By Ray Hill Sergeant Alvin York was already quite famous when Warner Brother’s studio released a movie based on his life in 1941. The film would go on to become the highest grossing movie of the year, making York even more famous. Sergeant York topped Clark Gable and Lana Turner in Honky Tonk and Bob […]
Tennesseans and the New Deal By Ray Hill Few people today can imagine the suffering during the Great Depression; the Depression brought hardship, hunger and homelessness to millions of people throughout the United States. At the same time, many Americans were plagued by the terrible dust storms caused by a drought, accompanied by winds, that […]
By Ray Hill William Anderson was a rare commodity in Tennessee: a military hero who was a liberal, representing a largely rural district. After commanding the submarine Nautilus and making the first successful run under the polar ice cap surrounding the North Pole, Bill Anderson came home to Tennessee and entered politics. From the very […]
Tom Murray of Tennessee By Ray Hill Lest anyone believes being elected to Congress is glamorous and allows one to bask in the limelight of attention by the press and the public, there are far more congressmen slogging through the daily chores that make up a congressman’s day. Even today one only has to listen […]
By Ray Hill Pat Sutton, congressman from Tennessee’s Seventh District, had been renominated over a strong opponent in the 1950 election and reelected that fall. Clearly ambitious, Sutton, like several other Tennessee politicians, was carefully watching Tennessee’s senior United States senator, Kenneth D. McKellar. The venerable McKellar was Tennessee’s longest serving U. S. senator (and […]
By Ray Hill Genuine war hero, sheriff, accused counterfeiter, convict and U. S. congressman from Tennessee, Pat Sutton was, if anything, a colorful character. It may be difficult for some readers to imagine today, but the entire country had been unified in winning World War II. White, black and brown; men and women; even Republicans […]
A Tennessean on the U.S. Supreme Court By Ray Hill I daresay few of my readers recall a Knoxvillian once sat on the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Edward Terry Sanford served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1923 until his unexpected death in 1930. Sanford had been the judge […]
Senator K. D. McKellar vs. Drew Pearson By Ray Hill Kenneth D. McKellar was the first person ever to be popularly elected to the United States Senate in Tennessee. McKellar was also Tennessee’s longest serving senator, a record that remains unbroken. All told, K. D. McKellar spent forty-two years in Congress; six in the House […]
By Ray Hill With less than a week left before Tennesseans went to the polls to cast their ballots to elect a president, as well as fill both of the Volunteer State’s seats in the United States Senate, the candidates campaign frenetically. Senator Albert Gore hammered home his populist message, while Congressman Ross Bass, running […]
By Ray Hill With just weeks before Tennesseans went to the polls, candidates hustled for votes in October of 1964. Tennessee, once solidly Democratic, had become a battleground state. Tennessee had supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in all four of his presidential campaigns, as well as Harry Truman in 1948 over the fierce opposition of E. […]
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