Coup
Subtitle: the day the Democrats ousted their governor, put Republican Lamar Alexander in office early, and stopped a pardon scandal
By: Keel Hunt ; with a newly discovered account of the events by Lamar Alexander
Contributors: Alexander, Lamar, 1940- contributor
Edition: Expanded edition.
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9780826521842
Subjects: Political corruption; Politics and government; History
Other titles: Day the Democrats ousted their governor, put Republican Lamar Alexander in office early, and stopped a pardon scandal
Description: "Coup is the behind-the-scenes story of a day that was not supposed to happen in America--the abrupt transition from one Governor to the next--that did happen in Tennessee in January 1979. It was unprecedented in American history, made national headlines, and stunned the political power structure in the home state of Andrew Jackson, Estes Kefauver, Howard Baker, and Al Gore. The sudden transfer of power that surprised the sitting Governor, Ray Blanton, was deemed necessary because of what one F.B.I. agent called 'the state's most heinous political crime in half a century'--a scheme of selling pardons for cash. Senior Democratic leaders who were friends of the sitting governor, together with the Republican governor-elect (now U.S. Senator from Tennessee), agreed to oust Blanton from office before another night fell. It was a maneuver unique in American history. Coup is the true story of how that fateful day and evening unfolded, how the unprecedented decision was made, who made it, and the myriad paths they individually had traveled to be in their positions of power. The Expanded edition includes a newly unearthed first-person account of the coup by Senator Lamar Alexander himself, written only five years after the events occurred"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: The stranger; title: The sharecropper's son and Nixon's choirboy; title: The red-and-black plaid shirt; title: The murders; title: The madness; title: A man of great promise; title: The dominion of the Editor-in-Chief; title: The Attorney General and the rule of law; title: The new list and the ticking clock; title: The turmoil; title: The call; title: The rise of the speaker; title: The cosmos of the Lieutenant Governor; title: The dance; title: The decision; title: The yellow-dog Chief Justice; title: The arrival; title: The oath; title: The scramble; title: The long night; title: The white morning; title: Epilogue : what became of them; title: Timeline; title: Postscript : A note on sources; title: Lost manuscript found : My view of the coup from the eye of the storm / by Lamar Alexander.