Don Sundquist
| Donald Kenneth "Don" Sundquist | |
 | |
| In office January 21, 1995 – January 18, 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Ned McWherter |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Phil Bredesen |
U.S. Representative fo
Tennessee's 7th congressional district | |
| In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Robin Beard (redistricting) |
| Succeeded by | Edward Glynn "Ed" Bryant |
| Born | March 15, 1936 Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Carolyn Swanson Sundquist (married 1959)[1] |
| Residence | Townsend, Blount County, Tennessee[2] |
| Alma mater | Augustana College of Illinois (Bachelor of Arts)[3] |
| Occupation | Businessman |
Military Service
| |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1957–1963 |
Donald Kenneth Sundquist, known as Don Sundquist (born March 15, 1936), served from 1995 to 2003 as the Republican Governor of his adopted state of Tennessee. He was only the third Republican to have served as Tennessee governor since 1920, preceded by Lamar Alexander and Winfield Dunn.
Previously from 1983 to 1995, Sundquist was the United States Representative for Tennessee's 7th congressional district. Originally, a conservative, Sundquist lost grass-roots support when he pushed unsuccessfully for the establishment of a state income tax.
Background
A native of Moline in Rock Island County, Illinois, Sundquist was the son of Kenneth Maynard Sundquist (1909-1995) and the former Louise Henrietta Rohren (1912-2006),[4] who were of Swedish and German descent, respectively.[3] After graduating in 1953 from Moline High School[5] he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the private liberal arts institution, Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.[3] His wife, the former Martha Carolyn Swanson (born 1937), a native of Joliet, Illinois, also graduated from Augustana College and like her husband active in Republican political activities.[6]
From 1957 to 1963, Sundquist served in the United States Navy, two years on active duty.[7]
In 1961, Sundquist began working at Jostens in Princeton, Illinois, and Owatonna, Minnesota,[3] a company which produces yearbooks and class rings for various high schools and colleges as well as championship rings for sports. In 1962, he was transferred to the company plant in Shelbyville in Bedford County in southern Tennessee and became the plant manager.[1] Sundquist left Jostens in 1972 and moved to Memphis, where he established Graphic Sales of America, an advertising and printing company.[1]
Political life
Sundquist also became active in GOP politics, having in 1964 served as an organizer of the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign, which lost forty-four states, including Tennessee, to the Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson.[8]
From 1971 to 1973, Sundquist was the chairman of the national Young Republicans. Then from 1975 to 1977, he was chairman of the Shelby County Republican organization. [7] He was a delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, at which Gerald Ford won the nomination over Ronald Reagan. Then in 1980, Sundquist managed the unsuccessful e presidential campaign of United States Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, a Moderate Republican who lost the nomination to Reagan. Coincidentally, Baker served briefly as Reagan's chief of staff after the Iran-Contra affair.[7]
In 1982, Sundquist sought the seat of U.S. Representative Robin Jerald Beard, Jr., who left the House to mount an unsuccessful campaign against Democrat Senator James Ralph "Jim" Sasser (born 1936), who was initially elected in the Jimmy Carter sweep of Tennessee in 1976. Beard's 6th congressional district was renumbered as the 7th district after redistricting.[7] In the general election, Sundquist edged Robert Nelson "Bob" Clement (born 1943), the son of former Governor Frank Goad Clement (1920-1969), by just over 1,000 votes out of more than 145,000 cast.[9] Thereafter, Sundquist had comparatively little opposition in four bids for reelection.[7]
While in the U.S. House, Sundquist established a conservative voting record, and was popular with conservative-oriented groups such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the American Conservative Union.[7] He was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and the subcommittee on trade matters and selexct revenue measures.[7] Sundquist was also a member of the Republican Task Force on Trade, and the Republican Task Force on Ethics Reform.[1]
Governorship
