Lamar Alexander

Thank you to Sen. Bill Frist (@bfrist) for highlighting my journey into politics, my three mentors — Sen. Howard Baker, Judge John Minor Wisdom of New Orleans, and Bryce Harlow—and their “enduring influence” in his latest Substack article.

As I write in my new memoir, THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I have concluded that character and temperament are the most important traits for anyone holding public office. Judge Wisdom and Sen. Baker reinforced these values. So did seeing firsthand the stress and the scope of responsibilities of the ten presidents with whom I worked.

Some tell me that putting such a premium on character is naïve. I tell them Bryce Harlow’s story about the time President Eisenhower’s cabinet was divided, and Ike asked, “Well, what would be the right thing to do?”

If a president who was also the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II could make decisions on that basis, perhaps the rest of us could too.

You can read Sen. Frist's article here: billfrist.substack.com/p/three-lesson…

“I know the congressman, and I know the district, and in my opinion the congressman is fairly representative of the people in the district,” the humorist Will Rogers once told a group of constituents complaining about their congressman.

I repeated that story on Friday at a symposium in George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon (@MountVernon), when Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) of CBS News interviewed former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels (@purduemitch) and I about our new memoirs. I reminded those who ask if our country has ever been more divided before that we once had a civil war. We actually had two, since one-third of the colonists were on the British side during the American Revolution.

And I reminded them that last week’s election reminded us that the ballot box is the real cure for those who aren’t happy about the direction of our country.

In THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I paint portraits of the presidents I worked with, tell stories about what I saw behind the scenes, and recount the lessons I learned about American politics and our country’s future.

THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP is out now from @PostHillPress.

You can use the link in my bio to order. simonandschuster.com/books/The-Educ…

Tune into @PBS station WNPT Ch. 8.1 (@nashvillepbs) tonight, Friday, November 6th, from 9:30 PM to 11, to watch Sen. Lamar Alexander’s October 19 interview with Sen. Bill Frist (@bfrist) at the Tucker Theatre on @MTSU's campus about his New York Times best-selling memoir, THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, and his and Sen. Frist’s time in public service.

During the interview, they recount how Sen. Alexander was sworn in as Governor of Tennessee three days early, how working together helped pass the 21st Century Cures Act, and how Sen. Frist went from being one of the nation's leading heart surgeons to a Senator. They also discussed the difference in Senate campaigns from 2002 to today, bipartisanship in public life, and the issues the next generation of leaders are facing.

In THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I paint portraits of the presidents I worked with, tell stories about what I saw behind the scenes, and recount the lessons I learned about American politics and our country’s future.

THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP is out now from @PostHillPress.

You can use this link to order: simonandschuster.com/books/The-Educ….

“He makes Nixon look like a choir boy,” said one Democrat state senator after headlines announced that Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton had signed pardons for 52 of Tennessee’s most notorious prisoners, murderers, rapists, and robbers, including Roger Humphreys. In chapter 2 of my memoir, THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JKF TO TRUMP, I write about how Blanton’s promise to pardon Humphreys helped make me his successor.

One month earlier, in December 1978, FBI agents arrested Edward “Eddie” Sisk, Gov. Blanton’s legal counsel. On that same morning, Tennessee’s retiring first lady, Betty Blanton, was giving a tour of the governor’s residence to her successor, Honey Alexander.

“I’m sorry. There is no way I can take you to look at the master bedroom upstairs because the governor and his advisers are meeting in there,” Mrs. Blanton had said to Honey. The governor had much to discuss in that meeting. The indictments accused Blanton’s chief of security and his extradition officer, as well as Sisk, of twenty-six instances of selling clemencies for cash. There were videotapes to prove it.

“How much would it cost to spring James Earl Ray?” an FBI informant had asked Blanton’s chief of security on one videotape as they sat under surveillance in a Memphis motel room.

Ray was serving ninety-nine years in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary for the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. US Attorney Hardin, who was overhearing the taping in an adjacent room, had suggested the informant try a Hail Mary to test how far the governor’s corrupt aides were willing to go. “Whew, I don’t know. That’s pretty hot. What about $75,000 for an escape?” the chief of security said, according to Hardin. These events reached a crescendo on Monday, January 15 (the day of the surprise opinion), prompting the governor to drive to the Capitol to pardon Humphreys and fifty-one others.

As Tennesseans awoke to Tuesday’s news, you could almost hear explosions of anger popping, house by house. The governor’s new counsel, Robert Lillard, said that there would be as many as eighteen more pardons before the governor left office, and that there was one big name in the group.

Rumors spread that the one big name was James Earl Ray.

You can watch my full discussion with Bill Frist (@bfrist) at @MTSU on YouTube here: youtube.com/watch?v=QcU1rk…. It will also be airing on @PBS station WNPT Ch.8.1 Nashville this Friday, November 6, from 9:30 PM to 11.

In THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I paint portraits of the presidents I worked with, tell stories about what I saw behind the scenes, and recount the lessons I learned about American politics and our country’s future.

THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP is out now from @PostHillPress.

You can use this link to order: simonandschuster.com/.../Lamar.../9….

“That’s one time I’ve seen a pure example of people taking politics and throwing it aside,” said Hayes Cooney, the state deputy attorney general, about the day of my early swearing-in. In Chapters 1 and 2 of my new memoir, THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I write about how the participants in that bipartisan boot camp learned other lessons.

We communicated carefully, repeating conversations or rereading a joint statement out loud to one another. We relied on the advice of senior state attorneys and the local federal attorney. We tried to put the best interests of citizens before our own. We avoided placing each other in awkward political positions.

Our actions encouraged our successors in both political parties to work together over the next forty years. Neighbors took notice.

On Friday evening, October 26, 2018, United States Senator Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat, addressed a national convention of US attorneys in Nashville.

“Our challenge…is to demand…that our public officials and candidates do…as Hal [Hardin] did and as…Lamar Alexander and the cadre of Tennessee Democrats did that January afternoon in 1979—to put state and country above political party. As you can see…in this incredible city of Nashville, the results can be downright amazing.“

Will there be leaders willing to participate in future bipartisan boot camps? I believe the answer is “yes”—if the next generation is nourished in communities where children learn to work well together, to respect public service—and that, for them, anything is possible.

You can watch my full discussion with Bill Frist (@bfrist) at @MTSU on YouTube here: youtube.com/watch?v=QcU1rk…. It will also be airing on @PBS station WNPT Ch.8.1 Nashville this Friday, November 6, from 9:30 PM to 11.

In THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I paint portraits of the presidents I worked with, tell stories about what I saw behind the scenes, and recount the lessons I learned about American politics and our country’s future.

THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP is out now from @PostHillPress.

You can use this link to order: simonandschuster.com/.../Lamar.../9….