By Ray Hill Senator Kenneth McKellar had been overwhelmingly reelected to an unprecedented (for Tennessee) fifth term in 1940. It was during the decade of the forties that K. D. McKellar earned his reputation as a feudist and reached the peak of his influence and power. There had been occasional flashes of the McKellar […]
By Ray Hill By 1940, Kenneth McKellar had represented Tennessee in the United States Senate longer than any other man. At seventy-one, the senator showed no signs of slowing down, much less retiring. McKellar loved his job and was quite good at it. It was quite clear he would seek a fifth term in […]
By Ray Hill E. H. Crump, leader of the Shelby County political machine, had been bitterly disappointed by his favored candidate for the 1936 gubernatorial nomination, Gordon Browning. Crump and U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar had disagreed over the gubernatorial candidates, causing a momentary lapse in their alliance. Crump had demonstrated his mastery of Memphis […]
By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar was Tennessee’s senior United States Senator and had been reelected easily in 1934 for another six-year term. McKellar had carried with him his junior colleague Nathan L. Bachman and Governor Hill McAlister. The alliance between McKellar and E. H. Crump, leader of the Shelby County political machine had again asserted […]
By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar was sixty-five years old in 1934 as he sought reelection to a fourth term in the United States Senate. Congressman Gordon Browning had thought to challenge McKellar, but decided against it when he could get not a single pledge of significant support. Instead, Browning opted to run against junior U. […]
By Ray Hill The political partnership of U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar and Memphis Boss Ed Crump had made them the masters of Tennessee politics by 1933. The correspondence between the two was voluminous, as they discussed appointments, political developments and strategy. The correspondence, which had once been addressed to “Mack” and “Ed”, had […]
By Ray Hill The collapse of the House of Caldwell not only destroyed Governor Henry Horton politically, but Luke Lea as well. The governor, by the slimmest of margins, only narrowly escaped being impeached. The fall of Caldwell and Company would have far reaching implications for Luke Lea, not only politically, but also financially […]
By Ray Hill Republicans had done well in Tennessee during the decade of the 1920s in Tennessee. The zenith of Republican success was 1920 when Warren Harding had carried the state; the GOP had elected a governor, and won five out of ten Congressional seats. That success was to be short-lived; Democrats won back […]
By Ray Hill Tennessee’s senior United States Senator, John Knight Shields, proved to be less than thrilled with President Woodrow Wilson’s cherished idea of America participating in the League of Nations. Senator Shields, unlike most Tennessee Democrats, didn’t especially like Wilson much and the President cordially reciprocated Shields’s dislike. Despite being a moralist, Woodrow […]
By Ray Hill When K. D. McKellar first entered the United States Senate on March 4, 1917, he was forty-eight years old. One long-time Senate employee recalled McKellar was well dressed, “a real Beau Brummell.” McKellar frequently wore a black bow tie and dressed the part of a senator. Well into the 1940s, McKellar […]
The opinions expressed by Focus columnists and those providing comments are theirs alone, and may not reflect the opinions of The Knoxville Focus or any employee thereof.