By Ray Hill Thomas Clarke Rye was twice governor of Tennessee.  From rural West Tennessee, Tom C. Rye had little formal education, a fact he readily admitted.  “Subscription schools were the only ones we had then, so I didn’t go very regularly and stopped altogether...

By Ray Hill Malcolm Patterson, twice elected governor of Tennessee, had attempted to make a political comeback by entering the first U. S. Senate race where the people nominated candidates for the general election in 1915. Patterson faced stiff opposition in the...

By Ray Hill Malcolm Rice Patterson, the “gamecock” of Tennessee politics, had left the governor’s mansion in 1911 as a hugely controversial figure and bitterly hated by many inside his own party. To make matters worse, a combine of “fusionists,” Democrats opposed to...

By Ray Hill Malcolm Rice Patterson enjoyed a meteoric rise in Tennessee politics until the consequences of his own actions ended his career.  Redheaded, thin, with angular features, Malcolm Patterson was known throughout Tennessee as a dynamic and gifted speaker. ...

By Ray Hill James Beriah Frazier had been elected governor of Tennessee in 1902.  A tall, stately man with an elegant appearance, James B. Frazier certainly looked the part of a governor.  Despite his aristocratic appearance, James B. Frazier had worked his way...

By Ray Hill   With the sudden death of U. S. senator William Brimage Bate, Tennessee would send someone else to the Senate. Bate had died just days after being sworn-in for his fourth term. Indeed, only two men had ever been elected to serve a fourth term in the...

By Ray Hill Andrew Jackson once said, “A man who is born and reared among this people deserves but little credit for being a soldier and a gentleman, for he can’t help it.”  That description fit William Brimage Bate.  Bate had certainly lived a full life and had been...

By Ray Hill Only nine men have made the transition from governor of Tennessee to United States senator. One of those nine was one of the most successful politicians to take part in Tennessee’s turbulent politics: Andrew Johnson. In fact, Andrew Johnson prospered...

By Ray Hill All across the nation governors or former governors frequently attempt to make the transition to the United States Senate.  Nor is it particularly odd, at least in Tennessee, for a governor to wait some years before running for the U. S. Senate.  Former...

By Ray Hill Long before Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Carl Hayden of Arizona was known as the longest-serving member of Congress. Hayden had first been elected to Congress when Arizona had first been admitted to the United States as a state in 1912. Hayden was...