Kenneth Douglas McKellar (January 29, 1869 – October 25, 1957) was an American politician from Tennessee who served as a United States Representative from 1911 until 1917 and as a United States Senator from 1917 until 1953. A Democrat , he served longer in both houses of Congress than anyone else in Tennessee history.
163-493: Carey Estes Kefauver ( / ˈ ɛ s t ɪ s ˈ k iː f ɔː v ər / EST -iss KEE -faw-vər ; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee . A member of the Democratic Party , he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the U.S. Senate from 1949 until his death in 1963. After leading a much-publicized investigation into organized crime in
326-641: A Cherokee town preceding the first European American settlement. Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later the Southwest Territory , before its admission to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. It earned the nickname "The Volunteer State" due to a strong tradition of military service. A slave state until the American Civil War , Tennessee was politically divided, with most of its western and middle parts supporting
489-672: A county seat . The state has 340 municipalities in total. The Office of Management and Budget designates ten metropolitan areas in Tennessee, four of which extend into neighboring states. Kenneth McKellar (politician) Only a few other congressmen in American history have served longer in both houses. McKellar was a native of Dallas County, Alabama . He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1891 and its law school in 1892. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee and
652-683: A series of sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville organized by the Nashville Student Movement resulted in the desegregation of facilities in the city. On April 4, 1968, James Earl Ray assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis. King had traveled there to support striking African American sanitation workers . The 1962 U.S. Supreme Court case Baker v. Carr arose out of
815-636: A temperate deciduous forest biome commonly known as the Eastern Deciduous Forest. It has eight ecoregions : the Blue Ridge , Ridge and Valley , Central Appalachian, Southwestern Appalachian, Interior Low Plateaus , Southeastern Plains, Mississippi Valley Loess Plains, and Mississippi Alluvial Plain regions. Tennessee is the most biodiverse inland state, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
978-556: A 2-to-1 margin. Kefauver voted in favor of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . In 1962, Kefauver, who had become known to the public at large as the chief enemy of crooked businessmen in the Senate, introduced legislation that would eventually pass into law as the Kefauver-Harris Drug Control Act . This bill, which Kefauver dubbed his "finest achievement" in consumer protection, imposed controls on
1141-593: A Cherokee faction loyal to the British led by Dragging Canoe , opposed the settling of the Washington District and Transylvania Colony, and in 1776 attacked Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals. The warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin Nancy Ward spared many settlers' lives from the initial attacks. In 1779, James Robertson and John Donelson led two groups of settlers from the Washington District to
1304-815: A French expedition led by missionary Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi River and became the first Europeans to map the Mississippi Valley. In 1682, an expedition led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle constructed Fort Prudhomme on the Chickasaw Bluffs in West Tennessee. By the late 17th century, French traders began to explore the Cumberland River valley, and in 1714, under Charles Charleville's command, established French Lick,
1467-598: A budding career as an artist, she changed focus after her marriage and worked diligently and effectively for her husband's campaigns. The couple raised four children, one of them adopted. Mrs. Kefauver died November 20, 1967. Moved by his role as attorney for the Chattanooga News , Kefauver became interested in local politics and sought election to the Tennessee Senate in 1938. He lost but in 1939 spent two months as Finance and Taxation Commissioner under
1630-549: A challenge to the longstanding rural bias of apportionment of seats in the Tennessee legislature and established the principle of " one man, one vote ". The construction of Interstate 40 through Memphis became a national talking point on the issue of eminent domain and grassroots lobbying when the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) attempted to construct the highway through the city's Overton Park . A local activist group spent many years contesting
1793-526: A consistently liberal newspaper that served as a focus for anti-Crump sentiment in the state. His constituency included many prominent citizens, whose views were considerably less liberal than his, but who admired him for his integrity. Despite opposition from the Crump machine, Kefauver won the Democratic nomination, which in those days was tantamount to election in Tennessee. His victory is widely seen as
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#17327936107741956-798: A cooler mountain temperate or humid continental climate . The Gulf of Mexico is the dominant factor in Tennessee's climate, with winds from the south responsible for most of the state's annual precipitation. Generally, the state has hot summers and mild to cool winters with generous precipitation throughout the year. The highest average monthly precipitation usually occurs between December and April. The driest months, on average, are August to October. The state receives an average of 50 inches (130 cm) of precipitation annually. Snowfall ranges from 5 inches (13 cm) in West Tennessee to over 80 inches (200 cm) in East Tennessee's highest mountains. Summers are generally hot and humid, with most of
2119-568: A fourth term by the Tennessee General Assembly , but he died five days into this term, while Senator Isham G. Harris also died early in his fourth term. Senator Joseph Anderson was elected by the General Assembly to three full terms plus the balance of the term of William Blount , who had been expelled from the Senate. In 1952 McKellar stood for a seventh term (the first Senator to do so), despite being 83. He
2282-700: A fur trading settlement at the present location of Nashville near the Cumberland River . In 1739, the French constructed Fort Assumption under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville on the Mississippi River at the present location of Memphis, which they used as a base against the Chickasaw during the 1739 Campaign of the Chickasaw Wars . In the 1750s and 1760s, longhunters from Virginia explored much of East and Middle Tennessee. Settlers from
2445-739: A group of Overmountain Men from Fort Watauga to the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina, where they defeated the British. Three counties of the Washington District broke off from North Carolina in 1784 and formed the State of Franklin . Efforts to obtain admission to the Union failed, and the counties, now numbering eight, rejoined North Carolina by 1788. North Carolina ceded
2608-908: A marriage". The federal courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee , was renamed the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and United States Courthouse in his honor. One of the libraries at the University of Tennessee was also named for him; his papers are held there. The bridge over Pickwick Dam in Counce, Tennessee is named Estes Kefauver Bridge. One of the two city parks in Madisonville, Tennessee, is named Kefauver Park in his honor, as well. 1956 United States presidential election (vice president's seat) Tennessee Tennessee ( / ˌ t ɛ n ɪ ˈ s iː / , locally / ˈ t ɛ n ɪ s i / ), officially
2771-662: A more diversified economy. This was aided in part by massive federal investment in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the city of Oak Ridge , which was established during World War II to house the Manhattan Project 's uranium enrichment facilities for the construction of the world's first atomic bombs . After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became a key center of scientific research. The state's economy
2934-796: A new Presidential Succession Act , restoring both the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate to the succession ahead of Cabinet secretaries. By the time the law came into effect, McKellar was no longer in the position of President pro tempore, as the Republicans had gained the majority in the 80th Congress . Truman vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 to restrict labor unions, which McKellar had favored. Truman selected Alben Barkley of Kentucky as his running mate in
3097-473: A pet coon, but I'm not Boss Crump's pet coon." To win election to the Senate, Kefauver defeated the incumbent Tom Stewart in the 1948 Democratic primary. Kefauver was backed by the influential editor Edward J. Meeman of the Memphis Press-Scimitar , who had long fought the Crump machine for its corruption and stranglehold over Memphis politics. After he went on to win both the primary and
