Battalion at Camp Bullis in Texas. After leaving the Army, Clement worked as counsel for the Tennessee Railroad and Public Utilities Commission from 1946 to 1950. He was an alternate delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention. During this same period, he was elected State Commander of Tennessee's American Legion, a position through which he developed relationships with veterans in all of Tennessee's counties. In the early 1950s, he practiced law with his father in Dickson. Governor, 1953–1959 In the 1952 gubernatorial election, Clement challenged incumbent Gordon Browning for the Democratic Party's nomination. Browning, nearly twice Clement's age, derided Clement as a "demagogue" and "pipsqueak." Clement had the support of political boss E. H. Crump and Nashville Banner publisher James Stahlman, however, and travelled to all 95 of the state's counties, giving speeches in which he assailed Browning as "dishonest, indecent, and immoral." He defeated Browning for the nomination, 302,487 votes to 245,156, and routed the Republican candidate, Madisonville attorney Beecher Witt, in the general election. Clement was only 32 years old when he won the election and took office. Upon inauguration, he became the youngest governor in the nation. During his first term, Clement authorized a bond issue to provide free textbooks to children in grades 1 through 12, a first for the state (textbooks had previously been free through only the 3rd grade). He also implemented the state's first long-range highway construction project, and established a mental health department (now the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services). Clement raised the state's sales tax from 2% to 3%, an unpopular move that would haunt him in later elections. In 1953, a state constitutional convention proposed eight amendments to the state constitution, all of which were subsequently approved by voters. The amendments included the extension of the gubernatorial term from two to four years, the repeal of the poll tax, and the authorization of consolidated city-county (or "metropolitan") governments. While the new constitutional amendments prevented governors from seeking a second consecutive term, Clement was allowed to run for a full four-year term in 1954. He was challenged in the primary by former Governor Browning, who accused Clement and his father of "peddling" state influence. Several of Clement's close associates, among them his secretary of state, Eddie Friar, and comptroller, Jean Bodfish, turned against him. Browning was unable to match Clement's oratorical skills and fundraising capabilities, however, and lost