Douglas Alexander: “I have three topics I wish to speak about today. The first is about Marvin Runyon. Marvin Runyon is a man known to…”

“I have three topics I wish to speak about today. The first is about Marvin Runyon. Marvin Runyon is a man known to almost all Tennesseans. He died last night. He had a remarkable career. Marvin Runyon and his Nissan team brought the automobile industry to Tennessee, creating jobs and better lives for tens of thousands of families. They built from scratch the largest and most efficient car and truck plant in North America. For an encore, Marvin Runyon became chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority and stabilized TVA rates. And for a double encore, he became the Postmaster General of the United States, and in the year he left, if I am not mistaken, the Post Office made a profit. It is rare that our country has produced a better chief executive officer. I am certain Tennessee has never produced a better one. He has three wonderful stories all after 50 years of age. Prior to that, Mr. Runyon was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company. It was in 1980, in my second year as Governor, when Nissan hired that team of Ford executives. They came to Tennessee, a State that was not building any cars or trucks, only had a few thousand, I would say, automobile supplier jobs. Today, Tennessee is the third or fourth largest producer of cars and trucks. One-third of our manufacturing jobs are automotive. There are several reasons for that development, but it would not have happened if Marvin Runyon and his Nissan team had not chosen to come to Tennessee in 1980.”