Anna Belle Clement O'Brien
Encyclopedia
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
in the 89th General Assembly
Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional structure:According to the Tennessee State Constitution of 1870, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature and consists of a Senate of thirty-three members and a House of Representatives of...
, from 1975 to 1977, and a Tennessee State Senator
Tennessee Senate
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the Tennessee state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.The Tennessee Senate, according to the state constitution of 1870, is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senators...
in the 90th to 96th General Assemblies, from 1977 to 1991. While she was not the first woman ever to be in the Tennessee Senate
Tennessee Senate
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the Tennessee state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.The Tennessee Senate, according to the state constitution of 1870, is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senators...
, she was the first woman ever to be a chairman of a committee. During her 22 years in the General Assembly, she was the chairperson for three committees: Education, Transportation, and the Democratic Caucus.
Personal life
Anna Belle Clement was the daughter of Dickson, TennesseeDickson, Tennessee
Dickson is a city in Dickson County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,244 at the 2000 census.-Demographics:...
attorney and mayor Robert S. Clement and Maybelle Goad Clement. Her brother, Frank G. Clement
Frank G. Clement
Frank Goad Clement served as Governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959, and again from 1963 to 1967.-Early life:...
, was governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
from 1953 to 1959 and again from 1963 to 1967. During his second governorship she served as his chief of staff.
She married twice. Her first marriage was to A. W. Lucas, who served as mayor of New Johnsonville, Tennessee
New Johnsonville, Tennessee
New Johnsonville is a city in Humphreys County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,905 at the 2000 census.-Geography:New Johnsonville is located at ....
. In 1966 she married Charles H. O'Brien
Charles H. O'Brien
Charles Herbert O'Brien , was a Tennessee State Senator in the 83rd and 84th Tennessee General Assemblies, a justice on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and Tennessee Supreme Court , and the husband of well-known Tennessee Democratic politician Anna Belle Clement O'Brien, who was the sister...
, who was a Tennessee State Senator at the time of their marriage and who later became Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court
Tennessee Supreme Court
The Tennessee Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the state of Tennessee. Cornelia Clark is the current Chief Justice.Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature, the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the...
. They had been married 40 years at the time of his death in January 2007.
Career in elective politics
Anna Belle and Charles O'Brien made their home in CrossvilleCrossville, Tennessee
Crossville is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,795 at the 2010 Census.-Geography:Crossville is located at...
, which area Anna Belle represented in the General Assembly, winning her first election in 1974. Her campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
slogan when she ran for the State Senate in 1976 was: "A woman's place is in the House … and the Senate too!"
In 1982 she was a candidate for the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nomination for governor, but lost in the primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
to Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Randy Tyree
Randy Tyree
Randall "Randy" Tyree is a Tennessee politician who served as mayor of Knoxville from 1976 to 1983 and was the Democratic candidate for Governor in 1982.-Biography:...
, who lost in the general election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
to Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
governor Lamar Alexander
Lamar Alexander
Andrew Lamar Alexander is the senior United States Senator from Tennessee and Conference Chair of the Republican Party. He was previously the 45th Governor of Tennessee from 1979 to 1987, United States Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993 under President George H. W...
.
In the 1980s, O'Brien was diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
, underwent a mastectomy
Mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to prevent cancer...
, and received a silicone implant. Subsequently, she worked to enact legislation to require health insurers
Health insurance
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is...
to provide coverage for mammograms and later cosponsored a bill to expand women's rights to sue over defective breast implants by extending the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
for product liability
Product liability
Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause...
lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
s for implants.
Death
O'Brien died August 31, 2009, in a KnoxvilleKnoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
hospital after suffering a fall
Falling (accident)
Falling is a major cause of personal injury, especially for the elderly. Builders, electricians, miners, and painters represent worker categories representing high rates of fall injuries. The WHO estimate that 392,000 people die in falls every year...
two weeks earlier at her home in Crossville
Crossville, Tennessee
Crossville is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,795 at the 2010 Census.-Geography:Crossville is located at...
.
See also
- Frank Gorrell
- Van HillearyVan HillearyWilliam Vanderpool Hilleary, usually known as Van Hilleary is a Republican politician from Tennessee.-Early life and career:...
- Jake ButcherJake ButcherJacob Franklin "Jake" Butcher was a U.S. banker and politician who built a financial empire in East Tennessee, was the Democratic Party nominee for governor of Tennessee in 1978 and the primary promoter of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, and who lost his business and his personal...
- Jim HenryJim Henry (politician)James M. Henry , generally known as Jim Henry, was minority leader in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1981 to 1986, and a 2002 candidate for the Republican Party nomination for governor of Tennessee, losing the primary election to U.S...