Buford Ellington

Ellington (center) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1958

Earl Buford Ellington (born June 27, 1907 in Lexington , Mississippi , † April 3, 1972 in Boca Raton , Florida ) was an American politician and the 47th and 49th Governor of the state of Tennessee .

Early years

Originally Buford Ellington wanted to study theology in Jackson , Mississippi , which he had to give up for financial reasons. As a result, he earned his living, among other things, as a seller of agricultural machinery in Memphis . He later settled in Marshall County , Tennessee, where he ran a shop and farm.

Political career

Ellington belonged to the conservative wing of the Democratic Party . This faction in the 1940s also included the influential ex-Mayor of Memphis, Edward Crump , Governor Jim Nance McCord and later Governor Frank G. Clement . In 1946, Ellington appeared as a campaign assistant for Joe L. Evins , who was running for a seat in the US Congress . In 1948 he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives himself .

In the next few years his career was closely linked to that of Frank Clement, in 1952 he even supported him in his election campaign for the office of governor. Clement appointed him his government's Minister of Agriculture ( Commissioner of Agriculture ). He held this office from 1953 to 1958. In 1958, Clement was no longer allowed to run because of a term of office clause in the constitution. He now ran Ellington's candidacy and supported this in his successful election campaign. Four years later the same thing was repeated with the opposite sign. Ellington was no longer allowed to run, but Clement was again eligible. That way, the two men ruled Tennessee as governors for 18 years. Clement held the office from 1953 to 1959 and from 1963 to 1967, while Ellington was governor from 1959 to 1963 and again from 1967 to 1971.

Although both men complemented each other well and practiced essentially the same politics, they also had their opposites. While Clement supported John F. Kennedy's candidacy in 1960 , Ellington would have preferred if his personal friend Lyndon B. Johnson had become a Democratic presidential candidate. At times, the relationship with Clement was also tense. During Clement's second term, Ellington worked for Johnson, who was promoted to president after Kennedy's assassination. As governor, he pursued a policy similar to that of Clement. He promoted road construction and education, and he was not as strongly against the death penalty as Clement. The anti-evolution law, once introduced by Governor Austin Peay in the 1920s , has been repealed. Now the theory of evolution could be taught in schools again. Ellington also liberalized the alcohol laws somewhat.

Initially, Ellington was rather conservative on the issue of civil rights. Over time it became more moderate. Eventually he joined President Johnson's civil rights policy. HT Lockhart was the first time an African American became a member of a government in Tennessee. The change of heart from being a conservative racist to a moderate politician for the time reflected a general trend. When Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 , the governor reacted prudently and was able to prevent major excesses in Tennessee. Ellington was a respected governor in his day. He was intermittently Chairman of the National Governors Association and the Council of Governors of the Southern States .

End of life and death

After the end of his second and final term in January 1971, he had just over a year left. He died on April 3, 1972 in Boca Raton, Florida while playing golf. Buford Ellington was married to Catherine Cheek, with whom he had two children.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978 . Volume 4, Meckler Books, Westport, CT 1978. 4 volumes
• Governors of the American States, Territories and Commonwealths. National Governors' Association, 1970.

Web links

• Buford Ellington in the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Tennessee (English)
• Buford Ellington in the database of Find a Grave (English)