Hill McAlister

Harry Hill McAlister (July 15,1875 – October 30,1959) was Governor of Tennessee from 1933 to 1937.

Hill McAlister was born in Nashville to a family kin to at least two former governors of Tennessee (Willie Blount and Aaron V. Brown) and the former (and only) governor of the predecessor Southwest Territory, William Blount. After graduation from Vanderbilt University law school, he was admitted to the bar and served for a time as Nashville city attorney. He was later elected to the Tennessee State Senate and subsequently elected by the General Assembly to a total five terms as State Treasurer (1919-1927 and 1931-1933). After failing twice to achieve the Democratic nomination for governor, he received it in 1932 during his final term as Treasurer.

McAlister's election occurred at the depths of the Great Depression, on the same day that Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. He favored most of Roosevelt's New Deal measures, including especially the Tennessee Valley Authority and labor reforms, including unemployment compensation. Re-elected in 1934, he incurred the enmity of powerful Memphis political "boss" E. H. Crump and did not seek a third term in 1936. He maintained a relatively low profile in his later years.