(Editor’s note: Second of two parts)
It was January 1903 and the Tennessee State Capitol was festooned for the inauguration of Tennessee’s 29th governor, James B. Frazier of Chattanooga. The new governor’s inaugural address was reprinted in every Tennessee newspaper.
The Jan. 21 Knoxville Journal and Tribune reported, “The inauguration of Governor James B. Frazier was probably the most elaborate in the recent history of the state.
There was more of ceremony and more of enthusiasm than has been displayed on such occasions of late years. It was not the pomp and parade that might have characterized a royal function, but a demonstration entirely in keeping with the democratic character of the occasion.”
The comparison would seem somewhat prophetic when the following day brought the news that Queen Victoria had died after almost 64 years as the monarch of the British Empire.