3260-569: A population of 35,691 in the first United States census that year, including 3,417 slaves. As support for statehood grew among the settlers, Governor Blount called for elections, which were held in December 1793. The 13-member territorial House of Representatives first convened in Knoxville on February 24, 1794, to select ten members for the legislature's upper house, the council. The full legislature convened on August 25, 1794. In June 1795,
3423-566: A prolonged feud with FDR's appointee to head the TVA, David E. Lilienthal . As ranking member of the Appropriations Committee McKellar, who was an avid supporter of property rights, successfully forced the TVA to properly reimburse landowners whose property was taken over by the TVA for such purposes as dam building and creation of lakes or reservoirs. Prior to McKellar's threats to withhold Federal appropriations for
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#17327936107743586-478: A second referendum on secession by a 69–31% margin, becoming the last state to secede. In response, East Tennessee Unionists organized a convention in Knoxville with the goal of splitting the region to form a new state loyal to the Union. In the fall of 1861, Unionist guerrillas in East Tennessee burned bridges and attacked Confederate sympathizers, leading the Confederacy to invoke martial law in parts of
3749-544: A tight 1950 reelection race against former Illinois Representative Everett Dirksen , Lucas urged Kefauver to keep his investigation away from an emerging Chicago police scandal until after election day, but Kefauver refused. Election-eve publication of stolen secret committee documents hurt the Democratic Party in Cook County , cost Lucas the election, and gave Dirksen national prominence as the man who defeated
3912-632: Is characterized by relatively level plains dotted by rolling hills, and the Western Highland Rim and western Nashville Basin are covered with uneven rounded knobs with steep ravines separated by meandering streams. The Nashville Basin has rich, fertile farmland, and porous limestone bedrock very close to the surface underlies both the Nashville Basin and Eastern Highland Rim. This results in karst that forms numerous caves, sinkholes, depressions, and underground streams. West of
4075-420: Is dominated by the health care , music , finance , automotive , chemical , electronics , and tourism sectors, and cattle , soybeans , poultry , corn , and cotton are its primary agricultural products. Tennessee has played a major role in the development of many forms of popular music , including country , blues , rock and roll , soul , and gospel . Tennessee derives its name most directly from
4238-400: Is far enough from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a hurricane, its location makes it susceptible to the remnants of tropical cyclones , which weaken over land and can cause significant rainfall. The state annually averages about 50 days of thunderstorms, which can be severe with large hail and damaging winds. Tornadoes are possible throughout the state, with West and Middle Tennessee
4401-786: Is in the Green River watershed. All three of these basins are tributaries of the Ohio River watershed. Most of West Tennessee is in the Lower Mississippi River watershed. The entirety of the state is in the Mississippi River watershed , except for a small sliver near the southeastern corner traversed by the Conasauga River , which is part of the Mobile Bay watershed. Tennessee is within
4564-650: Is known as the Trail of Tears , and an estimated 4,000 died along the way. As settlers pushed west of the Cumberland Plateau, a slavery-based agrarian economy took hold in these regions. Cotton planters used extensive slave labor on large plantation complexes in West Tennessee's fertile and flat terrain after the Jackson Purchase. Cotton also took hold in the Nashville Basin during this time. Entrepreneurs such as Montgomery Bell used slaves in
4727-548: Is related to Henry Nickey, an MUS Basketball star, and was admitted to the state bar the same year. McKellar joined the Democratic Party , which dominated the politics of West Tennessee, where plantations were historically and economically important. He was first elected to the House in a special election in November 1911 to succeed George W. Gordon in Tennessee's 10th congressional district , which included Memphis. He won
4890-576: Is relatively distinct, but the western escarpment is irregular, containing several long, crooked stream valleys separated by rocky cliffs with numerous waterfalls . The Cumberland Mountains , with peaks above 3,500 feet (1,100 m), comprise the northeastern part of the Appalachian Plateau in Tennessee, and the southeastern part of the Cumberland Plateau is divided by the Sequatchie Valley . The Cumberland Trail traverses
5053-587: Is the most biodiverse national park, and the Duck River is the most biologically diverse waterway in North America. The Nashville Basin is renowned for its diversity of flora and fauna. Tennessee is home to 340 species of birds, 325 freshwater fish species, 89 mammals, 77 amphibians, and 61 reptiles. Forests cover about 52% of Tennessee's land area, with oak–hickory the dominant type. Appalachian oak–pine and cove hardwood forests are found in
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5216-401: Is water. It is the 16th smallest state in land area. The state is about 440 miles (710 km) long from east to west and 112 miles (180 km) wide from north to south. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, economically, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions : East Tennessee , Middle Tennessee , and West Tennessee . It borders eight other states: Kentucky and Virginia to
5379-525: The Manumission Intelligencier (later The Emancipator ), the nation's first exclusively anti-slavery newspaper. At the onset of the American Civil War , most Middle and West Tennesseans favored efforts to preserve their slavery-based economies, but many Middle Tennesseans were initially skeptical of secession. In East Tennessee, most people favored remaining in the Union. In 1860, slaves composed about 25% of Tennessee's population,
5542-659: The 1948 presidential election . When Democrats regained control of the Senate following the 1948 elections , McKellar again became President pro tempore. He was second in line for the presidency (behind the Speaker of the House) from January 3, 1949 until January 20, 1949, when Alben Barkley took office as Vice President of the United States. McKellar also served as chairman of the Civil Service Committee , Post Office and Road Committee, and, most notably,
5705-429: The 2020 United States census is approximately 6.9 million. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of East , Middle , and West Tennessee . Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Tennessee has diverse terrain and landforms, and from east to west, contains a mix of cultural features characteristic of Appalachia ,
5868-527: The American Medical Association (whose journal , for example, received millions of dollars in drug advertising and was, therefore, reluctant to challenge claims made by drug company ads)…The drug companies themselves were shown to be engaged in frenzied advertising campaigns designed to sell trade-name versions of drugs that could otherwise be prescribed under generic names at a fraction of the cost; this competition, in turn, had led to
6031-637: The Appalachian Mountains in an effort to mitigate conflicts with the Natives. But migration across the mountains continued, and the first permanent European settlers began arriving in northeastern Tennessee in the late 1760s. Most of them were English , but nearly 20% were Scotch-Irish . They formed the Watauga Association in 1772, a semi-autonomous representative government, and three years later reorganized themselves into
6194-954: The Blue Ridge Mountains , Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , and Cumberland Plateau , part of the Appalachian Mountains ; the Highland Rim and Nashville Basin , part of the Interior Low Plateaus of the Interior Plains ; and the East Gulf Coastal Plain , part of the Atlantic Plains . Other regions include the southern tip of the Cumberland Mountains , the Western Tennessee Valley , and
6357-650: The Chattanooga campaign , Confederates attempted to besiege the Army of the Cumberland into surrendering, but reinforcements from the Army of the Tennessee under the command of Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman , and Joseph Hooker arrived. The Confederates were driven from the city at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in November 1863. Despite Unionist sentiment in East Tennessee, Confederates held
6520-759: The Cherokee town of Tanasi (or "Tanase", in syllabary : ᏔᎾᏏ) in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee , on the Tanasi River, now known as the Little Tennessee River . In 1567, Spanish explorer Captain Juan Pardo and his party encountered a Native American village named "Tanasqui" in the area while traveling inland from modern-day South Carolina ; however, it is unknown if this was the same settlement as Tanasi. The town appeared on British maps as early as 1725. Recent research suggests that
