By Ray Hill Only two weeks remained before Tennesseans trooped to the polls to cast their ballots in the 1948 election. Voters had an unusually large number of choices in the presidential race; Democrat Harry Truman, Republican Thomas E. Dewey, States’ Rights...

By Ray Hill Political bosses are found in every shape and form, but perhaps no state in the union has been more accustomed to bosses than Pennsylvania. Joseph Finch Guffey was born in Guffey’s Station on December 29, 1870. Guffey’s father was a staunch Democrat in...

By Ray Hill For the first time in decades, Republicans in Tennessee were seriously contesting the race for the United States Senate in 1948. In fact, Republicans had fielded a compelling statewide ticket composed of former congressman Carroll Reece for the Senate and...

By Ray Hill Political parties are not successful simply because of the candidates running to represent those parties, but rather because of issues and those people working hard in the background.  The infrastructure of a political party is very important to overall...

By Ray Hill Republicans across the nation confidently expected to win back the White House after sixteen long years out of power. The GOP had won both houses of Congress in the 1946 midterm elections. The Republican National Chairman at the time was a Tennessean:...

By Ray Hill Even today people remember the “Battle of Athens.”  At the time it occurred in 1946, it was also known as the “Battle of the Ballots.”  The closest thing the election battle resembled was a Latin American revolution.  While tensions had been simmering for...

By Ray Hill With E. H. Crump saying little or nothing about whether or not he would support the state or national Democratic tickets in Shelby County, the general election campaign in Tennessee continued to be hard-fought. John G. Townsend was a former United States...

By Ray Hill Tennessee is no stranger to political machines, the best known of which was that of Edward Hull Crump of Memphis. Yet the Shelby County organization was hardly the only functioning political operation in Tennessee. Crump’s machine was largely confined to...

By Ray Hill   Much as it will surprise many readers, there was a time - - -  a very long time indeed - - - when Tennessee was almost entirely a one-party state.  Elections were decided inside the Democratic primaries.  The highest office any Republican to could...

John Sharp Williams of Mississippi By Ray Hill  At a time when folks have little or no respect for their officeholders, it may be difficult to imagine the better part of the people of an entire state having affection and reverence for their representative in Congress....