Career
In 1952, Frank Clement defeated incumbent governor Gordon Browning for the Democratic nomination for governor. Clement was unopposed in the general election and became governor at age 32. Browning had solid backing by the railroad industry, whereas Clement sought the endorsement and funding of road builders to gain a counter-contingency, and fundamentally changed the equitable balance of power in Tennessee politics for the next half a century. Clement also obtained the crucial support of Memphis political "boss" E. H. Crump, who had broken with Browning during Browning's first term as governor in the 1930s. Clement, only 32 at the time, became the youngest governor in the country when he upset Browning in the August primary and won the election. Upon entering office, he showed himself, unlike most of his contemporary Southern governors, to be a moderate with regard to racial desegregation.
Clement had run as an opponent of the sales tax, then set at two percent in Tennessee, but reversed his opposition to it and supported an increase to three percent to better fund education, especially making the use of textbooks free in all Tennessee primary and secondary grades, a first for the state. He also supported road-building and improvement as an economic development measure, more than repaying his political debt to the road builders. As part of his improvements, outside lines on highways became commonly painted for the first time in Tennessee.
Read more about this topic: Frank G. Clement
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