6683-534: The Cherokee National Forest , the Great Smoky Mountains National Park , and several federal wilderness areas and state parks. The Appalachian Trail roughly follows the North Carolina state line before shifting westward into Tennessee. Stretching west from the Blue Ridge Mountains for about 55 miles (89 km) are the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , also known as the Tennessee Valley or Great Valley of East Tennessee. This area consists of linear parallel ridges separated by valleys that trend northeast to southwest,
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6846-487: The Clayton Antitrust Act . In a May 1948 article, which appeared in the American Economic Review , Kefauver also proposed that more staff and money be allocated to the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department , and to the Federal Trade Commission ; that new legislation to make it easier to prosecute big corporations be enacted; and recommended the danger of monopolies should be publicized more. The Kefauver investigation into television and juvenile delinquency in
7009-461: The Colony of South Carolina built Fort Loudoun on the Little Tennessee River in 1756, the first British settlement in what is now Tennessee and the westernmost British outpost to that date. Hostilities erupted between the British and the Cherokees into an armed conflict , and a siege of the fort ended with its surrender in 1760. After the French and Indian War , Britain issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , which forbade settlements west of
7172-406: The Confederacy , and most of the eastern region harboring pro - Union sentiment. As a result, Tennessee was the last state to officially secede from the Union and join the Confederacy , and the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union after the war had ended during the Reconstruction era . During the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from a predominantly agrarian society to
7335-430: The Emancipation Proclamation was announced, Tennessee was largely held by Union forces and thus not among the states enumerated, so it freed no slaves there. Andrew Johnson declared all slaves in Tennessee free on October 24, 1864. On February 22, 1865, the legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting slavery, which was approved by voters the following month, and would go into effect later on in
7498-409: The Great Smoky Mountains , Bald Mountains , Unicoi Mountains , Unaka Mountains , and Iron Mountains . These mountains, which average 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level in Tennessee, contain some of the highest elevations in eastern North America. The state's border with North Carolina roughly follows the highest peaks of this range, including Kuwohi. Most of the Blue Ridge area is protected by
7661-399: The Minnesota primary , winning 245,885 votes compared to Stevenson's 186,723 votes. Kefauver was also victorious in the Wisconsin primary. By April 1956, it appeared that Kefauver would match his spectacular performance in the primaries of four years earlier. But this time, Kefauver had active competition not only from Stevenson, but also from Governor W. Averell Harriman of New York , who
7824-441: The Mississippi Alluvial Plain . The state's highest point, which is also the third-highest peak in eastern North America, is Kuwohi , at 6,643 feet (2,025 m) above sea level. Its lowest point, 178 feet (54 m), is on the Mississippi River at the Mississippi state line in Memphis. Tennessee has the most caves in the United States, with more than 10,000 documented. Geological formations in Tennessee largely correspond with
7987-438: The Mississippi River and McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport (originally "McKellar Field") in Jackson, Tennessee ("MKL") are both named in his honor. McKellar died on October 25, 1957. He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee . Some have speculated that Senator McKellar was the inspiration for the character South Carolina Senator Seabright Cooley in Allen Drury 's novel Advise and Consent . McKellar
8150-425: The Muscogee Creek , Yuchi , and Shawnee . By the early 18th century, most Natives in Tennessee had disappeared, most likely wiped out by diseases introduced by the Spaniards. The Cherokee began migrating into what is now eastern Tennessee from what is now Virginia in the latter 17th century, possibly to escape expanding European settlement and diseases in the north. They forced the Creek, Yuchi, and Shawnee out of
8313-422: The Royal Colonial Boundary of 1665 , but due to faulty surveys, begins north of this line in the east, and to the west, gradually veers north before shifting south onto the actual 36°30′ parallel at the Tennessee River in West Tennessee. Uncertainties in the latter 19th century over the location of the state's border with Virginia culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court settling the matter in 1893 , which resulted in
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#17327936107748476-429: The State of Tennessee , is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia , Alabama , and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. Tennessee's population as of
8639-433: The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition in Nashville. A full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens was designed by architect William Crawford Smith and constructed for the celebration, owing to the city's reputation as the "Athens of the South". Due to increasing racial segregation and poor standards of living, many black Tennesseans fled to industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest as part of
8802-401: The Tennessee River , and the Mississippi River forms its western border. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park , the nation's most visited national park, is in eastern Tennessee. Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association , a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachian Mountains . Its name derives from Tanasi ( ᏔᎾᏏ ),
8965-446: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created in 1933 to provide electricity, jobs, flood control, improved waterway navigation, agricultural development, and economic modernization to the Tennessee River Valley . The TVA built several hydroelectric dams in the state in the 1930s and 1940s, which inundated communities and thousands of farmland acreage, and forcibly displaced families via eminent domain . The agency quickly grew into
9128-435: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operate many hydroelectric dams on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and their tributaries, which form large reservoirs throughout the state. About half the state's land area is in the Tennessee Valley drainage basin of the Tennessee River. The Cumberland River basin covers the northern half of Middle Tennessee and a small portion of East Tennessee. A small part of north-central Tennessee
9291-417: The U.S. Navy captured the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers in February 1862 at the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson . Grant then proceeded south to Pittsburg Landing and held off a Confederate counterattack at Shiloh in April in what was at the time the bloodiest battle of the war. Memphis fell to the Union in June after a naval battle on the Mississippi River. Union strength in Middle Tennessee
9454-402: The Upland South , and the Deep South . The Blue Ridge Mountains along the eastern border reach some of the highest elevations in eastern North America, and the Cumberland Plateau contains many scenic valleys and waterfalls . The central part of the state is marked by cavernous bedrock and irregular rolling hills, and level, fertile plains define West Tennessee. The state is twice bisected by
9617-401: The Washington District to support the cause of the American Revolutionary War . The next year, after an unsuccessful petition to Virginia, North Carolina agreed to annex the Washington District to provide protection from Native American attacks. In 1775, Richard Henderson negotiated a series of treaties with the Cherokee to sell the lands of the Watauga settlements at Sycamore Shoals on
9780-548: The vice presidency became vacant. (The mechanism for filling intra-term vacancies had not yet been created by the 25th Amendment .) McKellar became the permanent Presiding Officer of the United States Senate . Also, as the President pro tempore of the Senate had, prior to 1886, been second in the presidential line of succession , behind only the vice president, Truman viewed McKellar as the logical wartime replacement for himself, and asked McKellar to attend all Cabinet meetings. In 1947 Truman successfully lobbied Congress to pass
9943-544: The whitewater slalom events at the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games were held on the Ocoee River in Polk County . In 2002, Tennessee amended its constitution to establish a lottery . In 2006, the state constitution was amended to outlaw same-sex marriage . This amendment was invalidated by the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges . On December 23, 2008, the largest industrial waste spill in United States history occurred at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant when more than 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry
