Kenneth McKellar | |
|---|---|
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| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Vandenberg |
| Succeeded by | Styles Bridges |
| In office January 6, 1945 – January 3, 1947 | |
| Preceded by | Carter Glass |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Vandenberg |
| 31stDean of the United States Senate | |
| In office November 17, 1944 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Ellison D. Smith |
| Succeeded by | Walter F. George |
| United States Senator fromTennessee | |
| In office March 4, 1917 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Luke Lea |
| Succeeded by | Albert Gore Sr. |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's10th district | |
| In office December 4, 1911 – March 3, 1917 | |
| Preceded by | George W. Gordon |
| Succeeded by | Hubert Fisher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kenneth Douglas McKellar (1869-01-29)January 29, 1869 Dallas County, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | October 25, 1957(1957-10-25) (aged 88) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Alabama |
| Profession | Attorney |
Kenneth Douglas McKellar (January 29, 1869 – October 25, 1957) was an Americanpolitician fromTennessee who served as aUnited States Representative from 1911 until 1917 and as aUnited States Senator from 1917 until 1953. ADemocrat, he served longer in both houses ofCongress than anyone else in Tennessee history.
Only a fewother congressmen in American history have served longer in both houses.
McKellar was a native ofDallas County, Alabama. He graduated from theUniversity of Alabama in 1891 and itslaw school in 1892.
He moved toMemphis, Tennessee and is related to Henry Nickey, an MUS Basketball star, and was admitted to the statebar the same year. McKellar joined theDemocratic Party, which dominated the politics of West Tennessee, where plantations were historically and economically important. He was first elected to the House in aspecial election in November 1911 to succeedGeorge W. Gordon inTennessee's 10th congressional district, which included Memphis. He won the seat in his own right in 1912 and was reelected in 1914, serving until his election to the United States Senate.
He was apresidential elector in1904.[1]
McKellar ran for the Senate in1916, defeatingincumbent SenatorLuke Lea in the Democraticprimary and winning thegeneral election against formerRepublicanGovernorBen W. Hooper. He was reelected to the Senate in1922 (defeating former SenatorNewell Sanders),1928 (defeating former U.S. Assistant Attorney GeneralJames Alexander Fowler),1934 (again defeating Ben Hooper),1940 (againstHoward Baker, Sr., father of future SenatorHoward Baker), and1946 when he defeatedWilliam B. Ladd.[2]
McKellar was considered a moderate progressive in his early days in the Senate, and he supported many of PresidentWoodrow Wilson's reform initiatives as well as ratification of theTreaty of Versailles. During PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's administration, McKellar staunchly supported theNew Deal, especially the creation of theTennessee Valley Authority (TVA), to provide flood control and generate hydropower for rural electrification in the Tennessee Valley. McKellar was close ally of Memphis Democratic politicalbossE. H. Crump.
Kenneth McKellar was a crusader forfree trade; he supported the repeal of theSmoot-Hawley Tariff after 1930. Despite his early support for the policies ofFranklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), McKellar became more conservative in his political stances. He opposed several of theadministration's appointments. He had a prolonged feud with FDR's appointee to head the TVA,David E. Lilienthal.
As ranking member of theAppropriations 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 asdam building and creation of lakes or reservoirs. Prior to McKellar's threats to withhold Federal appropriations for the purchase ofuranium early inWorld 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 theManhattan Project to build anatomic 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 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 the facility later known as Y-12.[3]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 theatomic 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 the Appropriations Committee, held the power. He forced Lilienthal to have the TVA pay fair market value for land it appropriated.
McKellar twice served asPresident 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.[4] WhenHarry Truman becamepresident in April 1945, upon FDR's death, thevice presidency became vacant. (The mechanism for filling intra-term vacancies had not yet been created by the25th Amendment.) McKellar became the permanentPresiding Officer of the United States Senate.
Also, as the President pro tempore of the Senate had, prior to 1886, been second in thepresidential line of succession, behind only the vice president, Truman viewed McKellar as the logical wartime replacement for himself, and asked McKellar to attend allCabinet meetings. In 1947 Truman successfully lobbied Congress to pass a newPresidential 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 the80th Congress. Truman vetoed theTaft-Hartley Act in 1947 to restrict labor unions, which McKellar had favored. Truman selectedAlben Barkley ofKentucky as his running mate in the1948 presidential election. When Democrats regained control of the Senate following the1948 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, whenAlben Barkley took office as Vice President of the United States.
McKellar also served as chairman of theCivil Service Committee, Post Office and Road Committee, and, most notably, the powerfulAppropriations Committee from 1945–1947, and again from 1949–1953.[5]
McKellar is the only Tennessee senator to have completed more than three full terms. Except for McKellar, Tennessee has generally not joined in theSouthern tradition of reelecting senators for protracted periods of service.
Before the era of popular election of U.S. Senators, SenatorWilliam B. Bate was elected to a fourth term by theTennessee General Assembly, but he died five days into this term, while SenatorIsham G. Harris also died early in his fourth term. SenatorJoseph Anderson was elected by the General Assembly to three full terms plus the balance of the term ofWilliam 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 was opposed for renomination byMiddle TennesseeCongressmanAlbert Gore. McKellar's reelectionslogan 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 was still "tantamount to election." Most African Americans had beendisenfranchised by discriminatory laws and practices, resulting in theRepublican Party being active chiefly inEast Tennessee. This had been the case since theCivil War. Gore served three full terms in the Senate.
McKellar's defeat was part of a statewide trend of change in 1952. That year incumbentgovernor of TennesseeGordon Browning was defeated byFrank 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 moreprogressive than their predecessors, some historians cite the 1952 elections as an indication that Tennessee entered into 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 calledTennessee Senators as Seen by One of Their Successors (1942). In recent years it has been updated by one of his successors, formerSenate Majority Leader Dr.Bill Frist.
Lake McKellar, bordering the MemphisPresident's Island industrial area along theMississippi River andMcKellar-Sipes Regional Airport (originally "McKellar Field") inJackson, Tennessee ("MKL") are both named in his honor.
McKellar died on October 25, 1957. He is interred atElmwood Cemetery inMemphis, Tennessee.[6]
Some have speculated that Senator McKellar was the inspiration for the characterSouth Carolina Senator Seabright Cooley inAllen Drury's novelAdvise and Consent.[7]
McKellar was portrayed by actor/country singerEd Bruce in the filmPublic Enemies (2009) andMichael O'Neill in the filmJ. Edgar (2011).
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| Class 2 | ||
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Appropriations | ||
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| Post Office and Post Roads (1816–1947) | | |
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| Civil Service and Retrenchment (1873–1921) | ||
| Civil Service (1921–1947) | ||
| Post Office and Civil Service (1947–1977) | ||
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| International | |
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| National | |
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| Other | |
