By Ray Hill 2015 marks the one-hundredth year since the people of Tennessee cast their ballots to select a candidate for the United States Senate. There had previously been non-binding preferential primaries, as senators were still elected by the state legislature....
Bob Taylor of Tennessee
By Ray Hill Senator Kenneth D. McKellar once claimed that outside of the three men who served as President of the United States, Robert Love Taylor was “the best-known man to the Republic at large that Tennessee has ever produced”. It well may have been true. Robert...
The 1930 Senate Race: Cordell Hull Comes To the Senate
By Ray Hill Cordell Hull had served in the U. S. House of Representatives since 1906, with one brief two-year interlude, when he announced he would be a candidate for the United States Senate in 1929. It was rare, at that time, for a prospective candidate to declare...
In This Corner… Senator McKellar Slaps Publisher
By Ray Hill Tennessee’s senior United States senator, Kenneth D. McKellar, was well known for having a volatile temper and had won a well-deserved reputation as a feudist. It was not uncommon for the peppery senator to become involved in a physical altercation, even...
‘Mr. Speaker:’ John McCormack of Massachusetts
By Ray Hill “I have no hesitancy in insisting that Government in an emergency do everything that can reasonably be done to relieve human suffering and distress.” That was the philosophy of John William McCormack throughout his long political career and he lived...
‘Mr. Speaker:’ Sam Rayburn of Texas
By Ray Hill “Any jackass can kick down a barn, it takes a carpenter to build one.” So said Sam Rayburn of Texas. Completely bald, thickly built and one who never forgot his humble beginnings. Sam Rayburn was the looniest serving Speaker of the U. S. House of...
All In One Lifetime: James F. Byrnes of South Carolina, Part II
By Ray Hill James F. Byrnes had resigned from the Supreme Court of the United States to accept the responsibility for running much of America’s war effort at the personal request of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Byrnes had given up a lifetime appointment, but...
All In One Lifetime: James F. Byrnes of South Carolina
By Ray Hill The autobiography of James F. Byrnes of South Carolina was appropriately named All In One Lifetime. Byrnes served as a Congressman, U. S. senator, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Assistant to the President, Secretary of State and...
Mr. Speaker: Henry T. Rainey of Illinois
By Ray Hill Few modern day Speakers of the U. S. House of Representatives are as little remembered as Henry T. Rainey of Illinois. One reason for that is likely because his tenure as Speaker was quite brief; Rainey served as Speaker of the House from march 9,...
Cactus Jack: John Nance Garner of Texas
By Ray Hill John Nance Garner of Texas was one of the most colorful politicians of the twentieth century. It was Garner who made one of the most oft-repeated comments about the vice presidency. Garner described the office as not being “worth a bucket of warm...
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Edward Hull Crump: The Boss, Part VII
By Ray Hill Despite...
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The U.S. Senate In The Age of McKellar: 1917 – 1953
By Ray Hill Kenneth...
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The Senator’s Secretary: D. W. McKellar
By Ray Hill...
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A Feudin’ Son of Tennessee: Kenneth McKellar Chapter 1
By Ray Hill It will...
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A Feudin’ Son of Tennessee: Kenneth McKellar Chapter 2
By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar...
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A Feudin’ Son of Tennessee: Kenneth McKellar, Chapter 3
By Ray Hill Even as a...