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...

By Ray Hill While it might be difficult for readers to believe, once upon a time, Massachusetts was largely a Republican state. The first political dynasty was not the Kennedys, but rather the Lodges. There is the old bit of doggerel, “And this is good old Boston, the...

By Ray Hill There is likely no more fickle mistress than that of politics.  Political success for any person is always a combination of many things, not the least of which are timing and good fortune.  Momentary popularity can be washed away in a tide of ill fortune,...

By Ray Hill Senator Estes Kefauver won a resounding reelection victory in 1960 after facing a bitter primary contest with Judge Andrew “Tip” Taylor.  It was to be his last campaign. Kefauver never relied on the usual gift of the Southern politician, oratory.  A...

By Ray Hill Estes Kefauver had been in the United States Senate for twelve years in 1960.  He had quickly risen to national prominence, making two serious bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952 and 1956.  Kefauver had crushed a determined opposition...

By Ray Hill Tennessee’s Senator Estes Kefauver had once again bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1956.  Unlike 1952, Kefauver had encountered stiff competition from various other candidates.  Former Illinois governor and 1952 Democratic presidential...

By Ray Hill Senator Estes Kefauver had demolished his opposition inside the 1954 Democratic primary and he had been reelected to a second term that fall easily. Almost immediately following his reelection, Senator Kefauver began considering another run for the...

By Ray Hill Senator Estes Kefauver had made a spirited bid for the 1952 Democratic presidential nomination, only to lose to a candidate who had never entered the first primary and remained coy until the last minute.  Kefauver was profoundly disappointed but that did...