Ben W. Hooper
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Ben Walter Hooper (October 13, 1870April 18, 1957), was an American politician who served two terms as the 31st
governor of Tennessee The governor of Tennessee is the head of government of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The governor is the only official in Tennessee state government who is directly elected by the voters of the entire state. The current governor is Bill Lee, a ...
from 1911 to 1915. Elected as a
Fusionist In American politics, fusionism is the philosophical and political combination or "fusion" of traditionalist and social conservatism with political and economic right-libertarianism. The philosophy is most closely associated with Frank Meyer. ...
candidate, he was one of just three
Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
to hold the office from the end of
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
to the last quarter of the 20th century. His success was due to divisions in the state
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
over prohibition; he received support from some of the party. During his two terms, Hooper signed several
prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
laws, enacted a measure requiring mandatory school attendance, and signed a law requiring direct pay for women workers. Hooper served as a member of the U.S. Railroad Labor Board (RLB) during the administration of President
Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...
in the early 1920s. As chairman of the RLB, he was a central figure in the 1922 Railroad Shopmen's Strike. He later worked as chief land purchasing agent for the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, whi ...
.


Early life

Hooper was born out of wedlock to Sarah Wade in Newport, Tennessee. His father, Lemuel Washington Hooper, was a physician who was engaged to another woman at the time.Phillip Langsdon, ''Tennessee: A Political History'' (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 266–288. Ben and his mother moved to Mossy Creek (modern Jefferson City) and afterwards to Knoxville, where he was placed in the St. John's Orphanage. He was eventually legally adopted by his father, and returned to Newport.Anne-Leslie Owens,
Ben Walter Hooper
" ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: 1 December 2012.
Due to the social stigma surrounding his birth, Hooper struggled as a child in Newport. He later wrote that this made him more determined to succeed. He graduated in 1890 from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1894. Hooper served two terms in the
Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
, from 1893 to 1897. During the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
, Hooper served as
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of Company C in the 6th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, which was commanded by fellow East Tennessean, Colonel Lawrence Tyson. The unit was stationed in the Arecibo area of northern
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for most of the war, and saw little action. From 1906 to 1910, Hooper was assistant U.S. attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.


Governor

By 1910, a serious rift had developed in Tennessee's Democratic Party over the issue of prohibition. One faction, led by
Edward W. Carmack Edward Ward Carmack (November 5, 1858November 9, 1908) was an attorney, newspaperman, and political figure who served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1901 to 1907. Following his political service, and after an unsuccessful run for Governor ...
, wanted to extend the state's Four Mile Law (which banned the sale of liquor within four miles of any school) throughout the state, while the other faction, led by Governor
Malcolm R. Patterson Malcolm Rice Patterson (June 7, 1861 – March 8, 1935) was an American politician and jurist. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1901 to 1906, and as the 30th governor of Tennessee from 1907 to 1911. He later served as a circu ...
, wanted major cities to remain exempt. This rift was exacerbated when a Patterson associate killed Carmack in 1908, and Patterson pardoned the killer in 1910. When Patterson tried to control the party's primary process during the 1910 elections, numerous Democrats abandoned the party to run as independents, and thus became known as the "Independent Democrats." Tennessee's Republican Party was also suffering from internal divisions in 1910, as party bosses
Walter P. Brownlow Walter Preston Brownlow (March 27, 1851 – July 8, 1910) was an American politician who represented Tennessee's 1st district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1897 until his death in 1910. He is remembered for obtaining large feder ...
and Newell Sanders were embroiled in a power struggle. The Brownlow faction supported
Alfred A. Taylor Alfred Alexander Taylor (August 6, 1848 – November 25, 1931), known as Alf Taylor, was an American politician and lecturer from eastern Tennessee. He served as the 34th governor of Tennessee from 1921 to 1923, one of three Republican Party (Unit ...
, brother of former Democratic governor Robert Love Taylor, as the party's nominee, while the Sanders faction supported Hooper. The Sanders faction and the Independent Democrats formed an alliance— later known as the "Fusionists"—and agreed to support each other's candidates. With this support, Hooper was able to win the Republican nomination, while Patterson's allies were defeated in judicial elections that August. Realizing he had little chance of winning, Patterson withdrew from the race a few weeks before the general election. Democrats quickly nominated Robert Love Taylor in hopes of salvaging party unity. The move proved unsuccessful, however, and Hooper defeated Taylor 133,074 votes to 121,694 to become governor. The 1911 legislative session was tumultuous, as Fusionists controlled the state house, while the remaining Democrats, known as "Regular Democrats," controlled the state senate. Though both chambers struggled with discord and
quorum-busting A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...
, Hooper obtained passage of laws limiting child labor and requiring that the wages of women be paid directly to them, rather than to any other persons (employers previously had the option of giving women's pay to their husbands). Hooper also enacted a state pure food and drug law, and authorized counties to issue bonds to establish hospitals and to purchase school property. In the 1912 governor's race, state Republicans were divided between supporters of
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
and
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, with the latter's supporters, led by
John Chiles Houk John Chiles Houk (February 26, 1860 – June 3, 1923) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 2nd congressional district of Tennessee. Biography Houk was born in Clinton, Tennessee in Anders ...
, breaking from the party and nominating William Poston for governor on a
Progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
ticket. State Democrats also remained divided, with Regular Democrats nominating former governor Benton McMillin, and Independent Democrats supporting Hooper and the Fusion ticket. On election day, Hooper won with 124,641 votes to 116,610 for McMillin, and 4,483 for Poston. During Hooper's second term, he signed measures that required mandatory school attendance for children between the ages of eight and fourteen, and ordered county school boards to provide for the transportation of pupils. Hooper also established inspections for state banks, implemented a
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
system for state convicts, and changed the state's method of execution from
hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
to
electrocution Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coined ...
. Pensions were authorized for veterans and widows of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. He also signed the so-called "Jug Bill," which banned the intrastate shipment of liquor, and the "Nuisance Bill," which allowed as few as ten citizens to petition for the removal of saloons and gambling houses from a locality. In the 1914 election season, Regular Democrats accepted statewide prohibition as part of the party's platform, ending the party's internal divisions. Lacking the support of the Independent Democrats, Hooper was defeated by Democratic candidate Thomas C. Rye, 137,656 votes to 116,667.


