by design | Mar 19, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Virtually anything can happen in politics. The fight for one man, one vote had finally brought about a change in reapportionment, giving urban counties more representation, since districts were drawn according to population. The rural domination of...
by design | Mar 12, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Watkins Overton had been the longest-serving mayor of Memphis when he had been called back to office in 1949. Overton was easily reelected to a four-year term in 1951. Once again, Overton was thwarted by the personal pique of Edward Hull Crump. A...
by design | Mar 5, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill It is truly rare for a politician to be a fixture of the politics of his or her community, state or nation. It does happen, but those political figures whose influence and or service span generations are rare. Ken Hechler was one of those scarce...
by design | Feb 26, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
The Last Campaign: Overton vs. Orgill By Ray Hill The story of Samuel Watkins Overton is as interesting as it was turbulent. Overton came from one of Tennessee’s most aristocratic families; his great-great-grandfather John Overton was one of the Volunteer State’s...
by design | Feb 19, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Henry Clay Evans had been elected to Congress from Tennessee’s Third Congressional District in 1888 as a Republican. His victory had been a profound shock to local Democrats who promptly gerrymandered his district and castigated the congressman for his...
by design | Feb 12, 2023 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Ray Hill Robert A. “Fats” Everett lay ailing in Nashville’s Veterans Hospital. For decades the 6-foot-4 congressman, whose weight teetered between 255 and 370 pounds, had been a fixture in Tennessee politics. Everett had learned politics from some of the...