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#173279361077410106-428: The " New South " era of Southern politics earlier than most of the other Southern states. McKellar wrote a book about his Tennessee predecessors in the Senate called Tennessee Senators as Seen by One of Their Successors (1942). In recent years it has been updated by one of his successors, former Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist . Lake McKellar , bordering the Memphis President's Island industrial area along
10269-406: The "Cotton Capital of the World" during the late 19th century, and Nashville, Knoxville, and several smaller cities saw modest industrialization. Northerners also began exploiting the coalfields and mineral resources in the Appalachian Mountains. To pay off debts and alleviate overcrowded prisons, the state turned to convict leasing , providing prisoners to mining companies as strikebreakers , which
10432-464: The 1956 Southern Manifesto and voting in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 , he faced staunch opposition for renomination from his party's still-thriving pro- segregation wing. Nonetheless, he won the Democratic primary decisively, receiving nearly double the votes of his rival, judge Andrew T. Taylor of Jackson . Kefauver went on to defeat his Republican opponent in the general election, attorney Bradley Frazier of Camden , by more than
10595-475: The 36th and final state necessary to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which gave women the right to vote . In 1925, John T. Scopes , a high school teacher in Dayton , was tried and convicted for teaching evolution in violation of the state's recently passed Butler Act . Scopes was prosecuted by former Secretary of State and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and defended by attorney Clarence Darrow . The case
10758-432: The Appropriations Committee, held the power. He forced Lilienthal to have the TVA pay fair market value for land it appropriated. McKellar twice served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate . Beginning in 1945, he was the first to hold the position under the seniority system that has prevailed since of reserving it for the majority party. When Harry Truman became president in April 1945, upon FDR's death,
10921-416: The Blue Ridge Mountains and Cumberland Plateau, and bottomland hardwood forests are common throughout the Gulf Coastal Plain. Pine forests are also found throughout the state. The Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest in the highest elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains is considered the second-most endangered ecosystem in the country. Some of the last remaining large American chestnut trees grow in
11084-440: The Blue Ridge Mountains and on the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee has the third-highest number of amphibian species, with the Great Smoky Mountains home to the most salamander species in the world. The state ranks second in the nation for the diversity of its freshwater fish species. Most of Tennessee has a humid subtropical climate , with the exception of some of the higher elevations in the Appalachians, which are classified as
11247-405: The Cherokees adapted the name from the Yuchi word Tana-tsee-dgee , meaning "brother-waters-place" or "where-the-waters-meet". The modern spelling, Tennessee , is attributed to Governor James Glen of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. In 1788, North Carolina created " Tennessee County ", and in 1796, a constitutional convention , organizing
11410-593: The Chickasaw to sell the land between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers to the United States, which included all of West Tennessee and became known as the " Jackson Purchase ". The Cherokee moved their capital from Georgia to the Red Clay Council Grounds in southeastern Tennessee in 1832, due to new laws forcing them from their previous capital at New Echota . In 1838 and 1839, U.S. troops forcibly removed thousands of Cherokees and their black slaves from their homes in southeastern Tennessee and forced them to march to Indian Territory in modern-day Oklahoma . This event
11573-481: The Democratic Party do not automatically lead to the nomination itself. Although he began the balloting far ahead of the other declared candidates, Kefauver eventually lost the nomination to Stevenson, the choice of the Democratic Party political bosses . Stevenson, a one-term governor who was up for reelection in 1952, had resisted calls to enter the race, but he was nominated anyway by a " draft Stevenson" movement that had been energized by his eloquent keynote speech on
11736-668: The French Lick. These settlers constructed Fort Nashborough , which they named for Francis Nash , a brigadier general of the Continental Army . The next year, the settlers signed the Cumberland Compact , which established a representative government for the colony called the Cumberland Association . This settlement later grew into the city of Nashville. That same year John Sevier led
11899-769: The Highland Rim is the Western Tennessee Valley , which consists of about 10 miles (16 km) in width of hilly land along the banks of the Tennessee River. West of this is the Gulf Coastal Plain , a broad feature that begins at the Gulf of Mexico and extends northward into southern Illinois . The plain begins in the east with low rolling hills and wide stream valleys, known as the West Tennessee Highlands, and gradually levels out to
12062-536: The House, "Kefauver began to manifest his concern over the growing concentration of economic power in the United States", concentrating much of his legislative efforts on congressional reform and anti-monopoly measures. Among the committees Kefauver chaired was the House Select Committee on Small Business , which investigated economic concentration in the U.S. business world in 1946. That same year, Kefauver also introduced legislation to plug loopholes in
12225-502: The Nashville Basin and are being used to help breed blight -resistant trees. Middle Tennessee is home to many unusual and rare ecosystems known as cedar glades , which occur in areas with shallow limestone bedrock that is largely barren of overlying soil and contain many endemic plant species. Common mammals found throughout Tennessee include white-tailed deer , red and gray foxes , coyotes , raccoons , opossums , wild turkeys , rabbits , and squirrels . Black bears are found in
12388-601: The Senate Judiciary Committee in 1957 and served as its chairman until his death. Carey Estes Kefauver was born in Madisonville, Tennessee , the son of local hardware merchant Robert Cooke Kefauver and his wife Phredonia Bradford Estes. Kefauver was introduced to politics at an early age when his father served as mayor of their hometown. The elder Kefauver would later be an active and enthusiastic helper in his son's campaigns until his death in 1958 at
12551-629: The Senate majority leader. In the 1952 presidential election , Kefauver ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Campaigning in his coonskin cap, often by dogsled , Kefauver won in an electrifying victory in the New Hampshire primary , defeating Harry S. Truman , the sitting president of the United States. Truman then withdrew his bid for re-election. Kefauver won 12 of the 15 primaries in 1952, losing two to " favorite son " candidates and Florida to leading Southern Democrat Richard Russell . He received 3.1 million votes, while
12714-569: The Tennessee Valley Authority was centered in Tennessee, his home state, McKellar reacted to what he thought was harsh TVA treatment of his constituents as a personal affront by Lilienthal. McKellar's threat to withhold funding for purchases of uranium had a much deeper meaning, though. Lilienthal was also closely associated with the Manhattan Project's work to electromagnetically enrich uranium, coincidentally at
12877-557: The Tennessee Valley. McKellar was close ally of Memphis Democratic political boss E. H. Crump . Kenneth McKellar was a crusader for free trade ; he supported the repeal of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff after 1930. Despite his early support for the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), McKellar became more conservative in his political stances. He opposed several of the administration's appointments . He had
13040-472: The U.S. Senate; the abandonment of presidential ambitions led to his most productive years as a senator. While he largely faded from the public eye, he earned the respect of congressional colleagues from both parties for his independence and his sponsorship of a number of important foreign and domestic legislative measures. When he ran for reelection to a third term in 1960, his first and, it would turn out, last attempt at running for office after refusing to sign
13203-456: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Oak Ridge High School in 1955 became the first school in Tennessee to be integrated . The next year, nearby Clinton High School was integrated, and Tennessee National Guard troops were sent in after pro-segregationists threatened violence. Between February and May 1960,
13366-426: The U.S. economy, industry by industry, and it issued a report exposing monopoly prices in the steel, automotive, bread and pharmaceutical industries. In May 1963, Kefauver's subcommittee concluded that within monopolized U.S. industries no real price competition existed anymore and also recommended that General Motors be broken up into competing firms. Kefauver's Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee also held hearings on
