Early life
Walker was born to a working-class family in Sevier County, Tennessee in 1902. He quit school at the age of 14 and spent several years working at different jobs around the region, namely at the Champion Fibre Company in North Carolina and later at various coal mines in Kentucky. In 1924, he returned to East Tennessee where he established the first Cas Walker's Cash Store in Knoxville with money he had saved.Ajay Kalra, "Cas Walker," ''The Encyclopedia of Appalachia'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), pp. 544-545.Carroll Van West,Politics
Walker was first elected to the Knoxville city council in 1941. He was elected mayor in 1946, but after a few weeks of tumultuous meetings and the firing of its own city manager, the city council managed to oust Walker in a recall election. He also served as acting mayor in 1959. Walker was reelected to the city council the following and remained until voluntarily retiring in 1971. He continued to be a force in Knoxville politics into the 1980s. As a politician, Walker successfully portrayed himself as a champion of small farmers and the working class. This image was enhanced in 1956 when ''Life Magazine'' published a photograph of Walker preparing to punch fellow city councilman J. S. Cooper after the two had engaged in a heated debate over property assessments. In his self-published newsletter, ''The Watchdog'', Walker blasted political opponents and raged against tax increases. He also used ''The Watchdog'' to launch controversial attacks against his business competitors. In the 1960s, he unsuccessfully opposed plans to Fluoridation, fluoridate Knoxville's water supply and played a pivotal role in derailing attempts to Consolidated city-county, consolidate the governments of Knoxville and Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County. Walker's political mentor-turned-rival, George Roby Dempster, George Dempster, once said, "If I ordered a whole carload of bitch (insult), SOB's and they just sent Cas, I'd sign for the shipment." Walker continued distributing ''The Watchdog'' until the early 1980s, when a libel suit forced it out of publication. During the same period, Walker's influence helped defeat a second attempt to merge the Knoxville and Knox County governments.Radio and television
In 1929, Walker created a variety show known as the ''Farm and Home Hour'' to help promote his cash stores. The show initially aired as a radio program on WROL-AM and later on WIVK-FM, WIVK-AM. In 1953, the show adopted a television format for WROL-TV (now WATE-TV) and aired on various local channels until 1983. The show featured artists such as Roy Acuff, Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe, Carl Smith (country musician), Carl Smith, Carl Butler, Jim Nabors, and Chet Atkins. The show also helped launch the careers of Dolly Parton, who first performed on the program in 1956 at the age of 10, and the Everly Brothers, who were regulars on the show in the mid-1950s.Hanson, Bradley, ''Southern Spaces,'' November 20, 2008.References
External links