Dan Kuykendall

Dan Heflin Kuykendall (July 9, 1924 – June 12, 2008) was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1967 to 1975. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Kuykendall was born in San Saba County, Texas. He was a pilot in World War II from 1942 to 1945. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1947. Employment with Procter & Gamble brought him to Memphis, Tennessee. In 1963 he became chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, which was just beginning its return to prominence after many years of near-irrelevance. This was fueled by a large number of white Democratic voters shifting to the Republicans. In 1964 he won the Republican nomination for United States Senate and ran against incumbent Democrat Albert Gore, Sr. Although he lost Kuykendall ran a surprisingly competitive race, especially given the size of the landslide, both in Tennessee and nationally, by President Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Goldwater. This made Kuykendall very popular in Republican circles.

In 1966 Kuykendall won the Republican nomination for the Memphis-based 9th Congressional District. Taking advantage of the large crossover of white voters, he narrowly defeated freshman Democratic Congressman George W. Grider in November, becoming the first Republican congressman from West Tennessee since 1883. He had very little trouble being reelected until 1972. His voting record was very conservative. He was also known for being long-winded to the point of what many felt was verbosity, and as a consequence was given the somewhat derisive nickname "The Tennessee Talking Horse".

Reapportionment based on the 1970 federal census caused Tennessee to lose a congressional district. In an attempt to punish neighboring 6th District Congressman William Anderson for his perceived liberalism and national ambitions, the General Assembly shifted several portions of Kuykendall's district, which was renumbered the 8th District, to the 6th. In return, Kuykendall now represented a larger proportion of blacks than he had previously represented. Kuykendall won re-election in 1972 against black pastor J. O. Patterson, Jr. in the midst of the national Republican landslide (in which Richard Nixon won 90 of Tennessee's 95 counties). Just after Kuykendall was sworn in for a fourth term, however, a near-violent reaction to a busing order prompted many whites to leave Memphis for the suburbs. These two events seriously eroded Kuykendall's base, and caused many analysts to speculate that the 8th wouldn't stay Republican for long.

In 1974, the Democrats nominated State Representative Harold Ford, a young member of a prominent black funeral-directing family in Memphis whose political involvement dated to the days of E. H. Crump. Ford staged a tremendous get-out-the-vote campaign in the Memphis black community. He also received the support of many whites angered by Kuykendall's continued support of Nixon in the midst of Watergate; he had been one of the few Republicans who supported Nixon even after the release of the "smoking gun" transcripts.

On election night, it looked like Kuykendall had managed to hold onto the seat by a razor-thin margin. However, Ford's supporters found eight ballot boxes purported to have been in the dumpster of the then all-white Shelby County Election Commission. When those ballots were counted, it was enough for Ford to unseat Kuykendall. Since then, Republicans have never come close to retaking the Memphis-area district. The district was renumbered the 9th District again in the 1980s round of redistricting, as Tennessee regained a House seat due to its population now growing at a rate above, rather than below, the national average. At that time, it was drawn as a majority-black district, and Republicans have lost interest in the seat.

As is the case with many former members of Congress, Kuykendall could not resist the allure of the Washington, D.C. area and lived for many years in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2002, Kuykendall returned to the region and lived in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis.

Kuykendall died on June 12, 2008 after a long illness. He was 83.^[1]

References

1. ^ "Ex-congressman Kuykendall dies". http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/jun/12/ex-congressman-kuykendall-dies/. 

External links

• Dan Kuykendall at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by George W. Grider	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 9th congressional district 1967-1973	District eliminated after 1970 Census
Preceded by Ed Jones	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 8th congressional district 1973-1975	Succeeded by Harold Ford, Sr.

Persondata
Name	Kuykendall, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 9, 1924
Place of birth
Date of death	June 12, 2008
Place of death