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...
Ephemeral Figures, Always Floating By: Marion Carpenter
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...
The Tennessee Nightingale: Grace Moore
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...
Eleanor ‘Cissy’ Patterson, Publisher & Personality
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,...
Life with Wild Bill
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...
George H. Bender of Ohio
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...
Carroll Reece: Tennessee’s ‘Mr. Republican’ Part 15
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....
Carroll Reece: Tennessee’s ‘Mr. Republican’ Part 14
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....
Carroll Reece: Tennessee’s ‘Mr. Republican’ Part 13
By Ray Hill Carroll Reece had first been elected to Congress from Tennessee’s First District in 1920 when he defeated Congressman Sam R. Sells inside the Republican primary. Sells had served for a decade before losing to Reece, who had been recognized for his bravery...
Ernest McFarland of Arizona
By Ray Hill Outside of Arizona, few people remember Ernest McFarland save for the man Barry Goldwater beat to get to the United States Senate. Yet Ernest McFarland was much more than a rudimentary politician. McFarland rose from county judge to United States...
-
Edward Hull Crump: The Boss, Part VII
By Ray Hill Despite...
-
The U.S. Senate In The Age of McKellar: 1917 – 1953
By Ray Hill Kenneth...
-
The Senator’s Secretary: D. W. McKellar
By Ray Hill...
-
A Feudin’ Son of Tennessee: Kenneth McKellar Chapter 1
By Ray Hill It will...
-
A Feudin’ Son of Tennessee: Kenneth McKellar Chapter 2
By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar...
-
A Feudin’ Son of Tennessee: Kenneth McKellar, Chapter 3
By Ray Hill Even as a...