By Ray Hill Congressman Clifford Davis of Memphis had served in the House of Representatives since 1940 and in 1959 was the chairman of the House Public Works Committee.  A relatively obscure committee to most folks, it became of prime importance to Tennessee.  Davis...

By Ray Hill Jake Lindsey epitomized much about how Americans saw themselves when he joined the army in February of 1940.  Lindsay, a resident of the tiny hamlet of Lucedale, Mississippi, joined the armed forces well before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  The...

By Ray Hill Ray Blanton had achieved his long sought after goal of winning statewide office in Tennessee with his victory in the 1974 general election. Blanton had defeated Republican Lamar Alexander decisively in winning the governorship. Ray Blanton had always...

Ray Blanton emerged from the 1974 primary as the Democratic nominee for governor of Tennessee. It had been a contentious primary in with twelve men competing for the nomination. Blanton had barely edged banker Jake Butcher to be the nominee. The Republicans had their...

By Ray Hill After having lost the 1972 race for the U. S. Senate to incumbent Howard Baker by a wide margin, Ray Blanton found himself out of Congress. Blanton returned to Tennessee and immediately began planting the seeds for an expected bid for the Democratic...

By Ray Hill Tennessee had lost a congressional district in the redistricting in 1971.  Congressmen Ray Blanton and William Anderson, both Democrats, would likely have run against one another if both sought reelection.  Anderson flirted with a bid for the Democratic...

By Ray Hill Charles Evans Hughes achieved just about every high office that could come to one man save one: the presidency, and he came mighty close to achieving that as well.  Judge Learned Hand once paid tribute to both Hughes and his son, Charles Evan Hughes, Jr.,...

By Ray Hill   For a time, there was no more influential Republican in the State of Tennessee than Newell Sanders. Sanders was a Republican at a time when the GOP was at a distinct disadvantage in the Volunteer State, yet he helped to build his party and became a...

By Ray Hill There are likely more pedigrees in politics than the American Kennel Club and if anyone ever possessed a pedigree, it would be Robert Alphonso Taft of Ohio.  For decades, Robert A. Taft was one of the most prominent members of the United States Senate. ...

By Ray Hill Few politicians have a career as successful as that of John William Bricker of Ohio; state attorney general (an elected position in Ohio), three times governor and twice United States senator. Bricker came from very humble beginnings, born on September 6,...