United States Senate to represent Tennessee in 1924. To get to the Senate, Tyson defeated a two-term incumbent and a respected former justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. L. D. Tyson had won the general election easily and settled comfortably in the Senate. One […]
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