Machine Man: Barratt O’Hara of Illinois By Ray Hill There have been numerous political machines throughout the country; some infamous still to this day. Most of those political machines were to be found in big cities. Tennessee had two active political machines, both...

Mr. Revercomb of West Virginia By Ray Hill Stephen Jones of Oklahoma was a personal friend and the biographer of Senator Chapman Revercomb of West Virginia. As Mr. Jones wrote, Revercomb, especially in his second term, looked as if he were made to wear the senatorial...

Appointing a Senator: John D. Hoblitzell Jr. of West Virginia By Ray Hill The process for replacing congressmen and U.S. senators is quite different.  When a congressman resigns or dies in office, that vacancy must be filled by calling a special election.  When a...

John Sparkman of Alabama By Ray Hill For forty-two years, John Sparkman served the people of Alabama in either the U.S. House of Representatives or the United States Senate.  An enthusiastic advocate for the Tennessee Valley Authority, Sparkman was considered a...

Re-electing the Senator: The Final Campaign of William B. Bate By Ray Hill By 1903, only two men had ever been elected to a fourth term in the United States Senate from the State of Tennessee: Isham G. Harris and William B. Bate. The two men had several things in...

Life With Wild Bill By Ray Hill George Graham Vest, an outstanding attorney and U. S. senator from Missouri, is still remembered to this day for his tribute to dogs.  Vest had been hired by Charles Burden whose dog, Old Drum, had been killed by his brother-in-law,...

The Tribune’s Sentinel: Charles Wayland Brooks By Ray Hill From 1940 until 1949, Charles Wayland Brooks served in the United States Senate.  A successful attorney who had fought in the First World War, Brooks was known to his friends as “Curly” because of his hair;...

Raymond E. Willis of Indiana By Ray Hill Raymond Eugene Willis was literally born into the printing business. His father, Frank, had been a veteran of the Civil War and owned the Waterloo Press. The son of “a country editor” and one of six brothers and eight children,...

Legislative Craftsman: Robert F. Wagner of New York By Ray Hill Robert Ferdinand Wagner was born in Germany and rose to become a towering figure in the United States Senate.  Eight-year-old Bob Wagner and his parents left their village near Wiesbaden for the United...

The Merry Mortician: Kenneth S. Wherry of Nebraska By Ray Hill Kenneth Spicer Wherry is completely unknown to most readers today, but the Nebraskan was one of the better-known members of the United States Senate during his time. A superlative salesman, Wherry had...