Prentice Cooper

The Second World War reached Tennessee on terms Cooper did not like. When the federal government took land for what became Oak Ridge, he accused it of stealing it for a socialist project. In July 1943 an Army lieutenant handed him the presidential proclamation placing the district outside state control, and he tore it up. The Manhattan Project's district engineer, Kenneth Nichols, had to calm him. Cooper had won the 1938 nomination with Memphis boss E. H. Crump's backing, and in 1940 he organized a State Defense Council that other states later copied.

What the plaque says

Prentice Cooper 1895-1969 Governor of Tennessee for three successive terms 1939-1945. A native of Bedford County and graduate of Webb School, Princeton and Harvard Law School, he was Attorney General of the 8th Judicial Circuit, a member of the 63rd and 70th General Assemblies, U.S. Ambassador to Peru 1946-1948. President of the 1953 Tennessee Constitutional Convention, Veteran of WW I and State Commander of the American Legion. He reactivated the Tennessee Historical Commission and was a member 1941-1969.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration — 0.7 mi
  The Shelbyville show grounds where the Tennessee Walking Horse has been crowned world grand champion each late summer since 1939, and where the practice of soring is part of the story.
• Jack Daniel Distillery — 14 mi
  The oldest registered distillery in the United States, in a limestone hollow outside Lynchburg, where the tour now names Nathan Nearest Green, an enslaved man, as the first master distiller.
• Henry Horton State Park — 16 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.
• Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park — 20 mi
  A 2,000-year-old enclosure of piled stone and earth on the bluffs above the forks of the Duck River, built by Native people between about 80 and 550 A.D., with a museum and waterfall trails.

More markers nearby

• Henry Brevard Davidson — 0.3 mi
• Wartrace — 7.3 mi
• The Webb School — 9.4 mi
• Henry Hollis Horton — 15 mi