Malcolm R. Patterson

Malcolm Rice Patterson (June 7, 1861 – March 8, 1935) was an American politician and jurist. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1901 to 1906, and as the 30th governor of Tennessee from 1907 to 1911. He later served as a circuit court judge in Memphis (1923–1934), and wrote a weekly column for the Memphis Commercial Appeal (1921–1933).

Patterson was one of Tennessee's most controversial governors. While praised for quelling the Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake uprising in 1908, he was accused of issuing pardons to political allies, most notably his advisor Duncan Brown Cooper, who had been convicted of murdering his political foe Edward W. Carmack. as Hamilton Rice Patterson in Somerville, Alabama, the son of Colonel Josiah Patterson (1837–1904), a Confederate cavalry officer and congressman, and Josephine (Rice) Patterson. In 1866, his father changed his first name to "Malcolm." and read law with his father. He was admitted to the bar in 1883.

Sensing the party's frustration with Cox over the Frazier election, Patterson decided to challenge Cox for the party's nomination for governor in 1906. At the party's convention in late May, as Patterson and Cox battled for delegates, a rule change allotted Patterson all of the delegates from Davidson County, allowing him to clinch the nomination. Cox was furious, and refused to support Patterson in the general election.

During the governor's race of 1908, Edward W. Carmack, who had lost his Senate seat to Robert Love Taylor two years earlier, challenged Patterson for the nomination. Carmack ran a strong campaign, but Patterson managed to clinch the nomination with just over 50% of the delegates. The Republican Party, which was embroiled in a power struggle between Walter P. Brownlow and Newell Sanders, initially nominated two candidates, T. Asbury Wright (Brownlow's candidate) and George Tillman (Sanders's candidate), but Wright eventually withdrew. Patterson personally led the state guard into Obion County, where they rounded up and incarcerated dozens of Night Riders (several would later be put on trial). This action boosted his popularity, and he defeated Tillman on election day in November, 133,166 votes to 113,233. The legislature overrode his veto, however, and the measures became law. When Patterson refused to consider a statewide primary, Statewiders withdrew from the convention and nominated their own slate of candidates, allowing Patterson to win the nomination. In state judicial elections on August 4, Statewiders (running as independents) routed the Regular Democrats. Patterson, realizing he had little chance of winning in November, withdrew from the race. His faction quickly nominated former governor and then-United States Senator Robert Love Taylor, but without support from the Statewiders, Taylor was defeated in the general election by Republican Ben W. Hooper.

Family

Patterson married his first wife, Sarah Johnson, in 1885. They had three children.