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    • Winfield Dunn, former governor of Tennessee, dies at 97
    Duluth

    Winfield Dunn, former governor of Tennessee, dies at 97

    Eira Gwyneth Posted on

    Winfield Dunn, who in 1971 became the state’s first Republican governor in half a century, died Saturday. He was 97.

    Although Dunn served only one term, he remained a lifelong loyal supporter of the Tennessee Republican Party, ushering in an era of increasing Republican success after decades of Democrats controlling the state.

    At the request of the Dunn family, Gov. Bill Lee’s office announced Dunn’s death late Saturday.

    “Governor Winfield Dunn was, simply put, a true statesman,” Lee said in a statement. “He was a true servant of the people of Tennessee. He led with principled integrity, a strong faith, and a gracious love for others. Our state is a better place because of his service and leadership. Maria and I join all Tennesseans in honoring the life of Governor Dunn and praying for Betty and the Dunn family in the days ahead.

    A dentist by training, Dunn plunged into Tennessee politics in the early and mid-1960s as a relative newcomer among a succession of Republicans testing the waters as the political winds in the state shifted. He first won the chairmanship of the Shelby County Republican Party and later launched his gubernatorial campaign after failing to recruit a GOP candidate from West Tennessee.

    Dunn made it through the primary despite relative national obscurity – media reports at the time sometimes referred to him as the “Winfield Who” – but benefited from his personality and talent as an orator in the 1970 general election, in which he received more than a third of the total vote came from Shelby County.

    “We were hoping to gain traction,” Dunn said in a 2017 Inside Politics interview. “We had no control in the legislature. When a Republican suddenly became governor of the state, he found himself in a strange position.”

    During his time in office, Dunn was often thwarted by the opposition party as the House of Representatives was controlled by the Democrats.

    Notably, Dunn built a bipartisan government by filling positions with people affiliated with both political parties, echoing the promise of an “era of partnership, not partisanship” that he made in his 1971 inaugural address had made.

    Dunn transformed part of Tennessee’s government into what it is today, including the creation of the Department of General Services and the Department of Banking.

    He signed the Natural Area Preservation Act of 1971, which established legal protections for areas such as Radnor Lake and Fall Creek Falls and continues to protect more than 100,000 acres in more than 80 state natural areas.

    Establishing a statewide kindergarten system and the Tennessee Housing Development Agency were also highlights of his tenure, Dunn later said in an interview with the secretary of state’s office in 2016.

    “I am extremely proud to have fought very hard and won the opportunity to create the Department of Economic and Community Development in our state, which is responsible for so much of the wonderful growth that has occurred in Tennessee,” Dunn said .

    He frequently clashed with the Democratic legislative majority over his veto power, which he exercised dozens of times, including when he denied funding for a medical school at East Tennessee State University. It was a decision that would affect his future political prospects.

    Dunn later expressed regret that he had not exercised his veto power over the so-called “Tennessee Plan,” which allowed a governor to appoint appellate judges. The system was later expanded to include the Tennessee Supreme Court. Dunn later called the plan he signed unconstitutional and argued that Tennesseans should be allowed to elect their judges by popular vote.

    His gubernatorial legacy will likely be known for ushering in decades of two-party politics in a state after years of one-party control.

    “I would say that during my time in office, we showed the people of Tennessee that the Republican Party can be a constructive, productive political force and that the Republican Party has done very well in the years since I’ve been in office,” Dunn said in 2016 in an interview with the Secretary of State’s Office.

    As news of Dunn’s death broke Saturday, many of Tennessee’s leaders honored his legacy.

    “He was a favorite son of West Tennessee who inspired so many people throughout the state of Tennessee through his service. We’re thinking especially of Betty, his favorite first lady and best girl, who was rarely seen without him and whose “life was an example of a life well lived,” U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, said in a statement Explanation. “It has been an honor to travel, campaign and work with Governor Dunn on many occasions, and I have always understood that true public service can make a difference in the lives of so many people.”

    Dunn’s early life

    Bryant Winfield Culberson Dunn was born on July 1, 1927, in Meridian, Mississippi, to Aubert and Dorothy Dunn. Aubert Dunn served as district attorney and was later elected to the U.S. Congress.

