Walter "Clift" Chandler (October 5, 1887 – October 1, 1967) was an American politician from Tennessee. Walter Chandler was born in Memphis in 1887 to parents of Scots/English descent. He attended public schools before going on to earn his law degree at the University of Tennessee. During Chandler's career he taught school, reported for the Knoxville Sentinel, wrote and practiced law.
After Chandler served as an officer in the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, he served in both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state's legislature, and was the U.S. Representative from Tennessee's 9th Congressional District from 1935 to 1940. He then served two terms as the Mayor of Memphis, from 1940 to 1946, and then again in 1955.
Although supported by the E. H. Crump machine, Chandler made significant contributions to the world on his own. He was the author of Chapter 13 bankruptcy legislation. He filed the original suit in Baker v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court case that argued against Tennessee's status quo of seldom changing the boundaries of congressional districts, even though population growth in urban areas far outstripped the growth in rural areas. By 1960, the district lines had not been redrawn since 1900 despite a provision in the Constitution of Tennessee requiring them to be redrawn every 10 years. In some cases one state representative district might be more populous by a factor of ten than another, more rural district. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Baker, viewing the case not as one of legislative jurisdiction, but as a case of insuring each individual's right to equal representation.
A sensitive and thoughtful man, it was thought by some that he retired from politics in disappointment after E. H. Crump failed to support him for a senate seat. Chandler was an active and contributing member of the West Tennessee Historical Society. His recollections of early life in Memphis provide one of the clearest and most lucid picture of Memphis at the turn of the 19th to 20th century.
Walter Chandler died in 1967, the same year his son, future mayor Wyeth Chandler, was elected to the first Memphis City Council. His son served as Mayor of Memphis from 1972 until 1982 and later as a judge.
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