RAY BLANTON

Leonard Ray Blanton (April 10, 1930–November 22, 1996) was the 44th Governor of Tennessee from 1975 to 1979. Blanton's administration was rife with corruption.

Blanton was from Adamsville, Tennessee, and was from a farming family with road-building interests. He had a background as a schoolteacher and he had worked his way through the University of Tennessee. After one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives, he ran for Congress, challenging 12-term incumbent and former Crump machine ally Tom J. Murray in the Democratic primary for the 7th Congressional District, which was based inJackson and included Adamsville. Blanton defeated Murray in a major upset, a victory that was tantamount to election in the then-heavily Democratic 7th district. Blanton was reelected three times.[edit]




Early life and Congress

[edit]Tennessee in the early 1970s

Tennessee lost a congressional district after the 1970 census, and the legislature decided to eliminate Blanton's district in time for the 1972 elections. Much of Blanton's district, including his home, was merged with the neighboring 8th District of fellow Democrat Ed Jones. The redrawn district retained Blanton's district number—the 7th—and Jackson was the biggest city in the district. However, the district contained more of Jones' former territory than Blanton's. Jones was very popular in this area and would have probably proven very difficult if not impossible to defeat. At the same time, Republican Senator Howard Baker was running for reelection. Even though Baker was a heavy favorite, the Democrats needed a serious candidate to oppose him. Blanton sought the Democratic nomination and won, but was heavily defeated in November. This was the year of a massive Republican landslide that saw PresidentRichard Nixon carry 90 of Tennessee's 95 counties. Under the circumstances, Blanton faced nearly impossible odds, though Baker was so popular that Blanton would have been a heavy underdog in any case. He later stated that his problems in 1972 were "the two M's – money and McGovern" (although Blanton held views similar to McGovern's on the Vietnam War^{[citation needed]}). His willingness to take on a popular Republican opponent against long odds greatly increased his name recognition in the state, setting him up as the principal Democratic candidate for governor in 1974.

[edit]1974 gubernatorial campaign

In 1974 Blanton won a twelve-person Democratic primary for governor. With just 23% of the vote,^[1] he defeated several well-financed opponents including flamboyant East Tennessee banker Jake Butcher. In the November general election he defeated the Republican nominee, attorney Lamar Alexander, receiving the largest number of popular votes ever achieved for a statewide race in Tennessee to that date, 575,205. Blanton's strongest condemnation of Alexander seemed to be that he had served for a time on Nixon's White House staff. Nixon had resigned in disgrace only a few months earlier. Blanton also took advantage of the wide perception that Alexander was a somewhat distant, upper-class individual (despite Alexander's modest background as the son of schoolteachers).

[edit]Tennessee governorship

Blanton's administration was noted for extensive recruiting of foreign industrial and trade opportunities. Also, it was during his term that the state Office of Tourismwas raised to a Cabinet-level position, making Tennessee the first state in the nation to do so. Blanton's administration emphasized equality for women andblacks, tax relief for older and fixed income citizens, and penal reform.

Blanton soon displayed an abrasive style that was interpreted by many as arrogance. He was suspected of playing favorites with his family and other highway contractors. He gained considerable negative attention when he told Carol Marin, then a reporter with Nashville's WSM-TV, that he would not be answering any more "negative" questions. His administration seemed rife with "cronyism", and this became more apparent when Roger Humphreys, a convicted double murderer, was pardoned for his crimes and it became public knowledge that his father was a county chairman for Blanton. It was later discovered that members of Blanton's staff were involved in the apparent sale of pardons. Several of them were subsequently convicted of selling pardons.^{[citation needed]} Blanton himself was never charged, and seemed unfazed by any criticism. On August 18, 1977, he represented President Jimmy Carter at the funeral of Elvis Presley.

In February 1978, the Tennessee State Constitution was amended to allow Blanton and future Tennessee governors to succeed themselves. Blanton did not run for reelection. However, in light of the controversy surrounding his administration, it seems unlikely that he would have been renominated, let alone been reelected, if he had run. His Republican opponent in 1974, Alexander, won in November.

[edit]Transition from Blanton to Alexander

In January 1979, with his term expiring, the State's Pardon Board began to make a series of pardons that seemed to be either the product of sheer politics or openbribery. This generated outrage from both political parties. Leaders from both houses of the legislature, Lieutenant Governor (and Senate Speaker) John S. Wilderand State House Speaker Ned McWherter, searched for a way to prevent further damage to the state's reputation. They found it in the state constitution, which is somewhat vague on when a newly elected governor must be sworn in. It was eventually decided to swear in Alexander three days before the traditional inauguration day. Wilder later referred to Blanton's ouster as "impeachment Tennessee-style."^[2]

[edit]Post-governor troubles

Out of office, Blanton found himself in legal difficulties. He was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other law-enforcement agencies. Although never formally charged in the pardons matter, he was eventually indicted on charges of selling liquor licenses. He was convicted and sentenced to federal prison. After serving his sentence he returned to Tennessee and later had some charges against him dropped. Although a panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals initially reversed the convictions because of the way in which the district court conducted the voir dire,^[3] that decision was vacated by the court's decision to re-hear the case en banc. The full Sixth Circuit Court affirmed Blanton's convictions, and the Supreme Court denied review.^[4]

[edit]Run for Congress in 1988 and death

In 1988, Blanton appeared on a ballot for the first time in 14 years when he ran for the retiring Ed Jones' Congressional seat. He finished far behind the eventual winner, state representative John Tanner, only winning seven percent of the vote. He then became privately employed at a Ford Motors dealership in Hendersonuntil he died of liver failure in 1996, still proclaiming his innocence.

[edit]Film about governorship

A portion of the story of the pardons scandal was made into a book, Marie: A True Story by Peter Maas, author of Serpico, and eventually made into the motion picture Marie starring Sissy Spacek in the title role of Board of Pardons and Paroles Board head Marie Ragghianti. Attorney and future U.S. Senator Fred Thompson launched his acting career in this picture, portraying himself (he was Ragghianti's lawyer). The pardons scandal, as well as others, are also detailed in the book FBI Codename TENNPAR, written by Hank Hillin, the Nashville-based FBI agent who led the investigation into the Blanton administration.^[5]