13529-534: The Woodland period. Later generations of Woodland peoples constructed the first mounds. Rapid civilizational development occurred during the Mississippian period, when Indigenous peoples developed organized chiefdoms and constructed numerous ceremonial structures throughout the state. Spanish conquistadors who explored the region in the 16th century encountered some of the Mississippian peoples, including
13692-407: The age of 87. Kefauver attended the University of Tennessee and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1924. He was a tackle and guard on his college football team . He taught mathematics and coached football at a Hot Springs, Arkansas , high school for a year before going on to Yale Law School , from which he earned an LL.B. cum laude in 1927. Kefauver practiced law in Chattanooga for
13855-566: The area for most of the war. A few days after the fall of Chattanooga, Confederates led by James Longstreet unsuccessfully campaigned to take control of Knoxville by attacking Union General Ambrose Burnside 's Fort Sanders . The capture of Chattanooga allowed Sherman to launch the Atlanta campaign from the city in May 1864. The last major battles in the state came when Army of Tennessee regiments under John Bell Hood invaded Middle Tennessee in
14018-708: The area to the federal government in 1790, after which it was organized into the Southwest Territory on May 26 of that year. The act allowed the territory to petition for statehood once the population reached 60,000. Administration of the territory was divided between the Washington District and the Mero District, the latter of which consisted of the Cumberland Association and was named for Spanish territorial governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró . President George Washington appointed William Blount as territorial governor. The Southwest Territory recorded
14181-749: The banks of the Watauga River . An agreement to sell land for the Transylvania Colony , which included the territory in Tennessee north of the Cumberland River, was also signed. Later that year, Daniel Boone , under Henderson's employment, blazed a trail from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap , which became part of the Wilderness Road , a major thoroughfare into Tennessee and Kentucky. The Chickamauga,
14344-506: The beginning of the end for the Crump machine's influence in statewide politics. Once in the Senate, Kefauver began to make a name for himself as a crusader for consumer protection laws and antitrust legislation. On civil rights , he was ambivalent: he admitted later that he had difficulty adjusting to the idea of racial integration , and in 1960 he held out to the last in favor of permitting cross-examination of black complainants in voting rights cases. Despite this fact, Kefauver supported
14507-666: The civil rights program generally, and consistently supported organized labor and other movements considered liberal in the South at that time. After being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948, Kefauver guided the Celler–Kefauver Act of 1950, which amended the Clayton Act by plugging loopholes that allowed a corporation to purchase a competing firm's assets, through the U.S. Senate. Between 1957 and 1963, his U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee investigated concentration in
14670-510: The concept of a criminal organization known as the Mafia for the first time. In fact, in 1951, Kefauver appeared as a celebrity guest on the new game show What's My Line? discussing the hearings briefly with the panel, showing how popular these hearings were with early television viewers. Although the hearings boosted Kefauver's political prospects, they helped to end the twelve-year Senate career of Democratic Majority Leader Scott Lucas . In
14833-406: The country's largest electric utility and initiated a period of dramatic economic growth and transformation that brought many new industries and employment opportunities to the state. During World War II , East Tennessee was chosen for the production of weapons-grade fissile enriched uranium as part of the Manhattan Project , a research and development undertaking led by the U.S. to produce
14996-458: The cultural groups who inhabited the area before European contact are unknown, but archaeologists have named several distinct cultural phases, including the Archaic (8000–1000 BC), Woodland (1000 BC–1000 AD), and Mississippian (1000–1600 AD) periods. The Archaic peoples first domesticated dogs, and plants such as squash , corn , gourds , and sunflowers were first grown in Tennessee during
15159-446: The delegates themselves pick his vice-presidential nominee, instead of making that choice himself. Although Stevenson preferred Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts as his running mate, he did not attempt to influence the balloting in any way, and Kefauver eventually received the nomination for vice president. Stevenson lost the November election to Eisenhower by an even bigger margin than in 1952. After his 1956 defeat, Kefauver
15322-468: The division between Middle and West Tennessee. Tennessee's eastern boundary roughly follows the highest crests of the Blue Ridge Mountains , and the Mississippi River forms its western boundary. Due to flooding of the Mississippi that has changed its path, the state's western boundary deviates from the river in some places. The northern border was originally defined as 36°30′ north latitude and
15485-455: The division of Bristol between the two states. An 1818 survey erroneously placed Tennessee's southern border 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the 35th parallel ; Georgia legislators continue to dispute this placement , as it prevents Georgia from accessing the Tennessee River. Marked by a diversity of landforms and topographies, Tennessee features six principal physiographic provinces , from east to west, which are part of three larger regions:
15648-630: The early 1950s, he twice sought his party's nomination for President of the United States . In 1956 , he was selected by the Democratic National Convention to be the running mate of presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson . He continued to hold his U.S. Senate seat after the Stevenson–Kefauver ticket lost to the Eisenhower–Nixon ticket. Kefauver was named chair of the U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee of
15811-521: The eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains. West of the Cumberland Plateau is the Highland Rim , an elevated plain that surrounds the Nashville Basin , a geological dome . Both of these physiographic provinces are part of the Interior Low Plateaus of the larger Interior Plains . The Highland Rim is Tennessee's largest geographic region, and is often split into eastern and western halves. The Eastern Highland Rim
15974-481: The election, he adopted the cap as his trademark and wore it in every successive campaign. He received the cap from journalist Drue Smith . Kefauver was unique in Tennessee politics in his outspoken liberal views, a stand which established a permanent bloc of opposition to him in the state. Kefauver's success—despite his liberal views—was predicated largely on his support by the Nashville Tennessean ,
16137-623: The entirety of East Tennessee from northwestern Alabama to southwestern Virginia, and is considered one of the most active zones in the Southeastern United States, frequently producing low-magnitude earthquakes. The New Madrid seismic zone in the northwestern part of the state produced a series of devastating earthquakes between December 1811 and February 1812 that formed Reelfoot Lake near Tiptonville . The southwestern Blue Ridge Mountains lie within Tennessee's eastern edge, and are divided into several subranges, namely
16300-412: The eventual 1952 Democratic presidential nominee, Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson , got only 78,000 votes. But primaries were not, at that time, the main method of delegate selection for the national convention. Kefauver entered the convention with a few hundred votes still needed for a majority of the delegates. The Kefauver campaign became the classic example of how presidential primary victories in
16463-402: The facility later known as Y-12. Ernest Lawrence 's "electromagnetic" enrichment of uranium at Oak Ridge would eventually use the electricity created by the TVA to enrich the uranium used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima . By threatening to withhold funding for the purchase of uranium, McKellar was demonstrating to Lilienthal that the politician, as ranking member and Acting Chairman of
16626-458: The fact that other states had not yet ratified it. Johnson became vice president when Lincoln was reelected , and president after Lincoln's assassination in May 1865. On July 24, 1866, Tennessee became the first Confederate state to have its elected members readmitted to Congress. The years after the Civil War were characterized by tension and unrest between blacks and former Confederates,
