Jesse Wolcott of Michigan By Ray Hill Short, chunky, and bespectacled, Jesse Wolcott looked more like a small town lawyer or accountant than the ideal of a congressman. Yet the framers of the Constitution meant for the House of Representatives to be the people’s House...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, Part VI By Ray Hill Dan Kuykendall’s family had originally followed a very famous Tennessean to Texas; the Kuykendalls left their West Tennessee home to go to Texas with Sam Houston.  Dan Kuykendall had returned to...

Daniel A. Reed of New York By Ray Hill At the time of his death, Daniel Alden Reed of New York was the senior Republican in the House of Representatives, having served forty years in Congress. Only two Democrats had served longer than Reed; Speaker Sam Rayburn of...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, Part V By Ray Hill Texas native Dan Kuykendall had settled in Memphis, Tennessee.  Like many others, Kuykendall came to Tennessee because of a job.  Kuykendall had been a regional manager for Proctor & Gamble. ...

Knoxville’s Lawyer & Statesman: Hobart F. Atkins By Ray Hill Like all things, Hobart Freeman Atkins long ago passed into the pages of history.  And like so many others, Hobart F. Atkins deserves to be remembered.  When he died, the Knoxville News-Sentinel...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, part IV By Ray Hill Both of Tennessee’s seats in the United States Senate had been up for election in 1964 due to the death of Estes Kefauver in 1963. Republicans in the Volunteer State had run two serious...

‘Big Bill’ Thompson of Chicago By Ray Hill William Hale Thompson enjoyed a long political career in a city known for its corruption.  “Big Bill” Thompson was the last Republican to be elected mayor of Chicago.  A modern political showman without being burdened with...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party Dan Kuykendall, Part III By Ray Hill Since Tennessee began popularly electing United States senators in 1916, only two efforts by Republicans in the Volunteer state could be legitimately described as serious bids to win.  One such...

Senator McKellar vs the CIO-PAC By Ray Hill Tennessee’s senior member of its congressional delegation was Kenneth D. McKellar, who had been in Congress for a total of thirty-six years; thirty of those years in the Senate. McKellar had just been handily reelected to...

By Ray Hill Both of Tennessee’s seats in the United States Senate were up for election in 1964.  Oddly, that has been the case every thirty years since 1934.  Tennesseans went to the polls to elect both United States senators in 1934, 1964, and 1994.  The first...