Kenneth Douglas McKellar - Blountville, TN
Posted by: vhasler
N 36° 28.842 W 082° 24.528
17S E 373799 N 4038189
Statue of U.S. Senator Kenneth D. McKellar, who dispensed patronage as chairman of the US Senate Appropriation Committee during WWII.
Waymark Code: WM7GA8
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 10/22/2009
Views: 3
Located at TriCities Regional Airport, previously known as McKellar Field.
Description: A standing portrait of Kenneth Douglas McKellar. McKellar wears a suit with vest, a bow tie, and glasses. His proper left hand is behind his back, while his proper right hand grasps the lapel of his jacket. His feet are shoulder width apart. The sculpture stands on a rectangular base.
Inscription: Edgar Bowlin - 58
(On front:) KENNETH D. McKELLAR
(On plaque, front of base:) Kenneth Douglas McKellar 1869-1957 US House of Representatives, 1911-1917 US Senate, 1917-1953 Friend and Advocate of Commercial Aviation signed
Like the current Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), Senator McKellar was good about bringing the money to his home state. A favored tale follows:
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Senator Kenneth McKellar, a Tennessean who was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to come down to the White House for a little discussion. The President asked Senator McKellar if he could hide $2 billion in the appropriations bill for a secret project to win World War II, and Senator McKellar replied to the President: "Mr. President, that will be no problem. I just have one question. Where in Tennessee do you want me to hide it?" Thus the beginning of Oak Ridge, TN.