A recent edition of the “MTSU On the Record” radio program examined the family history of Nobel Prize winner and MTSU alumnus Dr. James M. Buchanan.

Dr. Reuben Kyle

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Reuben Kyle, retired professor of economics, aired earlier this month on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org ). You can listen to their conversation here.

Kyle is co-author with Dr. Kevin H. Cason, an adjunct professor of history at MTSU, of “From Nashborough to the Nobel Prize: The Buchanans of Tennessee.”

It takes a look at the ancestors of Buchanan, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1986 for his “public choice” theory of how governments make fiscal decisions.

The book chronicles the Buchanan clan from the Scotch-Irish pioneers who settled in the Cumberland Gap to Elizabeth Buchanan Bradley Whorley, former director of Homer Pittard Campus School. The family also includes the only Rutherford County native so far to become governor of Tennessee, James and Elizabeth’s grandfather, John Price Buchanan.

“It’s really a remarkable family from the beginning until today,” said Kyle. “They’re independent thinkers. They’re very hard-working people. In just about everything the Buchanan family has done, they have excelled.”

James M. Buchanan, a Rutherford County native, was a 1940 graduate from Middle Tennessee State Teachers College and a World War II veteran.

He passed away in January 2013, and in May 2013, his family presented the Nobel medal and his Bronze Star to MTSU along with a special $2.5 million gift to the University Honors College. Other memorabilia related to Buchanan and his grandfather will be coming to MTSU for display in the Buchanan Reading Room at the James E. Walker Library.

To listen to previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, go to the “Audio Clips” archives here and here.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

Jeff Whorley glances at a photo of his late uncle, Nobel laureate and MTSU alumnus James M. Buchanan during a special May 2013 celebration of Buchanan’s life. (MTSU file photo by J. Intintoli)

A short video excerpt of the interview may be seen here: