Former U.S. Senator Harlan Mathews is recuperating from a stroke suffered this past weekend, NashvillePost.com has learned. Friends of Mathews indicate that he is doing well and "recovering nicely." According to one person who visited him in the hospital yesterday, "he stood up, smiled, and greeted me with a big hug."
Mathews was appointed to the United States Senate on January 2, 1993 by then Gov. Ned McWherter to fill the seat vacated by newly elected Vice President Al Gore. After deciding not to seek election to the remainder of Gore's term, Mathews stepped down from office on December 1, 1994, upon the election of Fred Thompson. Thompson is currently seeking the presidency of the United States.
Prior to his service in the Senate, Mathews served as deputy governor of Tennessee under McWherter, as state treasurer from 1974 to 1987, and in the administrations of Governors Frank Clement and Gordon Browning. He has long been considered one of the most important Democratic power brokers in the state.
Mathews is a partner in the Nashville office of the Memphis based law firm of Farris Mathews Branan BobangoHellen & Dunlap PLC.
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