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Frank G

Frank Goad Clement (2 June 1920-4 November 1969) was the Democratic Governor of Tennessee from 15 January 1953 to 19 January 1959 (succeeding Gordon Browning and preceding Buford Ellington) and from 15 January 1963 to 16 January 1967 (interrupting Ellington's terms).

Biography[]

Frank Goad Clement was born in Dickson, Tennessee in 1920, and he worked for the FBI before serving in the US Army during World War II, serving as counsel for the Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission from 1946 to 1950, and practicing law in Dickson. He served as Governor from 1953 to 1959 and from 1963 to 1967, alternating terms with his ally Buford Ellington, and he oversaw Tennessee's transition from an agricultural state into an industrial state and increased education and mental health funding, vetoed a segregation bill, and died in a car crash in 1969 while running for re-election to a fourth term, having fallen into alcoholism.

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