by Ray Hill | Feb 2, 2014 | Archives, Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives
By Ray Hill By 1946 Estes Kefauver had been in Congress for seven years and was contemplating a race against Tennessee’s most powerful political figure, United States Senator Kenneth D. McKellar. Although little known outside his own Congressional district, Kefauver...
by Ray Hill | Jan 26, 2014 | Archives, Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Estes Kefauver had started out his political life allied to the ruling faction in Tennessee politics; that of senior Senator Kenneth D. McKellar and E. H. Crump, leader of the Shelby County political machine. With his election to Congress in 1939,...
by Ray Hill | Jan 19, 2014 | Archives, Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives
By Ray Hill Congressman Sam D. McReynolds had first been elected in 1922 and had been reelected consistently ever since. McReynolds had been highly popular in Tennessee’s Third Congressional district and he had routinely easily turned back every challenger inside the...
by Ray Hill | Jan 12, 2014 | Archives, Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives
By Ray Hill My grandmother was from Madisonville, Tennessee and I recall very well her traveling from her home in Maryville to attend the funeral of Senator Estes Kefauver in August of 1963. She retained a fondness for Senator Kefauver throughout her life and never...
by Ray Hill | Dec 22, 2013 | Archives, Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives
By Ray Hill For years, Ben W. Hooper was the most successful Republican politician in the state of Tennessee, if the measure was the ability to win a statewide election. A fiery and dynamic speaker, Hooper was a successful lawyer, yet he had overcome serious...
by Ray Hill | Dec 8, 2013 | Archives, Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Senator Albert Gore was campaigning hard for a fourth term in 1970. Gore had fended off a determined challenge in the Democratic primary from Governor Buford Ellington’s former press secretary, Hudley Crockett. Senator Gore’s opposition to the...