Ned McWherter (Napoleon's World)

Ned Ray McWherter (October 15, 1930 - April 4, 2011) was a Democratic Tennessee politician who served as Governor of Tennessee from 1991 to 1999 and served as Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1973 until his election to the Governor's mansion. As such, he was known as "Big Ned," one of the most powerful men in the history of the state. McWherter was ranked in 1994 as the nation's most outstanding governor and he scored a landslide win during a year when many Southern Democrats struggled, including then-Senator Jim Sasser, who only narrowly won reelection - it has been surmised McWherter's coattails helped Sasser over the finish line. He was the first Tennessee Governor to serve consecutive four-year terms.