by design | Mar 5, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
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...
by design | Feb 26, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
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...
by design | Feb 19, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
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...
by design | Feb 12, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
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...
by design | Feb 5, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
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...
by design | Jan 29, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
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...