By Ray Hill Many have long misunderstood U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar and his complex relations with the Tennessee Valley Authority; in fact, some still perceive McKellar to have been an opponent of the TVA.  The fact is the TVA proved to be so popular in Tennessee...

  By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar was well established in the nation’s Capitol and by 1942 had served longer in the Senate than any of his colleagues save for E. D. “Cotton Ed” Smith of South Carolina.  He still possessed the piercing blue eyes of his youth,...

  By Ray Hill America’s entry in World War II brought significant changes to society and to Washington, D. C.  The population of the nation’s Capitol quite nearly doubled over a period of months; rationing went into effect, affecting the availability of meat,...

  By Ray Hill Senator Kenneth McKellar had been overwhelmingly reelected to an unprecedented (for Tennessee) fifth term in 1940.  It was during the decade of the forties that K. D. McKellar earned his reputation as a feudist and reached the peak of his influence...

  By Ray Hill By 1940, Kenneth McKellar had represented Tennessee in the United States Senate longer than any other man.  At seventy-one, the senator showed no signs of slowing down, much less retiring.  McKellar loved his job and was quite good at it.  It was...

By Ray Hill E. H. Crump, leader of the Shelby County political machine, had been bitterly disappointed by his favored candidate for the 1936 gubernatorial nomination, Gordon Browning.  Crump and U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar had disagreed over the gubernatorial...

By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar was Tennessee’s senior United States Senator and had been reelected easily in 1934 for another six-year term.  McKellar had carried with him his junior colleague Nathan L. Bachman and Governor Hill McAlister.  The alliance between McKellar...

By Ray Hill Kenneth McKellar was sixty-five years old in 1934 as he sought reelection to a fourth term in the United States Senate.  Congressman Gordon Browning had thought to challenge McKellar, but decided against it when he could get not a single pledge of...

  By Ray Hill The political partnership of U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar and Memphis Boss Ed Crump had made them the masters of Tennessee politics by 1933.  The correspondence between the two was voluminous, as they discussed appointments, political developments...

  By Ray Hill The collapse of the House of Caldwell not only destroyed Governor Henry Horton politically, but Luke Lea as well.  The governor, by the slimmest of margins, only narrowly escaped being impeached.  The fall of Caldwell and Company would have far...