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On the eve of the Civil War when the various colonies that had joined to form the United States were breaking up, President Abraham Lincoln saw the threat of war on the horizon. He turned to the most able general in the army and offered him command of the troops. That man was Robert E. Lee, a Virginian. Gen. Lee declined. He felt his first obligation was to his family and his home in the Old Dominion. Ultimately, he became commander of the Confederate forces and led that army in a losing struggle. But his priority was to his home and family first. When the last gubernatorial campaign began in Tennessee, Van Hilleary was one of the candidates. I had always thought Van did a good job in the House of Representatives and I was ready to do what I could for his candidacy as governor. My friend Hayes Ledford urged me to wait. “There’s a better man coming,” he said. I waited and I met that better man. His name was Jim Henry. First impression was that this was a special person, a man of a great inner strength, ability and—most importantly—compassion. In the months ahead, I came to know him even better and to appreciate the kind of individual he was. Anyone staying in the newspaper business long enough, as I had, will meet a lot of interesting people, especially politicians and candidates. I had covered Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey and others. The most notable of them had been Sam Ervin. Working at a Charlotte newspaper at the time of the Watergate hearings, I came to know and appreciate the gentle wisdom and humor with which Senator Sam conducted the proceedings that brought down a president. You don’t meet many people like Sam Ervin. You don’t meet many people like Jim Henry either. Jim was born and grew up in the community around Kingston. When the Vietnam War broke out, he enlisted in the navy, preferring to spend his service time on a ship rather than on land. But his assignment was closer to land, on a riverboat patrol in Vietnam. He saw the blood and slaughter very personally. On a particularly occasion, he had the day off when his crew went out on patrol. They didn’t return. Jim Henry was among the fortunate. He came home unharmed, except for the mental wounds he would carry. And there was something else he brought back, which he didn’t recognize at the time. It was the effects of Agent Orange. His son John was born with autism. On the campaign trail, Jim and his wife Pat often took John with them and introduced him proudly as their son. John always got applause when he stood up. Jim would jokingly say, “Don’t applaud too much or John won’t sit down.” You could see the love between John and his parents. One night Jim spoke of Vietnam to a group of veterans and he nearly broke down in a voice choked with emotion. He could never forgive or forget the North Vietnamese. Throughout the primary campaign for governor in 2002, Jim was always the gentleman. Advisors warned him that the Hilleary camp was going to spring a last minute attack on Jim, accusing him falsely of favoring an income tax. They had a small paper Jim had signed backing then Gov. Ned McWhorter on education support. It had nothing to do with an income tax. Being the gentleman he was, Jim couldn’t consider that anyone would deliberately misconstrue that support for schools into an accusation of favoring income taxes. He was wrong. On the eve of the primary election, the Hilleary camp mailed to all the registered Republican voters in the state copies of that signed school paper and claimed it proved Jim was for income taxes. It was too late to refute it and Van Hilleary won the primary. Losing is no fun in any contest, especially when you are with the political candidate you know is the best. But I would rather have lost with Jim Henry than won with someone else. As the governorship headed back to the polls in Tennessee for 2006, Republicans across the state took another look at Jim Henry. Moderates and those very conservative agreed. He was the best man to carry the party banner. A cross section urged him to run and he was thinking about it. At the same time the political whirlwind was building, Jim went through a personal ordeal. The health of his son worsened. John needed his attention. Pat needed his presence. To the disappointment of many, Jim dropped out of the race for governor. His family had to come first. That was his priority and it was understandable. He would not be the man he is, the one so many of us respect and admire if he were different. The state may have lost a gubernatorial candidate for the next election, but Jim Henry will still be the winner for those of us who know and love that man.
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