Shelby County Republican Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Shelby County Republican Party is the Republican political organization for Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee. It has a long history of impacting politics in Shelby County long before the Republican Party was popular in the south. Its origins date back to the Lincoln League, which was founded by Robert Church, Jr. Church was one of the most prominent African-American businessmen in the nation and is credited with the early development of Beale Street.
[edit] Chairpersons
Robert Church, Jr. | (1910's) | leading African-american businessman, founded Lincoln League (1916), founder of Memphis NAACP (1917) |
Lt. George W. Lee | (1920's-1940's) | |
Walker Wellford, Jr. / Dr. R.Q. Venson | (1954-?) | |
Bob James | (1961-1963) | Memphis City Councilman |
Governor Winfield Dunn | (1963-1967) | Governor of Tennessee (1971-1975) |
Judge Harry Wellford | (1967-1969) | |
Alex Dann | (1969-1971) | |
Dr. Kyle Creson | (1971-1973) | |
Bill Lawson | (1973-1975) | |
Governor Don Sundquist | (1975-1977) | Congressman(Dist. 7 1983-1995), Governor of Tennessee (1995-2003) |
William H. Watkins, Jr. | (1977-1979) | |
Tom Pyron | (1979-1981) | |
Maida Pearson Smith | (1981-1985) | |
Jack J. Craddock | (1985-1987) | |
John L. Ryder | (1987-1991) | Republican National Committeeman (-2004) |
Dr. Phil Langsdon | (1991-1995) | Author of Tennessee, A Political History |
David Kustoff | (1995-1999) | Chairman of Tennessee campaigns for George W. Bush (2000, 2004), 2002 Candidate for Congress (Dist. 7) Current US Attorney for the Western District of TN |
Alan Crone | (1999-2003) | |
R. Kemp Conrad | (2003-) |