John Shearer: Former Congressman Bob Clement Tells Tales Of Elvis, Truman And Billy Graham

  • Monday, March 27, 2017
  • John Shearer
Books by Mary and former Congressman Bob Clement
Books by Mary and former Congressman Bob Clement
Over the years, I have become a little intrigued with the Clement family of Middle Tennessee, and not really for any political reasons.
 
I remember one time in college in 1980, when I stopped to visit University of Georgia friend and Bulldog golfer Bob Wolcott in Dickson, Tenn. Instead of having posters of pro golfers in his bedroom, he had a framed old picture of the fedora-wearing former Tennessee Gov. Frank Clement, to whom he said he was related.
 
And after I started working at the Chattanooga News-Free Press in 1984, I heard longtime city editor and columnist Julius Parker tell more than one story of Gov.
Clement. One included talking to the skilled and evangelical-style orator after his famous 1956 Democratic national convention keynote address and even helping him critique its effect. I could tell Mr. Parker liked him and enjoyed covering his administration.
 
As a result of all this, when I read that the famous former governor’s oldest son was giving a speech and doing a book signing Friday night near me, I decided to go hear him, even though it meant missing some of the NCAA basketball tournament on TV.
 
I did not catch him at Star Line Books near Main and Market streets in Chattanooga, where he did a book signing Thursday afternoon for his memoir-style book, “Presidents, Kings & Convicts,” but in downtown Knoxville.
 
Mr. Clement, who is now 73, has enjoyed his own time in the political spotlight.  He was a state public service commissioner, a member of the TVA board, president of Cumberland University and was a Democratic congressman from the 5th District in Middle Tennessee from 1988-2003.
 
The University of Tennessee graduate and former Army National Guardsman also experienced a few political disappointments, including unsuccessfully running for governor and senator. All of these stories are in his book, as are a few tales of living in the governor’s mansion as a child.
 
Regarding the latter, as he jokingly told the roughly 35-40 people on hand to hear his talk at the East Tennessee History Center, he was not allowed to refer to the spacious governor’s residence as a mansion.
 
“I grew up in public housing,” he joked of the nice governor’s quarters in the exclusive Oak Hill section of Nashville. “We had a modest home when I was young, but at age 9 I moved into what was a mansion, but mother and father never let me call it a mansion.”
 
He said his father had an unusual arrangement while living there in that convicted state prisoners worked on the grounds. The younger Mr. Clement befriended many of them, he said. 
 
He and his two brothers also often had opportunities to sit in the house and listen to his parents converse about the pressing issues of the day for Tennesseans. And they met a few noted celebrities as well, he said.
 
Mr. Clement told the audience that one time President Harry Truman spent the night at the governor’s mansion after leaving office, and the young Mr. Clement was impressed with his charm and gentlemanly manner.
 
They all retired for the night, and the next morning Gov. Clement rose early but became fearful when he could not find President Truman. There was no Secret Service with the president in Nashville, so the governor, a former FBI agent, contacted his Tennessee Highway Patrol staff.
 
Thankfully, the president was found on a nearby street simply taking his morning walk, Bob Clement recounted.
 
At the urging of Gov. Clement, Elvis Presley very early in his rise to music fame also once visited the governor’s mansion, which did not have any fence around it at the urging of Gov. Clement because he said it was the people’s home. As the younger Mr. Clement told the story, Elvis’ manager, Col. Tom Parker, who lived near Nashville, called Gov. Clement and said he wanted him to meet Elvis.
 
The governor told him to bring him out and also invited a group of state prison musicians called the Prisonaires. Everyone eventually retired to an upstairs room, where Elvis and the Prisonaires took turns performing numbers. 
 
“Elvis got so carried away that he stayed until 3,” Mr. Clement said, adding with a smile that maybe Elvis got ideas for the song, “Jailhouse Rock,” from that interaction. 
 
Mr. Clement’s father also had to deal with serious matters as governor, and the former congressman related some of them. He said that when Clinton High near Knoxville became the first public high school in the South to integrate in 1956, his father did not try to fight it like many Southern governors, who encouraged him to join the Southern coalition.
 
“He refused,” Mr. Clement said. “He said, ‘As long as I am governor, we will never have federal troops march to solve our problems. We’ll solve our own problems.’ That took what I call political courage. 
 
“A lot of people these days shy away from political courage,” he son continued. “They are looking at the next election instead of the next generation.”
 
He also told a story of his father’s role in the 1960 presidential election between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Frank and Lucille Clement were very close friends with the Rev. Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, but the governor learned from future President Kennedy’s father, Joe, that Mr. Graham was going to endorse Mr. Nixon.
 
Ambassador Kennedy knew of their friendship and had asked Gov. Clement to try to stop the well-known evangelist. As a result, Gov. Clement talked to Mr. Graham, told him that endorsing Mr. Nixon would be divisive for Mr. Graham’s ministry, and the beloved minister eventually backed down, Gov. Clement’s son said. President Kennedy ended up winning in a very close election.
 
Mr. Clement also writes in the book that his father courageously went to Benton in Polk County in 1956 to try and quell a potentially riotous situation after the local sheriff was shot and killed. 
 
Gov. Clement also did much to help move Tennessee out of the dark ages in terms of mental health care in the mid-20th century, biographies of him point out. The Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga is one result of that work.
 
He also helped public school students get free textbooks. 
 
Multiple biographical sketches online also reveal that Gov. Clement did struggle with alcohol-related issues, so this man of many gifts was human, despite such other noble efforts as serving as a Methodist Sunday school teacher for years.
 
His son references those long-whispered problems in the book only indirectly, and he did not mention them in his talk.
 
The speaker did discuss his own political career and outlook for the world in a roughly 30-minute talk that was non-partisan and unifying in tone and included a question-and-answer session.
 
He admitted that the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, does need some reform, and he added that Republicans and Democrats don’t know each other as well as they once did. Part of that is that congressional districts are more heavily Republican or Democrat than they used to be, and that members of Congress now spend more time in their home districts, he said.
 
“If I don’t know you and you don’t know me, we’re not going to get a lot accomplished,” Mr. Clement said.
 
He did reference doing the book signing in Chattanooga the day before and said he was proud of his efforts to help build the solar-powered TVA facilities in downtown Chattanooga and in getting recreation started on the Ocoee River while a TVA board member.
 
The book also references some college buddies with local connections, including developer Franklin Haney and former National Transportation Safety Board head Jim Hall. The memoir also shows a picture of him with Gen. John Pickler of Chattanooga upon his retirement from the Army National Guard.
 
Mr. Clement told the gathering that congressional colleagues who had not served in the military were often asking him for insight related to military or veteran-related issues.
 
He said he had decided to get into the military via Army ROTC at UT after getting a draft number during the Vietnam War era that meant he would likely be drafted. 
 
Regarding foreign affairs, he told the audience, “Our last resort should be keeping the peace, not going to war.”
 
He added on a lighter note that while he was at UT, the popular school president, Dr. Andy Holt, took a liking to him and took him fishing on occasion.
 
After his talk, Mr. Clement politely autographed copies of his books and maintained a warm and friendly engagement with all who were there. His wife, Mary, also attended and set aside free copies of her book, “Around the Kitchen Table: Lessons Learned and Lives Shaped.”
 
He was introduced by former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade, who currently serves as dean of Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law in downtown Knoxville.
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net
Former Gov. Frank Clement
Former Gov. Frank Clement
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