32 nd Tennessee Governor. Thomas Clarke Rye received his place in American history by serving as the Governor of the State of Tennessee during World War I, from 1915 to 1919. Born in a log cabin, his father, Wayne Rye, was a farmer and merchant. He attended public schools, studied law under his uncle, and started his law practice in Camden in 1884. He could quote the law word for word. Simply called “Tom,” he married Betty Arnold on June 17, 1887 and the couple had a son and a daughter. Starting his political career, h e was appointed circuit master of the Camden chancery court, from which position he resigned after about three years, and went to Washington, D. C., serving as chief of a division in the pension bureau for four years. In 1902 he relocated to Henry County, where he became district attorney general from 1910 to 1914. Earning the respect of other lawyers through out the state, he gained the reputation of a strong law enforcer, supporting prohibition laws and prosecuting “bootleggers,” those making illegal whiskey . In 1914 he was a Democrat candidate for Governor, running as a prohibitionist against Republican Governor Ben W. Hooper, who was seeking a third term in the office. Not an eloquent speech maker, Rye's hand-written speeches were sincere and have been preserved in a scrapbook. These speeches give evidence to the character of this self-made man and future governor. Rye received 137,656 votes compared to Hooper's 116,667. From the beginning, Rye appointed men of the highest intelligence and strong moral character to serve with him. A few of Rye's achievements in his two-term governorship were industrial growth, as the result of the war, with the Alcoa aluminum plant and the DuPont munition factory; the “Ouster Law,” which gave the removal of incompetence public officials, who did not enforce the law; establishing the state highway department with a tax to maintain roads; regulation of state penal and charitable institutions; registration of motor vehicles; and a state board of education with a tax to support high schools. In 1915 he signed into law the charter of what is now the Tennessee Technological University. He supported the Dixie Highway, which was a highway running from the Midwestern states, through Tennessee, to the State of Florida. A 1917 act altered partisan politics by requiring primary elections over conventions that selected the candidates. During World War I, more than 80,000 Tennesseans were deployed to Europe to fight the Germans. To that date, this was the most Tennesseans to serve in the United States Military, He was re-elected for a second term with 53.5% of the vote. He faced racial concerns in his term, which is documented in the article “ Charles W. Cansler to the Honorable Tom C. Rye Governor of Tennessee” dated February of 1918. At the end of his second term, he did not seek re-election. He longed to serve in the United States Senate and ran for the Democratic nomination against Senator John Shields. Although Rye supported women's right to vote, Shields did not. Public officials, who were removed years earlier from their position with the “Ouster Law,” caused Rye many problems reaching this political goal. Former Memphis Mayor “ Ed “The Boss” Crump was one of those that were ousted from their office for serving illegal alcohol in Memphis during prohibition. Rye lost the election and returned to his law practice. Beginning in 1922, Rye served as Judge of the Tennessee Eighth Judicial District retiring in 1940. His gubernatorial successor was Albert Roberts, who had been the candidate against Rye in the 1914 Democratic nomination for governor, but loss. Rye's professional papers are stored in 106 boxes at the State of Tennessee Archives.