page_title: Frank G. Clement
section_title: Family and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Frank G. Clement / Family and legacy
caption_attribution_description: Sen. Lamar Alexander (far left), former Tennessee State Senator Anna Belle Clement O'Brien and former U.S. Representative Bob Clement discuss Gov. Frank G. Clement's courageous role in the desegration of Clinton High School during a ceremony at the Green McAdoo site in Clinton recently. “In 1956, one year before Central High School in Little Rock was integrated, Governor Clement and the citizens of Clinton did what they were supposed to do by enforcing the law and successfully integrating Clinton High School without federal intervention,” Alexander said. “The Clinton 12 bravely stood up and became the first students to enter a desegregated public high school in the South, and we need to honor their important place in our nation’s history. We also need to recognize the leadership and courage it took for Governor Clement to desegregate Clinton High without the need for federal armed forces. I think it is very important to honor the story of the Clinton 12 and what the Tennessee community and especially Governor Clement did a year before Little Rock Central by making this site a unit in the National Park System.”
context_page_description: Frank Goad Clement was an American lawyer and politician who served as Governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959 and from 1963 to 1967. Inaugurated for the first time at age 32, he was the state's youngest and longest-serving governor in the 20th century. Clement owed much of his rapid political rise to his ability to deliver rousing, mesmerizing speeches. His sermon-like keynote address at the 1956 Democratic National Convention has been described as both one of the best and one of the worst keynote addresses in the era of televised conventions.
  As governor, Clement oversaw the state's economic transformation from a predominantly agricultural state to an industrial state. He increased funding for education and mental health, and was the first Southern governor to veto a segregation bill. In 1956, he dispatched the National Guard to disperse a crowd attempting to prevent integration at Clinton High School. He attempted to enter national politics, and although his aggressive speeches at the 1956 Democratic national convention impressed some members of his own party, they disgusted many other politicians and brought an end to his federal political career.
context_section_description: Clement's sister, Anna Belle Clement O'Brien (1923–2009), worked as his chief of staff in the 1960s, and later served in the state legislature, initially in the state House of Representatives (1975–1977), and afterward in the state senate (1977–1991).
  Clement married Lucille Christianson in 1940.  They had three sons, two of whom are still living. Bob Clement has served as Tennessee Public Service Commissioner, director of the Tennessee Valley Authority, president of Cumberland University, and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 2003. Frank G. Clement, Jr., has been an attorney, a probate court judge, and currently serves on the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
  The Hotel Halbrook, where Clement was born in Dickson, is now home to the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Clement's namesakes include buildings at Austin Peay State University, the University of Tennessee, Tennessee Technological University, Tennessee State University, and the University of Tennessee at Martin, as well as a golf course at Montgomery Bell State Park and a bridge over Barren Fork in McMinnville.
caption: Senator Lamar Alexander (left) discusses Governor Clement's role in the 1956 desegregation of Clinton High School with Clement's sister, Anna Belle, and son, Bob
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