Harlan Mathews

Harlan Mathews
United States Senator from Tennessee
In office January 3, 1993 – December 1, 1994
Appointed by	Ned McWherter
Preceded by	Al Gore
Succeeded by	Fred Thompson
Deputy to the Governor of Tennessee
In office January 1987 – January 1993
38th Treasurer of the State of Tennessee
In office March 31, 1974 – January 1987
Preceded by	Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr.
Succeeded by	Steve Adams
Commissioner of Finance and Administration
In office 1961–1971
Personal details
Born	(1927-01-17)January 17, 1927 Sumiton Walker County, Alabama
Died	Nashville, Tennessee
Resting place	Harpeth Hills Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Pat Mathews née Jones
Children	Stanley Mathews Lester Mathews Richard Mathews
Parents	John William Mathews Lillian (Young) Mathews
Alma mater	Jacksonville State University Vanderbilt University
Occupation	Public servant
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Service/branch	U.S. Navy
Years of service	1944-46

Harlan Mathews (January 17, 1927 – May 9, 2014) was a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1993 to 1994. He had previously served in the executive and legislative branches of state government in Tennessee for over 40 years beginning in 1950.

Early life and education

Harlan Mathews was a native of Walker County, Alabama. He was born January 17, 1927 in Sumiton, Alabama, the son of John William Mathews and Lillian (Young) Mathews. In 1944, after high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served until 1946. Returning to Alabama, he graduated from Jacksonville State College (now Jacksonville State University) with a B.A. degree in 1949.

He came to Nashville and obtained a master's degree in public administration from Vanderbilt University in 1950. He began work on Governor Gordon Browning's planning staff. When Frank G. Clement was elected in 1954 Mathews moved to the state's budget staff. A year after beginning his service as Commissioner of Finance and Administration in 1961, he completed his law degree in 1962 from the YMCA Night Law School, now Nashville School of Law.

Early political career

Mathews joined Tennessee state government in 1950, becoming part of the staff of the governor of Tennessee, successively serving governors Gordon Browning, Frank G. Clement, and Buford Ellington. In 1961 he was named to the Cabinet as Commissioner of Finance and Administration, a position he held until 1971.

With the accession to office of Republican Winfield Dunn in January 1971, Mathews left the Cabinet and entered the private sector for two years, working for Amcon International in Memphis. In 1973 he became the legislative assistant to the longtime Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Bill Snodgrass. In 1974 he was elected State Treasurer by the Tennessee General Assembly when his predecessor, Tom Wiseman, resigned to run for governor. The Tennessee General Assembly elected him to his first full two-year term as treasurer in 1975, and he served in this office until January 1987, when he became deputy to the newly elected governor, Ned R. McWherter.

U.S. Senate

Mathews served as deputy governor until January 1993. Al Gore, who had been Tennessee's junior Senator since 1985, was elected Vice President of the United States as Bill Clinton's running mate in November 1992, and resigned his position as Senator in preparation for his inauguration as Vice President on January 20, 1993. McWherter then appointed his deputy as Gore's successor in the Senate.

From the beginning, it was understood that Mathews' role in the Senate would be one of caretaker; he had no ambition of running for election to the Senate. The appointment served two purposes; firstly, to reward a longtime government insider who had served his state and his party faithfully for many years, largely out of view of the general public, and secondly, to allow McWherter to remain above the fray in the scramble to succeed Gore in the Senate and not identify himself with any particular party faction.

Mathews' service in the Senate was of a decidedly low-key nature; he largely supported the Democratic agenda of President Clinton and the then-majority in the Senate. The passion for the contest for the Democratic senatorial nomination to succeed him was quelled somewhat when it became apparent that the Republican nominee would be attorney and prominent actor Fred Thompson. The highest-profile Democrat to enter the primary was Representative Jim Cooper, who was the eventual nominee and lost to Thompson in a landslide.

Thompson was sworn into office in December 1994 in order to give him a slight advantage in seniority over other Senators elected in that year, as is traditionally done when someone is elected to the balance of an unexpired term. Mathews left office as quietly as he had served in it and then practiced law in Nashville, Tennessee.

Death

Mathews died of brain cancer on May 9, 2014 at a hospice in Nashville. He is survived by his wife, Pat Mathews and two sons. A third son, Richard Mathews, had preceded him in death.

References

• Harlan Mathews at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Tennessee Blue Book, 2001-02 Edition

United States Senate
Preceded by Al Gore	U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Tennessee 1993–1994 Served alongside: Jim Sasser	Succeeded by Fred Thompson