Michigan’s Governor G. Mennen Williams By Ray Hill Gerhard Mennen Williams’ name is a reminder of his good luck in having been born into a family fortune. His grandfather, Gerhard Mennen, a German immigrant, started a business selling talcum powder, which at the time...
Augustus O. Stanley of Kentucky By Ray Hill Every state conjures politicians who are highly controversial and two of Kentucky’s most polarizing political figures were Augustus Owsley Stanley and his rival, John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham. Both men were Democrats and...
The Gentleman From Kentucky J. C. W. Beckham By Ray Hill John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the first U.S. senator to be popularly elected by the people of Kentucky. Beckham was the leader of a powerful wing of the Bluegrass State’s Democratic Party and was an...
William O. Bradley of Kentucky By Ray Hill William O’Connell Bradley was the first Republican to serve as governor of Kentucky. Bradley had a long and notable political career, albeit with mixed results as Kentucky remained a mostly Democratic state. During his...
Old Time Democrat: Senator Pat McNamara of Michigan By Ray Hill Patrick Vincent McNamara was the kind of Democrat that is almost entirely extinct in today’s world. A traditional, working-class Irish Catholic and local labor leader. The child of a laborer, McNamara...
The Senator From Michigan Philip A. Hart By Ray Hill Senator Philip A. Hart was part of “the Greatest Generation,” those Americans born between 1900 and 1925, most of whom fought in the Second World War. Many of them were old enough to recall the First World War, and...
The Senator From Louisiana: John H. Overton By Ray Hill Short and pudgy, John Holmes Overton served as United States senator from Louisiana from 1933 until his death in 1948. Throughout the first part of his senatorial career, Overton suffered from his affiliation...
Making a New Senator By Ray Hill Estes Kefauver, Tennessee’s senior United States senator, was having a bad day on Thursday, August 8, 1963. Kefauver was in the midst of the rough and tumble of debate while the Senate considered an appropriation bill for NASA. The...
From Big Band Leader to Politician Victor A. Meyers Victor Aloysius Meyers lived to be 93 years old, a fact which astonished some of those who knew him. Tacoma, Washington, attorney John J. O’Connell said, “You’d think a man who had that much fun tasting the good...
The Senator From Washington State Hugh B. Mitchell By Ray Hill Hugh Burnton Mitchell was a scholarly man with an earthy streak who had made his way through life as a sports reporter when he found the Great Depression had left him unable to finish his courses at...
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