American Politician Ned Ray McWherter was an American politician who served as the
46th Governor of Tennessee, from 1987 to 1995. Born: October 15, 1930, Palmersville, TN. Died: April 4, 2011, Nashville, TN
Ned Ray
McWherter (October 15,
1930 – April 4, 2011) was an American politician who served as the 46thGovernor of Tennessee, from 1987 to 1995.
Prior to that, he served as Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives
from 1973 to 1987, the longest tenure as Speaker up to that time
McWherter was born in Palmersville, Weakley County, Tennessee, the son of
Harmon Ray McWherter, a sharecropper, and Lucille (Smith) McWherter. He grew up
in the Little Zion community near Palmersville, where he attended a one-room
schoolhouse. In the early 1940s, his family moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where his father worked in
wartime factories. In May 1945, the family moved to Dresden, Tennessee, where McWherter's parents
purchased the City Cafe, which they would operate for several years.
His college athletic career cut
short, McWherter joined the Martin Shoe Company as a salesman. When the
company's line of sandals struggled against competition from cheaper Japanese
imports, McWherter travelled throughout the Caribbean and Central America in an
attempt to find retailers, eventually finding a market for the sandals in Puerto Rico.
In 1964, McWherter founded Volunteer Distributing to distribute Anheuser-Busch
beer in the Weakley area. Two years later, he opened Dresden's first nursing
home.
Tennessee
House of Representatives
McWherter became actively
involved in politics in the late 1950s, when he worked for the successful
campaign of 8th district congressional candidate, Robert
"Fats" Everett. In 1968, Doug Murphy, the Mayor of Martin,
convinced him to run for Weakley County's seat in the Tennessee House of
Representatives. McWherter won the seat without opposition. He was reelected to
the seat eight times, usually running unopposed.
Governor
As the 1986 governor's race
approached, Democrats struggled to find a candidate. Neither Bob Clement
nor Anna Belle Clement O'Brien were
interested in running, and the 1978 nominee, Jake
Butcher, was facing bank fraud charges. Sensing an opportunity, McWherter
entered the race, and defeated Public Service Commissioner
Jane Eskind and Nashville mayor Richard
Fulton for the nomination, winning 42% of the vote to 29% for Eskind, and
26% for Fulton.
With Alexander term-limited, Republicans nominated former Governor Winfield
Dunn.
Dunn's campaign tried to portray
McWherter as a West Tennessee beer salesman, though McWherter pointed out that
Dunn was a co-owner of a hotel in Nashville that sold liquor, and noted that Pilot,
a convenience store chain owned by Dunn's campaign treasurer, Jim Haslam,
was one of the state's largest beer retailers.
Dunn also failed to pick up a critical endorsement from East Tennessee
congressman Jimmy Quillen, who was still bitter over Dunn's veto
of the ETSU medical school bill. McWherter ran a strong statewide campaign,
visiting and organizing in all 95 counties. On election day, he defeated Dunn,
656,602 votes to 553,449.
During his first term, McWherter
insisted that all formal governmental proceedings be open to the public and
press, thus implementing the spirit, as well as the letter, of the
"sunshine law" he had helped to author and sponsor while a member of
the House. His "21st century Schools" education
reform program launched similar programs in other states and his replacement
of the Medicaid
program with the TennCare system gained national attention.
As governor, he also served nationally and locally on various councils and
committees, including the board of governors, Council of State Governments, the
Executive Committees of the Southern Conference, the Weakley County Head Start Program, and the Executive Committee
of the Northwest Tennessee Economic Development District.
Family
and legacy
McWherter married Bette Jean
(Beck) McWherter in 1953. She died of cancer in 1973. His son Michael
Ray McWherter is a businessman and former candidate for governor, and his
daughter Linda Ramsey is a doctor of physical education at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
McWherter funded the construction of the library at the University of Memphis and the Learning
Resources Center at Middle Tennessee State University,
and both buildings have been named in his honor. The Weakley County Library in
Dresden has also been named for McWherter. A bronze statue of McWherter stands
on the Weakley County Courthouse lawn.
Weakley County Tennessee
Mr. Ned was responsible for Weakley County having good roads to link us too the rest of the State. He sure helped his own people and was a good friend to everyone. May He Rest In Peace
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