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This article is about the United States politician. For the Scottish singer, see Kenneth McKellar (singer).
Kenneth Douglas McKellar (
January 29, 1869–October 25, 1957) was an
American politician from
Tennessee who served as a
United States Representative from 1911 until 1917 and as a
United States Senator from 1917 until 1953. A
Democrat, he served longer in both houses of
Congress than anyone else in Tennessee history, and only a few others in American history have served longer in both houses.
McKellar was a native of
Dallas County, Alabama and was graduated from the
University of Alabama in
1891 and its
law school in
1892. He moved to
Memphis, Tennessee, and was admitted to the
bar the same year. McKellar was first elected to the House in a
special election in November
1911 to succeed
George W. Gordon in the 10th Congressional District, which included Memphis. He won the seat in his own right in
1912 and was reelected in
1914 before successfully running for the Senate in
1916 and defeating
incumbent Senator
Luke Lea. He was reelected to the Senate in
1922, 1928, 1934, 1940, and
1946.
McKellar was a close ally of Memphis political
boss E. H. Crump. He is the only Tennessee senator to have completed more than three full terms; except for him, Tennessee has generally not fully joined into the
Southern tradition of reelecting Senators for protracted periods of service. (Before the era of popular election of U.S. Senators, Senator
William B. Bate was elected to a fourth term by the
Tennessee General Assembly, but died only five days into it. Senator
Isham G. Harris had also died early in his fourth term. Senator
Joseph Anderson was elected by the General Assembly to three full terms after completing the term of
William Blount, who was expelled from the Senate.) McKellar twice served as
President pro tempore of the United States Senate, commencing in
1945, being the first to hold the position under the system that has prevailed since of reserving it for the most senior member of the majority party.
In
1952 McKellar stood for a seventh term, despite being by then quite elderly (age 83). He was opposed for renomination by
Middle Tennessee Congressman Albert Gore. McKellar's reelection
slogan 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", as the
Republican Party's activities were still largely limited to
East Tennessee, as they had been since the
Civil War. Gore went on to serve three terms in the Senate.
McKellar's 1952 defeat was part of a statewide trend. 1952 also saw the defeat for renomination of incumbent
governor of Tennessee Gordon Browning by
Frank 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 more
progressive than their predecessors, some historians cite the 1952 elections as an indication that Tennessee was earlier to enter into the "
New South" era of Southern politics than most of the other Southern states. This election also marked the end of Crump having any real influence in Tennessee beyond Memphis.
McKellar wrote a book about his Tennessee predecessors in the Senate called
Tennessee Senators as Seen by One of Their Successors (
1942). In recent years it has been updated by one of his successors, former
Senate Majority Leader Dr.
Bill Frist.
Lake McKellar in the industrial area of Memphis near the
Mississippi River and McKellar Airport in
Jackson, Tennessee ("MKL") are both named in his honor.
