John Jay Hooker, who was perhaps Nashville’s most recognizable and charismatic political figure, and one of its most controversial, died Sunday morning.
He was 85.
Mr. Hooker, who had been battling cancer since January 2015, died peacefully with family and friends at Alive Hospice in Nashville.
“John Jay Hooker was a man of big ideas, big dreams,” said former Congressman Bob Clement, whose father, Frank G. Clement, was governor of Tennessee for 10 years “and though he never held public office, he was always fighting for important causes.”
“Our family has lost a brilliant and remarkable member whose compassion for those less fortunate and efforts for all humanity will be long remembered,” said Henry Hooker, his brother. “His smile, charm, and love of people brightened our lives.
“We loved him and will miss him.”
“We have lost another legend,” said Tom Ingram, who, as a reporter for The Tennessean, covered Mr. Hooker’s first campaign for governor in 1966. “Seig (former Tennessean editor John Seigenthaler), George Barrett, and now John Jay. They were giants …”
The close relationship with Kennedy allowed Mr. Hooker to convince the Attorney General that the Justice Department should intervene in a federal lawsuit brought by Shelby County resident Charles Baker in 1960 against the State of Tennessee and its Secretary of State, Joe Carr, over legislative redistricting.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Baker it established the “one person, one vote” standard that held every person had to be considered equally in legislative redistricting. The ruling helped fuel the civil rights movement and gave political power to cities over rural areas and to African-Americans.
Chief Justice Earl Warren called Baker v. Carr the court’s “most vital decision” during his tenure (continue reading at Tennessean)