National Life and Accident Insurance Company
Encyclopedia
The National Life and Accident Insurance Company is a former life insurance
company which was based in Nashville, Tennessee
.
National Life and Accident began in 1900 as the National Sick and Accident Association, a mutual
company. It was reorganized as a stock
company and adopted the National Life name shortly thereafter.
insurance that paid the owner a stated amount for every week he was unable to work due to illness or injury. To prevent fraud
, it was necessary for the amount of the benefit to be somewhat less than what the insured earned through regular employment. The vast majority of these policies, especially in the early years, were sold on the "debit system" (also called "home service insurance"), meaning that an insurance agent employed by the company, usually the one responsible for selling the policy initially, made periodic visits to the clients home to collect the premium (and, generally, to sell or attempt to sell more insurance). The frequency of these visits varied but was usually (especially in the early years) weekly; in later years, more of the collection visits were on a biweekly or monthly basis.
. It also began to write "ordinary life" insurance to better risks, such as middle class
office workers, religious ministers, accountants, bankers, and similar persons.
Its greatest marketing development, however, was probably its beginning WSM
radio
in 1923. Taking its callsign from the company's motto
, We Shield Millions (which was in turn taken from its shield-shaped logo
), the station began to broadcast advertising
, including the company's own messages, over its powerful 50,000-watt
clear channel signal. Its studios were initially in the National Life office building in downtown Nashville. In 1925, management began the program that was soon the become the Grand Ole Opry
, which made country music
(then generally referred to as "hillbilly
music") more mainstream than it had been previously. In 1950, the company spawned Nashville's first television station, WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV
).
in 1929; like many of them, it survived largely by offering its clients policy loans against the plans' cash values. With World War II
came another crisis due to the manpower shortage brought about by conscription
; in some areas, premium collections, at least on a weekly basis, had to be curtailed (gasoline rationing played a factor here as well) and many clients who were used to having their premiums collected in person by an agent found themselves having to take the initiative to mail in their premiums or lose their coverage.
By the mid-1960s the company had outgrown its home office location in downtown Nashville. It had also been somewhat shamed when one of its principal competitors, the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee
("L&C"), built a 31-story skyscraper
which had opened in 1957 and which was, briefly, Nashville's only skyscraper and the tallest building in the Southeast. The new National Life building, across the street from the Tennessee State Capitol
, had 30 stories and was both considerably larger and located on higher ground, so it appeared to be grander than that of its rival, which was part of the intended effect.
By this point, the television
studios of WSM (which had begun in 1950 and was the first Nashville television station) had moved to West Nashville near the station's transmitting tower; the radio stations were soon to follow. About the same time as plans were finalized to move the station, a plan was announced to build a theme park
on the property of Rudy's Farm, a sausage company located in the Pennington Bend of the Cumberland River
. This park opened in 1972 and was known as "Opryland USA
." Other than the usual selection of thrill rides and "kiddie rides," the park featured shows of all genres of American music
, not just country. Construction began on the new Grand Ole Opry House at about the same time, and the Opry left the Ryman Auditorium
for the new facility in March 1974.
At about the same time as the home office move was undertaken, a holding company
was formed to buy all National Life stock. This organization was known as "NLT Corporation," with the "NL" standing for "National Life" and the "T" standing for Third National Bank, one of Nashville's leading banks at the time (acquired in the 1990s by SunTrust). However, banking laws and regulations thwarted the attempt to acquire Third National; the holding company business form was maintained.
Another important development of the 1970s was the phasing out of weekly premiums; the former weekly premium amount was multiplied by 4.3 and became the monthly premium for the coverage.
