By Ray Hill For years, Ben W. Hooper was the most successful Republican politician in the state of Tennessee, if the measure was the ability to win a statewide election. A fiery and dynamic speaker, Hooper was a successful lawyer, yet he had overcome serious adversity...

Published March 26, 2012 By Ray Hill The modern history of Memphis is inextricably tied to that of Edward Hull Crump. “Mister” Crump was indisputably a political boss in a region of the country where political bosses did not normally flourish. Political bosses were...

By Ray Hill Buford Ellington is perhaps best remembered today for being one of Tennessee’s “leap-frog” governors, alternating terms with Frank Clement.  For almost twenty years, Clement and Ellington ruled Tennessee from the governor’s office. Ellington was not a...

By Ray Hill Election fraud is nothing new to politics, nor to Tennessee politics, for that matter.  In some states, it was a staple of the election cycle. Charges of election fraud in Tennessee elections have been almost common place throughout history.  William G....

By Ray Hill Just after the turn of the century, Tennessee’s Democratic Party became almost hopelessly fractured.  The candidacies of two men helped to heal the deep divisions inside the Democratic Party in Tennessee: that of Kenneth D. McKellar for the United States...