By Ray Hill Governor Albert B. “Happy” Chandler had badly lost his bid to defeat Senator Alben W. Barkley for the United States Senate in 1938. The death of Kentucky’s other senator, Marvel M. Logan, gave Chandler the opportunity to go to the Senate. Chandler resigned...

By Ray Hill Huey Long’s rise to power began with his election to the Louisiana Public Service Commission.  He ran a surprisingly strong race for the gubernatorial nomination in 1924 when only thirty years old, but lost to Henry Fuqua.  Governor Fuqua died two years...

By Ray Hill “Always take the offensive - - - the defensive ain’t worth a damn.” So said Louisiana’s self designated “Kingfish,” Huey P. Long. Huey took his own advice and remained on the offensive until the day he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet. Huey Pierce...

By Ray Hill Before the age of television, blue shirts and blow-dried hair, Tennessee had some of the most colorful political figures anywhere. Amongst those was Malcolm Rice Patterson, a Congressman and governor of Tennessee. A veteran of some of the most hard fought...

By Ray Hill   Hill McAlister very much wanted to be governor of Tennessee and made repeated efforts before finally achieving his goal.  Once in office, McAlister found it bit tougher than he likely expected. McAlister was born in Nashville on July 15, 1875 and...