In the early 1980s, Houston
's American General Corporation, another insurance holding company, announced a hostile takeover
bid for NLT. NLT made a counter-offer to buy out AGC. In the end AGC, which had owned rival Life and Casualty since the 1960s, triumphed. AGC began plans to merge the former rivals (not fully completed until almost the end of the decade) and to spin-off the "non-core" assets of NLT, particularly the entertainment properties. The Grand Ole Opry, Opryland theme park, WSM and fledgling cable television network TNN:"The Nashville Network" were sold to what became Gaylord Entertainment Company
. American General would later merge into New York-based American International Group
(AIG). Its division of the corporation is now branded as American General
.
In the late 1990s the former National Life/American General building was sold to the State of Tennessee and is today known as the William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower
, named in honor of the state's former comptroller.
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
company which was based in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.
National Life and Accident began in 1900 as the National Sick and Accident Association, a mutual
Mutual insurance
A mutual insurance company is an insurance company which has no shareholders but instead is owned entirely by its policyholders. The primary form of financial business set up as a mutual company in the United States has been mutual insurance. Under this idea, what would have been profits are...
company. It was reorganized as a stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
company and adopted the National Life name shortly thereafter.
"Sick and accident" policies
In the early years, the company's business consisted primarily of low-premium, low-benefit "sick and accident" policies, a form of disabilityDisability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
insurance that paid the owner a stated amount for every week he was unable to work due to illness or injury. To prevent fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, it was necessary for the amount of the benefit to be somewhat less than what the insured earned through regular employment. The vast majority of these policies, especially in the early years, were sold on the "debit system" (also called "home service insurance"), meaning that an insurance agent employed by the company, usually the one responsible for selling the policy initially, made periodic visits to the clients home to collect the premium (and, generally, to sell or attempt to sell more insurance). The frequency of these visits varied but was usually (especially in the early years) weekly; in later years, more of the collection visits were on a biweekly or monthly basis.
Industrial life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance
The company soon expanded into "industrial life insurance," so called because it was generally aimed at industrial workers, which was also sold on the debit system, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, which rather than a weekly income paid a stated, fixed amount, if the insured died by accident or lost sight or use of an eye or a limb. The industrial life insurance plans were usually for small face amounts: typically $250, $500, or $1,000 in the early year. They featured double indemnity for accidental loss of life, which could be triple indemnity or even more if death occurred as the result of an accident on a public conveyance. (For this reason these plans were often derided by their detractors as "streetcar insurance.")Expansion
The company gradually expanded its operations to the southern eastern seaboard and eventually covered most of the continental U.S. except for the northeastern states, the Rocky Mountain states, and the Pacific NorthwestPacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. It also began to write "ordinary life" insurance to better risks, such as middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
office workers, religious ministers, accountants, bankers, and similar persons.
Its greatest marketing development, however, was probably its beginning WSM
WSM (AM)
WSM is the callsign of a 50,000 watt AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America and various countries, especially late at night...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
in 1923. Taking its callsign from the company's motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
, We Shield Millions (which was in turn taken from its shield-shaped logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
), the station began to broadcast advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, including the company's own messages, over its powerful 50,000-watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
clear channel signal. Its studios were initially in the National Life office building in downtown Nashville. In 1925, management began the program that was soon the become the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
, which made country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
(then generally referred to as "hillbilly
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
music") more mainstream than it had been previously. In 1950, the company spawned Nashville's first television station, WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV
WSMV-TV
WSMV-TV, virtual channel 4, is the NBC-affiliated television station serving the Nashville, Tennessee area. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10. Owned by Meredith Corporation, its transmitter and tower are located adjacent to its studios on Knob Road in west Nashville, south of...
).
Economic changes
The company, along with nearly all U.S. life insurers, faced a crisis with the coming of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1929; like many of them, it survived largely by offering its clients policy loans against the plans' cash values. With World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
came another crisis due to the manpower shortage brought about by conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
; in some areas, premium collections, at least on a weekly basis, had to be curtailed (gasoline rationing played a factor here as well) and many clients who were used to having their premiums collected in person by an agent found themselves having to take the initiative to mail in their premiums or lose their coverage.
