-
19. The Scramble
- Vanderbilt University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
203 Chapter 19 The Scramble I think it will be recorded that Ray Blanton was his own worst enemy. —John Jay Hooker The deed was done. The officials stepped down from the dais, and the courtroom quickly erupted in noise and more movement. Reporters swarmed McWherter, Wilder, and Secretary of State Gentry Crowell, asking them more questions. The UPI’s Fred Sedahl rushed out of the room to the one payphone across the lobby. “I just hope and pray we did the right thing,” McWherter told them in a muted voice, his face serious, somber, and contemplative. “I’ve plowed new ground and walked a new road. It made you about half sick, but you had to do what you think is responsible.” Hank Allison, who had narrated the run-up to the live broadcast for his station, found John Jay Hooker in the crush. Hooker had lead the short-lived petition campaign to stop Blanton’s pardon of Humphreys and also had gone to court to challenge other clemencies after it came to light that a Blanton staff member had signed the governor’s name to commutations. “You’ve been so involved in this,” the reporter said. “You’ve fought this Humphreys case every step of the way. What’s your feeling tonight?” “I think it’s, in many ways, a very sad moment for Tennessee, but in other ways it’s a great moment,” Hooker replied. “Leadership brings out the best in people, and I believe that the leadership we’ve seen here tonight, on the part of Lamar Alexander and on the part of the Democrats—Ned McWherter and Lieutenant Governor Wilder, and the attorney general of Tennessee— they’ve come together and made a decision. They decided to transfer the power of government to prevent the wrongs that have taken place from happening any further.” “When history looks at the Blanton administration, how will it be recognized?” “I think it will be recorded that Ray Blanton was his own worst enemy. I 204 COUP think he brought it on himself. There was no other viable choice. I think the United States attorney today did what he had to do, and when they heard from the United States attorney, Lamar Alexander and the rest did what they had to do.” Allison’s colleague Dave Caylor, the Channel 5 reporter, asked Wilder to comment: “It had to happen,” he replied. “We had to do what we did do. We wished we had not had to do it, but when the United States district attorney called myself and Mr. McWherter and Governor Alexander and advised us that he had certain information that lead him to believe that a number of people were going to be pardoned or commuted shortly, we had no choice so we acted. . . . Those of us in this position must act responsibly, and I think we have.” In another interview, Wilder called the event “a ceremonial impeachment ” that Blanton himself had, regrettably, made necessary. In the Channel 5 studio, there was a pause in the broadcast for a commercial break, and this gave Chris Clark a moment to take a breath and ready himself for the continued live coverage. Clark had promised viewers they would stay with the story until 7:00 p.m. During this off-the-air break, Clark chatted with two producers off- camera. In a surviving videotape of this out-take, one producer asked aloud: “Does Ray Blanton have any recourse? Can he do anything? Is he powerless to do anything?” Another voice: “What if he’s already signed some papers, before 5:55?” Clark replied, “Alexander has issued an order.” They decided to route these question to Allison and Caylor, their reporters up the hill, who could put them to Gentry Crowell, the secretary of state. Crowell had attended the Monday night signing session in Blanton’s office. If there were other last-minute commutations, they reasoned, Crowell should know. Still inside the supreme court building, Allison followed McWherter to the lobby, where there was more room to maneuver with a microphone, camera, and lights. He asked the speaker to describe how he felt, as a leader in the Democratic Party, having now sworn in a Republican governor. “I don’t wish to be indiscrete, Mr. Speaker, but you are of the ‘other party’ than the man just sworn in as governor, the man whose ouster as governor was felt needed by you and other members of your own party. Could...