By Ray Hill Few politicians enjoyed the lengthy career Hiram W. Johnson carved out in California.  Johnson’s time in public office was stormy, yet he remained enduringly popular.  By the time of his death in 1945, Hiram Johnson was a living icon in his home...

By Ray Hill Rixey Smith, Senator Carter Glass’s long-time Secretary, wrote a flattering biography of his boss entitled “Unreconstructed Rebel: Carter Glass” and that Glass certainly was.  Indeed, it was President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself who had labeled Glass an...

By Ray Hill   For decades the Bankhead family was one of the most politically prominent in the state.  Today, perhaps the best-known member of the family is the late actress Tallulah Bankhead, yet Miss Bankhead’s father William was Speaker of the U. S. House of...

  By Ray Hill Few men have lived as colorful and productive a life as did William Gibbs McAdoo, who was, incidentally, a one-time resident of Knoxville.  A lawyer, businessman, son-in-law of a President of the United States, member of a President’s Cabinet, U.S....

By Ray Hill William Edgar Borah was one of the most celebrated members of the United States Senate during his time.  Enormously popular in his state of Idaho, Borah was an impressive orator, regularly filling the Senate galleries when he spoke and his speeches were...

By Ray Hill Few members of the United States Senate had as colorful or stormy a career as Burton Kendall Wheeler of Montana.  The fact Wheeler came to represent Montana in the Senate in the first place was an accident of fate, as Wheeler had been born in Hudson,...

By Ray Hill It seems highly unlikely anyone could be elected to any office today if he or she exhibited just a few of the eccentricities that were a part of James Hamilton Lewis.  Lewis was even for his time somewhat eccentric in his appearance and dress, but he...

By Ray Hill Ellison DuRant Smith was one of the more colorful figures in South Carolina’s oftentimes turbulent political history.  It was frequent said, “His name is Ellison DuRant Smith and he sure do rant.”  More commonly, he was known simply as “Cotton Ed.” E. D....

By Ray Hill In a time when the South had some of the most flamboyant politicians in the country, few exceeded Robert Rice Reynolds of North Carolina for his flair.  Over time, Reynolds’s penchant for flair degenerated into buffoonery, a condition few politicians can...

By Ray Hill Walter F. George was, during his time, one of the most respected and powerful members of the United States Senate. Senator George was a man of innate, if not somewhat exaggerated, dignity; even his wife, Miss Lucy, referred to him as “Senator George.”...