Vanderbilt University Press: The story of the day Tennessee Democrats ousted their Governor
[NASHVILLE, TN] Coup is the behind-the-scenes story of an abrupt political transition, unprecedented in US history.
This insider’s account of the secret bipartisan plot to remove a governor will be published August 2013
Based on 163 interviews, Keel Hunt describes how collaborators came together from opposite sides of the political aisle. In an extraordinary few hours, they reached agreement that the corruption and madness of the sitting Governor of Tennessee, Ray Blanton, must be stopped. The sudden transfer of power that caught Blanton unawares was deemed necessary because of what one FBI agent called “the state’s most heinous political crime in half a century”—selling pardons for cash.
On January 17, 1979, driven by new information that some of the worst criminals in the state’s penitentiaries were about to be released (and fears that James Earl Ray might be one of them), a small bipartisan group chose to take charge. Senior Democratic leaders, friends of the sitting governor, together with the Republican governor-elect Lamar Alexander (now US Senator from Tennessee), agreed to oust Blanton from office before another night fell. It was a maneuver unique in American political history.
- A true story of bipartisanship and putting duty before party
- Dramatic, hour-by-hour account of the fateful day
- Contains much new information, based on 163 interviews
About the Author: In his early career, Keel Hunt was a reporter, editorial writer, Washington correspondent, and City Editor for the Nashville Tennessean. He left the newspaper to join Lamar Alexander’s successful campaign for Governor of Tennessee. Following the 1978 election, he was appointed Special Assistant to the Governor, serving as a speechwriter and coordinator of the Governor’s Policy Group. Since 1986 he has been a speechwriter and public affairs consultant.
Find out more at www.VanderbiltUniversityPress.com.