There was a vacant lot next to the house where I grew up. It was wooded, with lots of leaves in the fall and winter, and was the perfect place to play. There was also a graded road right-of-way beside it that was ideal for snow-sledding.

We sometimes found a few discarded items on the vacant lot. I recall that there were glass insulators thrown away by workers
who came to fix the electrical transformer above the lot.

One day, I found the crumpled front section of a local newspaper, partially covered by leaves. I was familiar with that newspaper, since my mother and grandmother helped me to learn to read by reviewing the daily comics with me. On the date of my newspaper, August 10, 1963, the headline was “SEN. ESTES KEFAUVER DIES.”

Forty-two years later, I decided to follow up on the story that I had read. I knew nothing about Estes Kefauver except that he had been a U.S. senator. At the library, I checked out “Estes Kefauver: A Biography” by Charles L. Fontenay, a reporter for the Nashville Tennessean who covered Kefauver’s 1948 U.S. Senate bid and the years thereafter.

Mr. Fontenay and others have captured so many details of the life of Estes Kefauver that I will simply refer the reader to the existing books and articles. The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library has an extensive file on Kefauver, as does the University of Tennessee. However, for those readers who are unfamiliar with or have forgotten this public servant from southeast Tennessee, I have put together a timeline of his life.

1903 – Carey Estes Kefauver is born in Madisonville, Tennessee

1912 – Estes Kefauver helps his father, Cooke Kefauver, to campaign for Woodrow Wilson, and gains an interest in politics.

1914 – Robert Kefauver, older brother of Estes, dies of complications from a swimming accident on the Tellico River. Estes, who had swam ahead of his brother, is forever affected by his brother’s death. He vows that he will fulfill the dreams which his parents had for Robert.

1924 – Graduates from the University of Tennessee, where he played on the football team, was editor of the school newspaper and president of the student body.

1927 – Graduates from Yale University with a degree in law. Estes Kefauver joins the Chattanooga office of Col. Robert B. Cooke, who was a relative.

1930 – Kefauver becomes a junior partner at Sizer, Chambliss, and Sizer in the Provident Building, now called the Maclellan Building.

1935 – Kefauver is married to Nancy Pigott, who had met Estes while visiting her aunt, Mrs. John L. Hutcheson. Nancy and her sister had traveled from their native Scotland. The Kefauvers settle on Lookout Mountain.

1938 – Kefauver runs, but loses, in a race for the Tennessee Senate.

Jan. 1939 – Accepts temporary appointment from Gov. Prentice Cooper as state commissioner of finance and taxation.

Sept. 1939 – Wins as a Democrat in a special election held to fill the Third District seat of U.S. Representative Sam D. McReynolds, who had recently died.

1948 – Decides not to seek re-election to the U.S. House; instead, wins election to the U.S. Senate, a post he will hold until his death. While in the Senate, Kefauver gains national attention as a reformer in committee hearings on organized crime, monopolies, and special interests.

1952 – Unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1956 – For a second time, is unsuccessful in gaining the Democratic presidential nomination. Accepts Vice-Presidential nomination on the Adlai Stevenson ticket, but both are defeated by the re-election of Dwight Eisenhower. Some analysts felt that if the Stevenson-Kefauver had been reversed, the two might have defeated Eisenhower.

August 8, 1963 – In the early days of the space age, the government has established Comsat, a private, profit-making corporation with exclusive rights to deploy satellites. Kefauver has introduced an amendment to a NASA appropriations bill to require that Comsat reimburse the federal government for applicable costs of research and development.

While engaged in a late-afternoon debate over the amendment, Kefauver is taken ill and says, “Mr. President, I yield the floor.” as he sits down at his desk. Aides rush to treat him. After Sen. Mike Mansfield proposes two hours of debate the following day, Kefauver speaks his final words on the floor of the Senate: “I spoke to the Majority Leader about having a yea-and-nay vote on the amendment.”

August 10, 1963 – While awaiting open-heart surgery, Kefauver dies of a ruptured aorta. His body is taken home to Madisonville for burial, and his tombstone has the words chosen by his wife, Nancy – “Courage, Justice, and Loving Kindness.” In addition to his wife, Estes Kefauver is survived by four children.

There are many more details in “Estes Kefauver: A Biography.” Particularly interesting to me were the accounts of Kefauver’s various Chattanooga connections, including places he lived and worked, and interaction with other local political figures of his day.

If you have memories of Sen. Estes Kefauver, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net. In a bipartisan spirit, I promise that my next article on an elected leader will be a Republican or possibly a Whig.

Estes Kefauver (tall man with glasses) met Bonny Oak students for a tour of Vice-President Nixon's office in 1954. Click to enlarge.
- Photo2 by courtesy Chattanooga-Hamilton County Library