16789-481: The fall of 1864 in an effort to draw Sherman back. They were checked by John Schofield at Franklin in November and completely dispersed by George Thomas at Nashville in December. On April 27, 1865, the worst maritime disaster in American history occurred when the Sultana steamboat, which was transporting freed Union prisoners, exploded in the Mississippi River north of Memphis, killing 1,168 people. When
16952-640: The first wave of the Great Migration between 1915 and 1930. Many residents of rural parts of Tennessee relocated to larger cities during this time for more lucrative employment opportunities. As part of the Temperance movement , Tennessee became the first state in the nation to effectively ban the sale, transportation, and production of alcohol in a series of laws passed between 1907 and 1917. During Prohibition , illicit production of moonshine became extremely common in East Tennessee, particularly in
17115-597: The freedom of doctors and patients, and threatening the viability of the pharmaceutical industry. His legislation seemed likely to fail. However, at the end of 1961, European and Australian doctors reported that an epidemic of children born with deformities of their arms and legs was caused by their use of thalidomide , which was heavily marketed to pregnant women. These positions made him even more unpopular with his state party's machine than ever before, especially after fellow Tennessee senator Albert Gore Sr. , Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas , and he became
17278-544: The general direction of the entire Appalachian range. Most of these ridges are low, but some of the higher ones are commonly called mountains. Numerous tributaries join to form the Tennessee River in the Ridge and Valley region. The Cumberland Plateau rises to the west of the Tennessee Valley, with an average elevation of 2,000 feet (610 m). This landform is part of the larger Appalachian Plateau and consists mostly of flat-topped tablelands . The plateau's eastern edge
17441-526: The juncture of the Holston and French Broad rivers in Knoxville, flows southwest to Chattanooga, and exits into Alabama before reemerging in the western part of the state and flowing north into Kentucky. Its major tributaries include the Clinch , Little Tennessee , Hiwassee , Sequatchie , Elk , Beech , Buffalo , Duck , and Big Sandy rivers. The Cumberland River flows through the north-central part of
17604-678: The legislature allowed African American men to vote, disenfranchised former Confederates, and with martial law, took action against the Ku Klux Klan , which was founded in December 1865 in Pulaski as a vigilante group to advance former Confederates' interests. In 1870, Southern Democrats regained control of the state legislature, and over the next two decades, passed Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation . A total of 251 lynchings , predominately of Black people, took place in Tennessee. A number of epidemics swept through Tennessee in
17767-403: The legislature conducted a census of the territory, which recorded a population of 77,263, including 10,613 slaves, and a poll that showed 6,504 in favor of statehood and 2,562 opposed. Elections for a constitutional convention were held in December 1795, and the delegates convened in Knoxville on January 17, 1796, to begin drafting a state constitution. During this convention, the name Tennessee
17930-408: The long hearings which he held which permitted us to have very effective legislation on hand when this matter became of such strong public interest." On August 8, 1963, Kefauver suffered what was reported as a "mild" heart attack on the floor of the Senate while attempting to place an antitrust amendment into a NASA appropriations bill which would have required companies benefiting financially from
18093-484: The lowest share among the states that joined the Confederacy . Tennessee provided more Union troops than any other Confederate state, and the second-highest number of Confederate troops, behind Virginia. Due to its central location, Tennessee was a crucial state during the war and saw more military engagements than any state except Virginia. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 , secessionists in
18256-603: The magazines that featured them. In 1950, Kefauver headed a U.S. Senate committee investigating organized crime . The committee, officially known as the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce , was popularly known as the Kefauver committee or the Kefauver hearings. The committee held hearings in fourteen cities and heard testimony from over 600 witnesses. Many of
18419-409: The marketing of new drugs that were no improvements on drugs already on the market, but nevertheless heralded as dramatic breakthroughs without proper concern for either effectiveness or safety." At that time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had limited authority to require efficacy standards or disclose risks. Kefauver was accused of expanding the power of government excessively, interfering with
18582-410: The mid-1950s led to an even more intensive investigation in the early 1960s. The new probe came about after people became increasingly concerned over juvenile violence, and the possibility of this behavior being related to violent television programs. His progressive stances on the issues put Kefauver in direct competition with E. H. Crump , the former U.S. Congressman, mayor of Memphis , and boss of
18745-400: The most recent world's fair to be held in the U.S. In 1986, Tennessee held a yearlong celebration of the state's heritage and culture called "Homecoming '86". Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996 with a yearlong celebration called "Tennessee 200". A new state park that traces the state's history, Bicentennial Mall , was opened at the foot of Capitol Hill in Nashville. The same year,
18908-408: The most vulnerable. The state averages 15 tornadoes annually. They can be severe, and the state leads the nation in the percentage of total tornadoes that have fatalities. Winter storms such as in 1993 and 2021 occur occasionally, and ice storms are fairly common. Fog is a persistent problem in some areas, especially in East Tennessee. Tennessee is divided into 95 counties , each of which has
19071-664: The mountains, and continued for many decades afterward. Sgt. Alvin C. York of Fentress County became one of the most famous and honored American soldiers of World War I . He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for single-handedly capturing an entire German machine gun regiment during the Meuse–Argonne offensive . On July 9, 1918, Tennessee suffered the worst rail accident in U.S. history when two passenger trains collided head on in Nashville, killing 101 and injuring 171. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became
19234-520: The new state out of the Southwest Territory , adopted "Tennessee" as the state's name. The first inhabitants of Tennessee were Paleo-Indians who arrived about 12,000 years ago at the end of the Last Glacial Period . Archaeological excavations indicate that the lower Tennessee Valley was heavily populated by Ice Age hunter-gatherers , and Middle Tennessee is believed to have been rich with game animals such as mastodons . The names of
19397-478: The newly elected governor Prentice Cooper . When Congressman Sam D. McReynolds of Tennessee's 3rd congressional district , which included Chattanooga, died in 1939, Kefauver was elected to succeed him in the House. Kefauver was elected to five terms in the House of Representatives as a Democrat . As a member of the House during President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's time in office, Kefauver distinguished himself from
19560-653: The next twelve years, beginning with the firm of Cooke, Swaney & Cooke, and eventually becoming a partner in Sizer, Chambliss & Kefauver. In 1935, he married Nancy Pigott (born January 21, 1911, in Helensburgh , Dumbartonshire , UK), the daughter of British-American engineer Sir Stephen Pigott , whom he had met during her visit to relatives in Chattanooga. A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art with
19723-594: The nickname "The Volunteer State" during the War of 1812 , when 3,500 Tennesseans answered a recruitment call by the General Assembly for the war effort. These soldiers, under Andrew Jackson 's command, played a major role in the American victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the last major battle of the war. Several Tennesseans took part in the Texas Revolution of 1835–36, including Governor Sam Houston and Congressman and frontiersman Davy Crockett , who
19886-646: The north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia , Alabama , and Mississippi on the south, and Arkansas and Missouri on the west. It is tied with Missouri as the state bordering the most other states. Tennessee is trisected by the Tennessee River , and its geographical center is in Murfreesboro . Nearly three–fourths of the state is in the Central Time Zone , with most of East Tennessee on Eastern Time . The Tennessee River forms most of
20049-819: The only three Southern senators to not sign the so-called Southern Manifesto in 1956. He was named in a popular account of the Senate as a Southern Senator who had been excluded from the Southern Caucus due to his opposition to the filibuster and less than impeccable defense of States rights . In fact, these unpopular positions, combined with his reputation as a maverick with a penchant for sanctimony, earned him so much enmity even from other senators that one Democratic insider felt compelled to dub him "the most hated man in Congress". Kefauver also led hearings that targeted indecent publications and pornography. Among his targets were pin-ups , including Bettie Page , and
20212-558: The opening night of the convention. John Sparkman was selected as the Democratic candidate for vice president. Stevenson lost the general election in November to General Dwight D. Eisenhower , the Republican nominee, in a landslide. In 1956 , Kefauver again sought the Democratic presidential nomination. In the March 13 New Hampshire primary, he defeated Adlai Stevenson 21,701 to 3,806. A week later, Kefauver again defeated Stevenson in
20375-406: The other Democrats in Tennessee's congressional delegation, most of whom were conservatives , by becoming a staunch supporter of the President's New Deal legislation. In particular, he backed the controversial Tennessee Valley Authority and was best known for his successful bid to rebuff the efforts of Tennessee Senator Kenneth McKellar to gain political control over the agency. As a member of
20538-621: The outcome of research subsidized by NASA, to reimburse NASA for the cost of the research. Two days after the attack, Kefauver died in his sleep in Bethesda Naval Hospital of a ruptured aortic aneurysm . After a wake in Washington, D.C., his body was taken to the First Baptist Church in Madisonville where thousands of mourners paid their respects. He was interred in a family cemetery beside his home. There
20701-510: The pharmaceutical industry between 1959 and 1963 that led to enactment of his most famous legislative achievement, the Kefauver-Harris Drug Act of 1962, after Kefauver expressed shock about the excess profits that U.S. drug companies were taking in at the expense of U.S. consumers. Some of what Kefauver's hearings on the U.S. pharmaceutical industry revealed includes the following: "Witnesses told of conflicts of interest for
20864-572: The pharmaceutical industry that required that drug companies disclose to doctors the side-effects of their products, allow their products to be sold as generic drugs after having held the patent on them for a certain period of time, and be able to prove on demand that their products were, in fact, effective and safe. In signing the Kefauver-Harris Drug Control Act, President John F. Kennedy stated, "As I say, we want to pay particular appreciation to Senator Kefauver for
21027-462: The powerful Appropriations Committee from 1945–1947, and again from 1949–1953. McKellar is the only Tennessee senator to have completed more than three full terms. Except for McKellar, Tennessee has generally not joined in the Southern tradition of reelecting senators for protracted periods of service. Before the era of popular election of U.S. Senators, Senator William B. Bate was elected to
21190-572: The production arm of the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, which enriched uranium at three major facilities for use in atomic bombs. The first of the bombs was detonated in Alamogordo, New Mexico , in a test code-named Trinity , and the second, nicknamed " Little Boy ", was dropped on Imperial Japan at the end of World War II. After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became an institution for scientific and technological research. After
21353-467: The production of iron in the Western Highland Rim, and slaves also cultivated such crops as tobacco and corn throughout the Highland Rim. East Tennessee's geography did not allow for large plantations as in the middle and western parts of the state, and as a result, slavery became increasingly rare in the region. A strong abolition movement developed in East Tennessee, beginning as early as 1797, and in 1819, Elihu Embree of Jonesborough began publishing
21516-526: The project, and in 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the group and established the framework for judicial review of government agencies in the landmark case of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe . TVA's construction of the Tellico Dam in Loudon County became the subject of national controversy in the 1970s when the endangered snail darter fish was reported to be affected by
21679-645: The project. After lawsuits by environmental groups, the debate was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court case Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill in 1978, leading to amendments of the Endangered Species Act . The 1982 World's Fair was held in Knoxville. Also known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, the fair's theme was "Energy Turns the World". The exposition was one of the most successful, and
21842-619: The purchase of uranium early in World War II , the TVA was commonly offering to give landholders "pennies on the dollar" for their properties. As head of the Appropriations Committee, McKellar knew about the appropriations needed for the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb . He was often called upon to "keep the secret" of the Manhattan Project by mingling funds for the bomb project with other projects, or through carefully planned (secret) War Projects Funding. As
22005-500: The region. Because of this, many southern unionists were sent fleeing to nearby Union states, particularly the border state of Kentucky . Other southern unionists, who stayed in Tennessee after the state's secession, either resisted the Confederate cause or eventually joined it. In March 1862, Lincoln appointed native Tennessean and War Democrat Andrew Johnson as military governor of the state. General Ulysses S. Grant and
22168-484: The rivers in East Tennessee in the early 18th century. The first recorded European expeditions into what is now Tennessee were led by Spanish explorers Hernando de Soto in 1540–1541, Tristan de Luna in 1559, and Juan Pardo in 1566–1567. In 1673, English fur trader Abraham Wood sent an expedition from the Colony of Virginia into Overhill Cherokee territory in modern-day northeastern Tennessee. That same year,
22331-780: The seat in his own right in 1912 and was reelected in 1914, serving until his election to the United States Senate. He was a presidential elector in 1904 . McKellar ran for the Senate in 1916 , defeating incumbent Senator Luke Lea in the Democratic primary and winning the general election against former Republican Governor Ben W. Hooper . He was reelected to the Senate in 1922 (defeating former Senator Newell Sanders ), 1928 (defeating former U.S. Assistant Attorney General James Alexander Fowler ), 1934 (again defeating Ben Hooper), 1940 (against Howard Baker, Sr. , father of future Senator Howard Baker ), and 1946 when he defeated William B. Ladd . McKellar
22494-453: The senator would display a bizarre array of confiscated bayonets, trench knives, daggers, and switchblades, all of which he described to the press as "switchblade knives". However, Kefauver's switchblade bill failed, in large part due to residual bad feelings between Kefauver and other senators. In 1959, the senator let it be known that he was not going to campaign a third time for the presidential nomination. He continued to represent Tennessee in
22657-515: The state averaging a high of around 90 °F (32 °C). Winters tend to be mild to cool, decreasing in temperature at higher elevations. For areas outside the highest mountains, the average overnight lows are generally near freezing. The highest recorded temperature was 113 °F (45 °C) at Perryville on August 9, 1930, while the lowest recorded temperature was −32 °F (−36 °C) at Mountain City on December 30, 1917. While Tennessee
22820-591: The state government led by Governor Isham Harris sought voter approval to sever ties with the United States, which was rejected in a referendum by a 54–46% margin in February 1861. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April and Lincoln's call for troops in response, the legislature ratified an agreement to enter a military league with the Confederacy on May 7, 1861. On June 8, with Middle Tennesseans having significantly changed their position, voters approved
22983-667: The state in the early 18th century. The Chickasaw remained confined to West Tennessee, and the middle part of the state contained few Native Americans, although both the Cherokee and the Shawnee claimed the region as their hunting ground. Cherokee peoples in Tennessee were known by European settlers as the Overhill Cherokee because they lived west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Overhill settlements grew along
23146-424: The state's Democratic Party, when he chose to seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1948. During the primary, Crump and his allies accused Kefauver of being a " fellow traveler " and of working for the "pinkos and communists" with the stealth of a raccoon . In a televised speech given in Memphis, in which he responded to such charges, Kefauver put on a coonskin cap and proudly proclaimed, "I may be
23309-608: The state's topographic features, and, in general, decrease in age from east to west. The state's oldest rocks are igneous strata more than 1 billion years old found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the youngest deposits in Tennessee are sands and silts in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and river valleys that drain into the Mississippi River. Tennessee is considered seismically active and contains two major seismic zones, although destructive earthquakes rarely occur there. The Eastern Tennessee seismic zone spans
