By Ray Hill Watkins Overton had been the longest-serving mayor of Memphis when he had been called back to office in 1949. Overton was easily reelected to a four-year term in 1951. Once again, Overton was thwarted by the personal pique of Edward Hull Crump. A...
The Professor in Politics: Ken Hechler of West Virginia
By Ray Hill It is truly rare for a politician to be a fixture of the politics of his or her community, state or nation. It does happen, but those political figures whose influence and or service span generations are rare. Ken Hechler was one of those scarce...
The Last Campaign: Overton vs. Orgill
The Last Campaign: Overton vs. Orgill By Ray Hill The story of Samuel Watkins Overton is as interesting as it was turbulent. Overton came from one of Tennessee’s most aristocratic families; his great-great-grandfather John Overton was one of the Volunteer State’s...
H. Clay Evans of Tennessee, Part Two
By Ray Hill Henry Clay Evans had been elected to Congress from Tennessee’s Third Congressional District in 1888 as a Republican. His victory had been a profound shock to local Democrats who promptly gerrymandered his district and castigated the congressman for his...
The 1969 Special Election in Tennessee
By Ray Hill Robert A. “Fats” Everett lay ailing in Nashville’s Veterans Hospital. For decades the 6-foot-4 congressman, whose weight teetered between 255 and 370 pounds, had been a fixture in Tennessee politics. Everett had learned politics from some of the...
H. Clay Evans of Tennessee, I
By Ray Hill Named for the four-time presidential candidate and Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, H. Clay Evans was a highly important figure in Tennessee’s Republican Party. Evans had a storied and diverse career, a successful businessman who manufactured freight cars...
Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, Part VII
Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, Part VII By Ray Hill No Republican had represented West Tennessee in Congress since Reconstruction yet Dan Kuykendall was making a spirited challenge to incumbent George W. Grider to represent Memphis in the House...
Jesse Wolcott of Michigan
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
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
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...
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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...