Later life

After his gubernatorial tenure ended, Hooper returned to his law practice in Newport, but remained active in Republican politics. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1916, but was defeated by Democratic politician
Kenneth D. McKellar Kenneth Douglas McKellar (January 29, 1869October 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 lo ...
. In 1921, President
Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...
appointed Hooper to the U.S. Railroad Labor Board (RLB). As chairman of the RLB, Hooper was a central figure in the Railroad Shopmen's Strike which erupted in the summer of 1922 over wage cuts for maintenance workers approved by the RLB. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hooper was the chief land purchasing agent for what would become the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, whi ...
, which was being developed on the Tennessee and
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
border. In 1934, at the age of sixty-four, Hooper once again ran for one of Tennessee's U.S. Senate seats. He won the Republican nomination, but was defeated in the general lection by his 1916 opponent, Senator Kenneth McKellar. Hooper died on April 18, 1957. He is interred at Union Cemetery in Newport, Tennessee.


Family and legacy

Hooper married Anna Belle Jones in 1901. They had six children: Anna, Ben, James, Margaret, Lemuel and Newell. Hooper's grandson, Ben W. Hooper, II, is a circuit court judge in Cocke County. Hooper's autobiography, ''The Unwanted Boy'', was published posthumously in 1963. In 1946, his book, ''Elections in Tennessee'', was published. Hooper's home, Elm Hill (built in 1885 by Hooper's wife's parents), still stands in Newport, and has been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The Ben W. Hooper Vocational School, which opened in Newport in 1976, is named in his honor. The school is now part of Cocke County High School. In the early 2000s, Hooper was the subject of a story entitled "Who's Your Daddy?", which circulated via email. The story, though considerably embellished, was based on incidents Hooper recalled in his autobiography.Barbara Mikkelson,
Who's Your Daddy?
Snopes.com, 23 August 2008. Retrieved: 3 December 2012.


Works

* "Labor, Railroads and the Public," ''American Bar Association Journal,'' vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1923), pp. 15–18
In JSTOR


See also

*
List of governors of Tennessee The term of the governor of Tennessee is limited by the state constitution. The first constitution, enacted in 1796, set a term of two years for the governor and provided that no person could serve as governor for more than 6 years in any 8-year ...


Footnotes


External links


Picture History

Ben W. Hooper Collection (Finding Aid)
University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Ben W. 1870 births 1957 deaths Carson–Newman University alumni Tennessee lawyers Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Republican Party governors of Tennessee United States Army officers American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Baptists from Tennessee People from Newport, Tennessee Military personnel from Tennessee Deaths from pneumonia in Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains National Park Writers from Tennessee People from Jefferson City, Tennessee People from New Market, Tennessee 19th-century American politicians 20th-century American politicians