23472-571: The state, emerging in the northeastern Highland Rim, passing through Nashville, turning northwest to Clarksville, and entering Kentucky east of the Tennessee River. Its principal branches in Tennessee are the Obey , Caney Fork , Stones , Harpeth , and Red rivers. The Mississippi River drains nearly all of West Tennessee. Its tributaries are the Obion , Forked Deer , Hatchie , Loosahatchie , and Wolf rivers. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and
23635-608: The west. It ends at steep loess bluffs overlooking the Mississippi embayment , the westernmost physiographic division of Tennessee, which is part of the larger Mississippi Alluvial Plain . This flat 10 to 14 miles (16 to 23 km) wide strip is commonly known as the Mississippi Bottoms, and contains lowlands, floodplains , and swamps . Tennessee is drained by three major rivers , the Tennessee , Cumberland , and Mississippi . The Tennessee River begins at
23798-652: The witnesses were high-profile crime bosses, including such well-known names as Willie Moretti , Joe Adonis , and Frank Costello , the last making himself famous by refusing to allow his face to be filmed during his questioning and then staging a much-publicized walkout. A number of politicians also appeared before the committee and saw their careers ruined. Among them were former Governor Harold G. Hoffman of New Jersey and Mayor William O'Dwyer of New York City. The committee's hearings, which were televised live, just as many Americans were first buying televisions, made Kefauver nationally famous and introduced many Americans to
23961-417: The world's first atomic bombs . The planned community of Oak Ridge was built to provide accommodations for the facilities and workers; the site was chosen due to the abundance of TVA electric power, its low population density, and its inland geography and topography, which allowed for the natural separation of the facilities and a low vulnerability to attack. The Clinton Engineer Works was established as
24124-447: The worst of which occurred in Memphis in 1866 . Because Tennessee had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment before its readmission to the Union, it was the only former secessionist state that did not have a military governor during Reconstruction . The Radical Republicans seized control of the state government toward the end of the war, and appointed William G. "Parson" Brownlow governor. Under Brownlow's administration from 1865 to 1869,
24287-404: The year. This made Tennessee the only Southern state to abolish slavery at the time. Tennessee ratified the Thirteenth Amendment , which outlawed slavery in every state, on April 7, 1865, and the Fourteenth Amendment , which granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to former slaves, on July 18, 1866. Both amendments went into effect after Tennessee's readmission to the union due to
24450-405: The years after the Civil War, including cholera in 1873, which devastated the Nashville area, and yellow fever in 1878, which killed more than one-tenth of Memphis's residents. Reformers worked to modernize Tennessee into a " New South " economy during this time. With the help of Northern investors, Chattanooga became one of the first industrialized cities in the South. Memphis became known as
24613-417: Was accidentally released into the Emory and Clinch Rivers . The cleanup cost more than $ 1 billion and lasted until 2015. Tennessee is in the Southeastern United States . Culturally, most of the state is considered part of the Upland South , and the eastern third is part of Appalachia . Tennessee covers roughly 42,143 square miles (109,150 km ), of which 926 square miles (2,400 km ), or 2.2%,
24776-442: Was chosen for the new state. The constitution was completed on February 6, which authorized elections for the state's new legislature, the Tennessee General Assembly . The legislature convened on March 28, 1796, and the next day, John Sevier was announced as the state's first governor. Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state and the first created from federal territory. Tennessee reportedly earned
24939-447: Was considered a moderate progressive in his early days in the Senate, and he supported many of President Woodrow Wilson 's reform initiatives as well as ratification of the Treaty of Versailles . During President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's administration, McKellar staunchly supported the New Deal , especially the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), to provide flood control and generate hydropower for rural electrification in
25102-423: Was considered the front-runner for the 1960 Democratic nomination . In an attempt to gain more public exposure, Kefauver proposed a federal ban on the sale or possession of switchblades in 1957. He timed hearings on the legislation to coincide with a series of lurid articles in the Saturday Evening Post and other periodicals of the day on the use of switchblades by juvenile delinquents and gangs. At each hearing
25265-405: Was defeated by Frank G. Clement . Browning, who had served a total of three terms as governor, the last two successive, had also at one point been a close ally of Crump's but had since broken ranks with him. As Clement and Gore were both considerably younger and regarded as more progressive than their predecessors, some historians cite the 1952 elections as an indication that Tennessee entered into
25428-458: Was endorsed by former President Truman. Stevenson got significantly more endorsements and raised far more funds than Kefauver. He defeated Kefauver in the Oregon, Florida, and California primaries and, overall, won more primary votes than Kefauver. After his devastating loss in the California primary , Kefauver suspended his campaign. At the Democratic National Convention , Stevenson was again nominated for president. Stevenson then decided to let
25591-454: Was intentionally publicized, and highlighted the creationism-evolution controversy among religious groups. In 1926, Congress authorized the establishment of a national park in the Great Smoky Mountains , which was officially established in 1934 and dedicated in 1940. When the Great Depression struck in 1929, much of Tennessee was severely impoverished even by national standards. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal ,
25754-492: Was killed at the Battle of the Alamo . The state's nickname was solidified during the Mexican–American War when President James K. Polk of Tennessee issued a call for 2,800 soldiers from the state, and more than 30,000 volunteered. Between the 1790s and 1820s, additional land cessions were negotiated with the Cherokee, who had established a national government modeled on the U.S. Constitution . In 1818, Jackson and Kentucky governor Isaac Shelby reached an agreement with
25917-415: Was opposed for renomination by Middle Tennessee Congressman Albert Gore . McKellar's reelection slogan was "Thinking Feller? Vote McKellar", which Gore countered with "Think Some More – Vote for Gore." Gore defeated McKellar for the Democratic nomination in August in what was widely regarded as something of an upset. At this point in Tennessee history, the Democratic nomination for statewide office
26080-519: Was protested by miners forced to compete with the system. An armed uprising in the Cumberland Mountains known as the Coal Creek War in 1891 and 1892 resulted in the state ending convict leasing. Despite New South promoters' efforts, agriculture continued to dominate Tennessee's economy. The majority of freed slaves were forced into sharecropping during the latter 19th century, and many others worked as agricultural wage laborers. In 1897, Tennessee celebrated its statehood centennial one year late with
26243-470: Was some speculation that Nancy Kefauver might stand for election to her late husband's Senate seat in 1964, but she quashed such notions early on. Tennessee Governor Frank Clement appointed Herbert S. Walters to the seat instead. In November 1963, President Kennedy named Nancy Kefauver to be the first head of the new Art in Embassies Program —Kennedy's last presidential appointment. Mrs. Kefauver never considered remarrying, remarking that she "had too perfect
26406-423: Was still " tantamount to election ." Most African Americans had been disenfranchised by discriminatory laws and practices, resulting in the Republican Party being active chiefly in East Tennessee . This had been the case since the Civil War . Gore served three full terms in the Senate. McKellar's defeat was part of a statewide trend of change in 1952. That year incumbent governor of Tennessee Gordon Browning
26569-438: Was tested in a series of Confederate offensives beginning in the summer of 1862, which culminated in General William Rosecrans 's Army of the Cumberland routing General Braxton Bragg 's Army of Tennessee at Stones River , another one of the war's costliest engagements. The next summer, Rosecrans's Tullahoma campaign forced Bragg's remaining troops in Middle Tennessee to retreat to Chattanooga with little fighting. During
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