Hill McAlister

Harry Hill McAlister (born July 15, 1875 in Nashville , Tennessee , † October 30, 1959 ) was an American politician and the 41st  governor of the state of Tennessee.

Early years and political advancement

The young McAlister came from a family of politicians who had previously produced Governors William Blount , Willie Blount and Aaron V. Brown . He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1897 , where he studied law and settled in Nashville as a lawyer. From 1901 he worked for the local public prosecutor's office. Until 1904 he was deputy public prosecutor and between 1904 and 1910 he was the city's chief prosecutor. Several years in the Tennessee Senate followed . In 1916 he was a member of the Electoral College , which Woodrow Wilson elected for the second time as US President. At the same time he held several leading positions in the Democratic Party . Between 1919 and 1927 and 1931 and 1933 he was Treasury Secretary of Tennessee ( State Treasurer ). Both in 1926 and 1928 his attempts to win his party's nomination for the gubernatorial elections failed.

Governor of Tennessee

In 1932 he achieved this goal and was elected 41st Governor of Tennessee. However, the political and economic conditions were extremely poor. Politically, Tennessee had just gone through a financial scandal in which the previous governor Henry Hollis Horton was also involved and through which the country lost several million dollars. Then there was the general economic depression as a result of the world economic crisis. The national debt had risen to $ 6 million. The governor took office around the same time as President Franklin D. Roosevelt . He had high hopes for his New Deal policy . Above all, the Tennessee Valley Authority should benefit the state. In fact, more was being done at the federal level to overcome the crisis than in Tennessee itself.

Hill McAlister was closely associated with Edward Crump , former mayor of Memphis , who was a major political influence both in Tennessee and at the federal level, early in his tenure . It was not least thanks to Crump that he was elected in 1932. But that also made him dependent on this and its wishes. Still, McAlister did everything to pay off the national debt. In March 1933, as in some other states, banks in Tennessee were closed for six days. With this and with the help of federal politics, confidence in the banks was to be restored. In fact, through radical savings and with help from Washington, the governor succeeded in balancing the budget by 1934. That year he was elected for a second term. In his second term he fell out with his patron Crump. McAlister wanted to keep the Prohibition Act in Tennessee, although it had been removed from the Constitution by the 21st Amendment in 1933 . This and the introduction of a sales tax enraged Crump, who saw his economic interests in Tennessee at risk. Crump pulled out all the stops to harm McAlister. He now called his former ally incapable of governing . For McAlister this meant the end of his governor career. He knew that in 1936 he had no chance of successfully running against the powerful influence of Crump. For this reason he did not stand for re-election.

End of life and death

After the end of his tenure, he returned to Nashville. In 1940 he got a job with the federal government to mediate in bankruptcy cases ( Federal Referee for Bankruptcy Cases ). He held this office until his death in 1959. He was married to Louise Jackson, 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.

Web links

• Hill McAlister in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Hill McAlister in the National Governor Association (English)
• The governors of Tennessee (English)