By Ray Hill After Congressman J. Will Taylor died suddenly on November 14, 1939, there was not unexpectedly, a fight inside the Republican Party to succeed him.  The nominee was to be named in a convention by the counties comprising Tennessee’s Second Congressional...

By Ray Hill When Congressman J. Will Taylor died on November 14, 1939, it sent shock waves through Tennessee’s political community.  Taylor had long been enormously popular inside Tennessee’s Second Congressional district and “Hillbilly Bill” had exercised...

By Ray Hill Former three-term Prentice Cooper, consigned to the political sidelines following his defeat for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate by Albert Gore in 1958, lived in the beautiful red brick mansion built by his father in 1904.  Cooper...

By Ray Hill Prentice Cooper had served as governor of Tennessee for six years, the only man ever to be elected to three consecutive two-year terms in modern history. Cooper’s tenure covered the entire period when the United States was fighting a bloody war all across...

By Ray Hill The race for the United States Senate in Tennessee in 1970 was one of the most closely watched races in the country that year.  The race between Congressman Bill Brock, the Republican nominee, and incumbent Senator Albert Gore had national implications. ...

By Ray Hill Congressman Bill Brock’s decision not to run for governor of Tennessee opened the field to a plethora of candidates and for the first time in Volunteer State history serious candidates populated both the Republican and Democratic primaries. Brock opted to...

By Ray Hill Congressmen Bill Brock and Jimmy Quillen, along with their newly elected colleague John Duncan, gave a dinner for Republican legislators after the 1964 election.  Howard Baker attended the dinner and was surprised when the legislators unanimously announced...

By Ray Hill Bill Brock formally announced his bid for a second term in Congress on June 1, 1964. Within weeks of Brock’s reelection announcement, “Bookie” Turner announced he was withdrawing from the Congressional race. Turner said he had only taken the plunge as a...

  By Ray Hill Senator Gore admitted if the Republicans fielded a strong candidate his reelection campaign would be “a tough race.”  Gore also opined Bill Brock would likely be the strongest candidate the Republicans could run against him, but the senator said he...

By Ray Hill W. “Ned” Carmack’s campaign for the United States Senate ended on a dusty road in rural West Tennessee under circumstances never resolved. Carmack’s wife Charlotte arrived to whisk him home to Murfreesboro, where Carmack spent some time in a hospital....