    Dunn later described his father as an “extraordinarily talented” man, a born politician, although Aubert Dunn’s drinking habits sometimes led to “turbulent” times for the family.

    Going into town with his father was the beginning of his political education, Dunn said, as his father urged the young man to start conversations with his professional acquaintances.

    At age 17, Dunn volunteered for service in World War II and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He later also served in the Air Force Reserve.

    After the war, Dunn attended the University of Mississippi, where he met his future wife, Betty Prichard, on a blind date. After graduating from banking, he initially considered studying law, but then decided to get married instead. Dunn sold insurance in Mississippi for a time before enrolling in dental school at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

    As he grew his business and family in Memphis, he became interested in Republican politics, particularly inspired by Barry Goldwater’s conservative political philosophy.

    According to media reports in 1970, one of Dunn’s dental patients in Memphis was Dan Kuykendall, who would become the first Republican in years to win the district’s election. Kuykendall began to listen to Dunn even more politically.

    Dunn’s first foray into the political arena came with an unsuccessful run for the state House of Representatives, which he lost in the Republican primary.

    In 1964 he became chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party. When the tide began to change for Tennessee Republicans, he campaigned for Goldwater, his friend and patient Kuykendall, and future U.S. Senator Howard Baker.

    Dunn was also a delegate to the 1968 Republican National Convention.

    ‘Winfield who?‘

    After serving as chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, Dunn began to believe that if enough West Tennesseans united behind a candidate, a Republican could be elected governor.

    Dunn said in 2016 that he initially looked for someone else for the job, but people kept turning him down.

    At the encouragement of others, he began an unofficial listening tour of the state in 1969 and waited until the following April to make his official application – just four months before the primary election.

    The little-known Memphis-based dentist faced an uphill battle, facing off against four other Republican candidates, including House Speaker Bill Jenkins, former state party chairman Claude Robertson and Hubert Patty, who had been the party’s nominee in 1962.

    When Dunn ran for governor in 1970, the Democrats’ once long-established hold on the state began to loosen. In 1966, Howard Baker became the first Tennessee Republican elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction after defeating Governor Frank Clement. Two years later, Republicans won control of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

    Dunn’s campaign was a proving ground for emerging Republican political talent, led by future governor and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally.

    Although he was referred to as “Winfield Who?” As he struggled through the primaries and faced criticism from his opponents for his relative political inexperience, Dunn’s campaign devised a clever strategy for local Republicans to cover Shelby County while Dunn courted more reserved voters in East Tennessee.

    His popularity at home paid off. Although he was ranked second nationally, a landslide victory in Shelby County moved him to the top of the field.

    Dunn received 90% of the primary vote in Shelby County, more than a third of his statewide total, securing him a narrow victory with 33% of the vote.

    In the general election, Dunn ran against the charismatic John Jay Hooker, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1966. By today’s standards, Dunn was a moderate Republican who primarily wanted to invest in things like public education and affordable housing, but he recognized and capitalized on the desire for more conservatives in political office.

    “I came and offered an alternative to a candidate who was close to the Kennedy wing of the national political spectrum,” Dunn said in a 2008 Tennessee interview. “Over the years, Tennesseans have shown this moderation and this conservative leaning.”

    Dunn’s life after office

    When Dunn left office, Republicans gained control of five of the state’s nine congressional seats. However, the party was unable to achieve all its successes, due in part to President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.

    At the time, the state constitution prevented Dunn from running for another term.

    After leaving office, Dunn permanently moved to Nashville and returned to the private sector, where he served as vice president of the Hospital Corporation of America.

    In 1986, Dunn attempted to run for a second term as governor, but lost in a close race to Democrat Ned McWherter, who was Speaker of the House during Dunn’s first term.

    Dunn and his wife were involved with the American Heart Association and other local charities.

    Although he never sought office again, he remained closely involved in Republican politics. He was a member of George HW Bush’s presidential steering committee and chairman of Mitt Romney’s Tennessee campaign.

    Dunn is survived by his wife Betty and their three children, Chuck, Gayle and Julie.

    Former Tennessee reporter Joel Ebert contributed to this report.

    This story has been updated to add additional photos.

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    Eira Gwyneth
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