Ben W. Hooper
Ben Walter Hooper (1870 - 1957) was governor of Tennessee from 1911 to 1915.
Hooper was reputedly of illegitimate birth and adopted by members of rural church. He was a native of Newport in Cocke County, Tennessee. He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and served in the state legislature. He was a captain of volunteer forces in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and nominated by the Republicans for governor in 1910.
The Prohibition issue had badly split the Democrats and a faction of them called the "Independents" endorsed him for governor, leading to his election. During legislative sessions during his administration, armed guards were employed. Nonetheless, he was re-elected in 1912. During his terms, early child labor laws were enacted and school attendance was made compulsory for young children provided that they lived within a realistic walking distance of a school. The method of the death penalty was changed from hanging to electrocution.
Hooper continued the practice of law after his time as governor and maintained a keen interest in public affairs and Republican politics until just before his death in 1957.
