From 1988, when he won a special election to replace his father who died in office, until 2019, John J. Duncan was the Republican who represented Tennessee’s safely Republican Second Congressional District in East Tennessee. His most distinctive vote was as one of six Republicans who voted against the Iraq War. Chapters in this memoir cover, “Early Life,” “Lawyer and Judge,” “First Campaign,” “Congressional Stories,” “Celebrity Stories,”
“Sports Celebrities,” “Presidential Stories,” and “Life after Congress.” “Conservatives spent years idolizing Bush’s foreign policy . . . and then Paul Ryan’s promise for . . . balanced budgets. Instead, they should have been paying attention to Jimmy Duncan. Quietly, and all this time, they had in front of them a man who showed bravery, conviction, and dedication to the idea of limited government at home and abroad.” – Ryan Girdusky.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2021. 149 pages with a Foreword by J. Caroline DeBerry, afterwords by Bill Kauffman and David Allen Martin, an Index, and photos. Trade paperback.