By Ray Hill This column is written for my friend John R. Mills. Johnny and I have been friends since 1976 and his was the first local campaign I worked on as a volunteer. Johnny’s wife, Charlotte, is a good friend of mine as well and so was her Dad, Mr. Hal Cate. The Cates […]
By Ray Hill For twenty years, Tennessee’s Second Congressional District had been served in the United States House of Representatives by J. Will Taylor. “Hillbilly Bill” Taylor was also the last congressman elected from this district who either did not live or later move to Knoxville. Taylor had become an institution inside the district and […]
By Ray Hill Tennessee’s Second Congressional District is the most Republican in the nation from the standpoint it has never been represented by anything other than a Republican since the party has been on the ballot. There is also another statistic that is interesting about the people of the Second Congressional District; they seem to […]
By Ray Hill Most figures in history are ephemeral and float through the pages of books only fleetingly. Some never even make the footnotes of history, yet probably should. There are any number of historical figures which were larger than life, the subject of admiration, if not adulation by students of history. George Washington, Abraham […]
By Ray Hill The story of Grace Moore is not at all political in nature and hopefully readers of this column will not be sorely disappointed. Miss Moore’s story is, however uniquely and quintessentially American. It is both an interesting story and certainly part of Tennessee’s history. Grace Moore rose from truly humble beginnings and […]
Previously printed on October 5, 2015 By Ray Hill Eleanor Medill Patterson was the first woman to successfully run a major metropolitan newspaper. Known as “Cissy” due to the nickname given to her in childhood by her brother, she was volatile, unpredictable, frequently gleefully malevolent and unquestionably gifted. Eleanor Patterson was born into a wealthy […]
By Ray Hill One year ago on August 3, I lost my beloved Scottish terrier, Mackie. I still miss the little fellow something fierce and there’s not a day that goes by without my thinking about him. Losing anyone we love profoundly is a terrible loss. It literally changes one’s world because without that loved […]
By Ray Hill Ohio and Virginia vie for having produced the most Presidents of the United States. William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding were all from Ohio. William Henry Harrison was actually born in Virginia, but served as […]
By Ray Hill Carroll Reece had served in Congress for a decade before unexpectedly losing reelection in the 1930 general election. Reece had been upset by Oscar B. Lovette, who had held several local offices as a Republican, but who ran in 1930 as an Independent. Waging an intense campaign over a period of ten […]
By Ray Hill Brazilla Carroll Reece had served for ten years in the U. S. House of Representatives before being upset in the 1930 general election by Oscar Byrd Lovette of Greeneville, Tennessee. Reece never stopped campaigning to return for Congress and he and O. B. Lovette fought two bitter contests in the 1932 election. […]
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