By Ray Hill A few years ago, my friend Carroll Reagan passed away. Carroll was an outstanding small businessman, community servant, and devoted churchman at Sevier Heights Baptist Church. Carroll and Marian Reagan were some of the finest people in South Knoxville, which is to say the world. Yet it hit me not long […]
By Ray Hill Few politicians of the time were as cognizant and protective of their public images as was Cordell Hull of Tennessee. One of the most closely guarded secrets in Washington, D. C. was the fact Cordell Hull suffered from tuberculosis. Hull was further protected by his wife, Frances, and his longtime personal […]
By Ray Hill From 1920 until his death in 1961, the most personally popular politician inside Tennessee’s First Congressional District was B. Carroll Reece. That can be attested to on a variety of fronts, not the least of which are the election returns from that forty-year period. Carroll Reece’s success at the ballot box is […]
By Ray Hill This column is written for my friend Alexander Waters and his family. I knew Alexander’s grandfather, John B. Waters, Jr. Mr. Waters was one of those young Republicans, like Jim Haslam, who helped elect Howard Baker, Tennessee’s first popularly elected Republican U. S. senator. John Waters, Jr. was Baker’s campaign manager. It […]
By Ray Hill It seems like so many folks my age are experiencing raising their grandchildren or having their own children return home to live. All too often, my generation has seen their children and grandchildren afflicted by drug addiction. Back in the day, the addiction that afflicted many in our country was alcohol. Addictions […]
By Ray Hill Patrick Jay Hurley was one of those who exemplified the promise of America, coming to the United States as an infant with his parents the same year he had been born in County Waterford, Ireland. During his eighty years, Patrick J. Hurley was a highly successful attorney, served as Secretary of War […]
By Ray Hill Austin Cate, Knox County’s sheriff, had won resounding victories in both the Republican primary and the general election in 1948 to win reelection. Cate had faced formidable opposition in the GOP primary from former Finance Commissioner Ed Burchfield and C. W. “Buddy” Jones in the general election. Cate and Jones would […]
By Ray Hill Cate was a familiar name to voters in Knox County, especially when they were picking a sheriff. William T. Cate had been sheriff and J. Carroll Cate was sheriff from 1936 – 1940. In 1946, six-foot-five, 350-pound Hazen Kreis was leaving the sheriff’s office, having served three two-year consecutive terms. Kreis […]
By Ray Hill Cordell Hull, Secretary of State under Franklin D. Roosevelt, had simmered for years with resentment due to having been marginalized by the president. Yet Roosevelt depended upon Hull’s reservoir of good will with both the Congress and the American people. Cordell Hull was an integral part of selling any controversial aspect […]
By Ray Hill Tennessee has been quite fortunate to produce any number of political figures of national importance, as well as those who have wielded enormous influence in Congress. Aside from Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk (a political protégé of Jackson’s), and Andrew Johnson – – – the three presidents from the Volunteer State – […]