By the mid-1960s the company had outgrown its home office location in downtown Nashville. It had also been somewhat shamed when one of its principal competitors, the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee
Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee
The Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee was a life insurance company based in Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1903 by A. M. Burton, great-grandfather of singer Amy Grant....
("L&C"), built a 31-story skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
which had opened in 1957 and which was, briefly, Nashville's only skyscraper and the tallest building in the Southeast. The new National Life building, across the street from the Tennessee State Capitol
Tennessee State Capitol
The Tennessee State Capitol, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is the home of the Tennessee legislature, the location of the governor's office, and a National Historic Landmark. Designed by architect William Strickland, it is one of Nashville's most prominent examples of Greek Revival architecture...
, had 30 stories and was both considerably larger and located on higher ground, so it appeared to be grander than that of its rival, which was part of the intended effect.
By this point, the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
studios of WSM (which had begun in 1950 and was the first Nashville television station) had moved to West Nashville near the station's transmitting tower; the radio stations were soon to follow. About the same time as plans were finalized to move the station, a plan was announced to build a theme park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
on the property of Rudy's Farm, a sausage company located in the Pennington Bend of the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
. This park opened in 1972 and was known as "Opryland USA
Opryland USA
Opryland USA was an amusement park located in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 until 1997...
." Other than the usual selection of thrill rides and "kiddie rides," the park featured shows of all genres of American music
Music of the United States
The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Among the country's most internationally-renowned genres are hip hop, blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, barbershop, pop, techno, and rock and roll. The United States has the...
, not just country. Construction began on the new Grand Ole Opry House at about the same time, and the Opry left the Ryman Auditorium
Ryman Auditorium
The Ryman Auditorium is a 2,362-seat live performance venue, located at 115 5th Avenue North, in Nashville, Tennessee and is best known as the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry....
for the new facility in March 1974.
At about the same time as the home office move was undertaken, a holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
was formed to buy all National Life stock. This organization was known as "NLT Corporation," with the "NL" standing for "National Life" and the "T" standing for Third National Bank, one of Nashville's leading banks at the time (acquired in the 1990s by SunTrust). However, banking laws and regulations thwarted the attempt to acquire Third National; the holding company business form was maintained.
Another important development of the 1970s was the phasing out of weekly premiums; the former weekly premium amount was multiplied by 4.3 and became the monthly premium for the coverage.
In the early 1980s, Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
's American General Corporation, another insurance holding company, announced a hostile takeover
Takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
bid for NLT. NLT made a counter-offer to buy out AGC. In the end AGC, which had owned rival Life and Casualty since the 1960s, triumphed. AGC began plans to merge the former rivals (not fully completed until almost the end of the decade) and to spin-off the "non-core" assets of NLT, particularly the entertainment properties. The Grand Ole Opry, Opryland theme park, WSM and fledgling cable television network TNN:"The Nashville Network" were sold to what became Gaylord Entertainment Company
Gaylord Entertainment Company
The Gaylord Entertainment Company operates a number of hotel, resort, and media companies that were built by Edward Gaylord. It was previously a subsidiary of the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoma Publishing Company, which is owned by the Gaylord family and publishes the Daily Oklahoman newspaper...
. American General would later merge into New York-based American International Group
American International Group
American International Group, Inc. or AIG is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is located in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in...
(AIG). Its division of the corporation is now branded as American General
AIG
AIG is American International Group, a major American insurance corporation.AIG may also refer to:* And-inverter graph, a concept in computer theory* Answers in Genesis, a creationist organization in the U.S.* Arta Industrial Group in Iran...
.
In the late 1990s the former National Life/American General building was sold to the State of Tennessee and is today known as the William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower
William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower
The William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower is skyscraper in downtown Nashville, Tennessee that houses Tennessee government offices. The tower was built for the National Life and Accident Insurance Company and served as its National Life Center until the State of Tennessee acquired it on January 3,...
, named in honor of the state's former comptroller.