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 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...

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...

Jesse Wolcott of Michigan By Ray Hill Short, chunky, and bespectacled, Jesse Wolcott looked more like a small town lawyer or accountant than the ideal of a congressman. Yet the framers of the Constitution meant for the House of Representatives to be the people’s House...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, Part VI By Ray Hill Dan Kuykendall’s family had originally followed a very famous Tennessean to Texas; the Kuykendalls left their West Tennessee home to go to Texas with Sam Houston.  Dan Kuykendall had returned to...

Daniel A. Reed of New York By Ray Hill At the time of his death, Daniel Alden Reed of New York was the senior Republican in the House of Representatives, having served forty years in Congress. Only two Democrats had served longer than Reed; Speaker Sam Rayburn of...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, Part V By Ray Hill Texas native Dan Kuykendall had settled in Memphis, Tennessee.  Like many others, Kuykendall came to Tennessee because of a job.  Kuykendall had been a regional manager for Proctor & Gamble. ...

Knoxville’s Lawyer & Statesman: Hobart F. Atkins By Ray Hill Like all things, Hobart Freeman Atkins long ago passed into the pages of history.  And like so many others, Hobart F. Atkins deserves to be remembered.  When he died, the Knoxville News-Sentinel...

Tennessee’s Modern Republican Party: Dan Kuykendall, part IV By Ray Hill Both of Tennessee’s seats in the United States Senate had been up for election in 1964 due to the death of Estes Kefauver in 1963. Republicans in the Volunteer State had run two serious...

‘Big Bill’ Thompson of Chicago By Ray Hill William Hale Thompson enjoyed a long political career in a city known for its corruption.  “Big Bill” Thompson was the last Republican to be elected mayor of Chicago.  A modern political showman without being burdened with...