22 Facts About Buford Ellington

Earl Buford Ellington was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of Tennessee from 1959 to 1963, and again from 1967 to 1971.

Buford Ellington studied religion at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, but had to drop out due to financial difficulties.

Buford Ellington edited a newspaper in Durant, Mississippi, for a brief period.

Buford Ellington worked as a salesman for American Harvester in the 1930s, and was a supervising salesman with Tennessee Farm Bureau Insurance in the early 1940s.

In 1948, Buford Ellington ran and was elected to Marshall County's seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

In 1952, Buford Ellington managed the successful campaign of Frank Clement, who defeated incumbent Gordon Browning in the Democratic primary for governor, and went on to win the general election.

Buford Ellington was elected to a full four-year term in 1954 after his initial two-year term.

In 1958, with Clement term-limited, Buford Ellington sought the Democratic Party's nomination for governor.

Since Crump's death in 1954, the Clement-Buford Ellington alliance had become the state's leading political organization.

Buford Ellington won the nomination with 213,415 votes to 204,629 for Taylor, 204,382 for Orgill, and 56,854 for Allen.

Buford Ellington won the general election by a sizeable margin over several opponents, among them former Governor McCord, who ran as an independent.

In 1961, several Tennessee State University students who had participated in the Freedom Rides, to highlight illegal segregation on interstates buses, which were covered by federal law, were expelled after Buford Ellington ordered an investigation into their activities.

Buford Ellington again sought the Democratic Party nomination for governor in 1966.

Buford Ellington's opponent, John Jay Hooker, was a friend of former Governor Browning, and had been endorsed by the Nashville Tennessean.

Buford Ellington was endorsed by President Johnson, Clement, and the Nashville Banner.

Buford Ellington defeated Hooker for the nomination, 413,950 votes to 360,105.

The divide between Clement and Buford Ellington continued to grow, as Buford Ellington refused to endorse Clement in his US Senate primary campaign against Ross Bass.

Governor Clement attempted to spend the state's budget surplus to ensure the Buford Ellington administration did not inherit it.

In September 1967, Buford Ellington signed a bill repealing the Butler Act, the 1925 law that had outlawed the teaching of the Theory of Evolution in state schools.

Buford Ellington did not seek another office after his second term as governor ended.

Buford Ellington died while playing golf in Boca Raton, Florida, on April 3,1972.

Buford Ellington began a friendship with Elvis Presley, who was honored by the Tennessee General Assembly with the title of "Honorary Colonel" on March 8,1961.