This collection consists of a 29 page typescript titled, “The Budget Message Presented to the Ninety-Second General Assembly of the State of Tennessee (First Session) by Lamar Alexander, Governor.”
Click here for the Guide to papers of Lamar Alexander, 1981, mpa.305 / ms.1061. Collection location: row 11, folder 25.
Lamar Alexander was born in Maryville, Tennessee in 1940. He was the Republican governor of Tennessee between 1979 to 1987. Alexander graduated from Vanderbilt University and later earned a law degree at New York University. He entered politics as a legislative aide to Senator Howard Baker, Jr. He later worked in the office of the White House congressional liaison and then as the campaign manager of Winfield Dunn’s campaign for governor in 1970.
Alexander lost his first campaign for the governor’s office in 1974 but won his second campaign in 1978. The 1978 campaign was memorable for Alexander’s walk across Tennessee clad in a red and black plaid shirt. Tennessee experienced economic development while Alexander served as Governor. He instituted programs to improve public and higher education. Alexander continued his interest in education following his tenure as governor, including his service as president of the University of Tennessee and in his appointment in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush as Secretary of Education. Alexander was elected to the United States Senate in 2002.