In 1994, a nationally Republican year, Sundquist ran for governor in the race to replace the term-limited Democratic incumbent, Ned Ray McWherter (1930-2011). He easily won the Republican nomination with more than 80 percent of the primary vote, and he then defeated in the general election Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen, who subsequently succeeded Sundquist in the governorship in 2003.[10] Bredesen criticized Sundquist for voting against raising the minimum wage yet voting for a congressional pay increase. Sundquist questioned Bredesen's position on public funding for abortion and school privatization.[3] On election day, Sundquist won, 807,104 votes to Bredesen's 664,252.[1]
During his first term, Sundquist focused on government efficiency and welfare reform, having signed into law the "Families First" bill in 1996, which cut the number of welfare families 70,000 to 30,000.[11] He also signed a series of crime-related measures which called for tougher sentences and more focus on victims' rights.[1] In 1996, Sundquist eliminated the state's scandal-ridden Tennessee Public Service Commission and replaced the body with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority.[7] That same year, he established the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.[1]
Second gubernatorial term
In 1998, a mostly Republican year nationally, Sundquist easily won his party's nomination by defeating the Memphis realtor Shirley Beck-Vosse by a nine-to-one margin.[3] In the general election, he easily defeated his Democratic opponent, John Jay Hooker, Jr. (1930-2015), 669,973 votes to 287,790.[3] Hooker had also been the unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 1970 against Republican Winfield Dunn.
In his second term, Sundquist implemented the ConnectTen program, which made Tennessee the first state in the nation to connect its schools and libraries to the Internet.[11] He believed that the state relied too heavily on sales taxes, a situation he found unstable and made more difficult to compete with other Southern states in education and infrastructure.[1] His tax reform plan included a state income tax, an idea long rejected by Tennessee voters. Many of his political backers turned against him, and demonstrators vandalized the governor's officeprs against the income tax street demonstrations in the capital city of Nashville.[7] In July 2001, demonstrators vandalized the governor's office and broke windows in the state capitol as legislators were considering the income tax proposal.[12]
In 2002, a Nashville television station reported that businesses owned by several friends of Sundquist were illegally given no-bid state contracts. As Sundquist prepared to leave office, the FBI raided the Education Networks of America, a group founded by a Sundquist supporter, Albert Franklin Ganier, Jr. (1915-2006)[13] who later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a computer.[14]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Carroll Van West (2009). Don Sundquist. Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved on October 29, 2021.
- ↑ Georgiana Vines, "Sundquist Wants More 'Civil' and 'Bipartisan' Politics," Knoxville News Sentinel, January 3, 2010.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Phillip Langsdon, Tennessee: A Political History (Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 408-412.
- ↑ Kenneth Maynard Sundquist (1909-1995) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 28, 2021.
- ↑ Biographical Directory. United States Congress. Retrieved on October 28, 2021.
- ↑ Martha Carolyn Sundquist (born October 10, 1937), American volunteer | World Biographical Encyclopedia (prabook.com), accessed October 29, 2021.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 "Governor Don Sundquist Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives, 2007.
- ↑ Jackson Baker (October 1, 2011). King of the Hill. Memphis Magazine. Retrieved on October 29, 2021.
- ↑ Our Campaigns – TN District 7, 1982 Tennessee District 7, 1982. Our Campaigns. Retrieved on October 28, 2021.
- ↑ Our Campaigns – TN Governor, Republican primary, 1994 TN Governor, Republican primary. Our Campaigns. Retrieved on October 28, 2021.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Don Sundquist Don Sundquist. National Governors Association. Retrieved on October 28, 2021.
- ↑ Tax Protesters Break Windows in Tennessee Capitol Tax Protesters Break Windows in Tennessee Capitol. CNN Politics (July 12, 2001). Retrieved on October 29, 2021.
- ↑ Albert F. Ganier Jr. (1915-2006) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 28, 2021.
- ↑ "Sundquist Friend Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor," News Channel 5 in Nashville, May 17, 2014.