Ray Blanton

Ray Blanton

Leonard Ray Blanton (born April 10, 1930 in Hardin County , Tennessee , † November 22, 1996 in Jackson , Tennessee) was an American politician and governor of the state of Tennessee from 1975 to 1979 .

Life

Early years and political advancement

Ray Blanton graduated from the University of Tennessee and then briefly taught in Indiana . He then returned to his hometown of Adamsville to help set up a family road construction company. His political career began in 1964 when he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives . Between 1967 and 1972 he was a member of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives . In 1972 he applied unsuccessfully for a seat in the US Senate .

In 1974 he ran within the Democratic Party to be nominated for the upcoming gubernatorial elections. He received only 23 percent of the votes, which was still enough, since a total of twelve other candidates ran and no one got more votes than him. In the actual election, he ran against the Republican Lamar Alexander , his later successor. Blanton, who had presented himself as a supporter of racial segregation in 1972, now appeared as a reform democrat and managed to win the election. That was also a consequence of the Watergate affair and the resignation of US President Richard Nixon a few months before this election. The scandal drove the Republican Alexander to win the election.

Governor of Tennessee

Blanton remains one of the most controversial governors of Tennessee to this day. His tenure lasted from 1975 to 1979. He created the first nationwide Department of Tourism to attract tourists to the state, and traveled to many countries to attract investors to Tennessee. Many companies from Great Britain, Japan or Germany and other countries followed his call and built production facilities in Tennessee, which created jobs and increased tax revenues. The governor reformed pension legislation and introduced tax breaks for the elderly. After all, he supported women's and African American rights .

On the other hand, there were corruption and fraud affairs. It was proven that he had pardoned prisoners in exchange for a bribe. Employees who resisted were fired. For example, Marie Ragghianti, Chair of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles, was illegally dismissed. Ragghianti later successfully sued the state of Tennessee for damages.

In December 1978, the FBI searched his legal advisor's office. As a result, three employees were arrested, and Blanton also had to appear in court. He dismissed all allegations far from himself.

On January 15, 1979, shortly before the end of his term in office, Blanton pardoned 52 prisoners, including twenty murderers. One of the killers, Roger Humphreys, was the son of a man who was a political ally of Blanton. Roger Humphreys had murdered his wife and her boyfriend.

Blanton's official justification for the pardons was to discharge the prisons. Actually, the handover to his chosen successor Lamar Alexander should not take place until January 20th. But because of the 52 pardons, they feared even more such unpleasant surprises. Therefore, on the advice of the FBI, all parties in Tennessee decided unanimously to bring Alexander's inauguration forward by three days.

Blanton was never sued for the pardons.

Old age and death

After his tenure, Blanton continued to be investigated, and in June 1981 he was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison for fraud and the illegal sale of alcohol licenses, among other things. Some of these points were overturned in 1988 by a court of appeal. For the rest of his life, Blanton worked to improve his reputation again. He ran again in 1988 for a seat in the US House of Representatives, but received only seven percent of the vote. In 1996, Blanton died of kidney failure.

additional

The scandal surrounding the pardons and the dismissal of Marie Ragghianti was the subject of the feature film Marie - A True Story (1985). Sissy Spacek starred in this film.

Web links

• Ray Blanton in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Ray Blanton of the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Tennessee (English)
• Ray Blanton in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Blanton Demands Convict's Release . In: Indiana Evening Gazette , Jan. 23, 1979, p. 10. 
2. ↑ Ken Whitehouse: Former Lt. Gov. John Wilder passes away at 88 ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Nashville City Paper , Jan. 1, 2010.