Crusades for Freedom: Memphis and the Political Transformation of the American South

2. “My Family Ties in the South”

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4PVUI¯ Mayor Pleasants was a tired man. Suffering from poor health and ashamed of his participation in the smear campaign against Meeman, Pleasants informed Crump in September 1948 that he wished to retire.1 Concerned that Pleasants’s resignation might affect the election, and wanting to choose a successor before the decision was announced, Crump asked the mayor to wait. The overriding consideration for the Memphis leader was to find an able administrator who could stem the perception that the county Democratic organization was tottering. As we have seen, the results of the 1948 Democratic primary and general election were perceived to be a defeat for the Crump machine despite their candidates outpolling the opposition in Shelby County. The best administrator in Memphis was arguably former mayor Watkins Overton, who had been a close associate of Crump’s until their relationship deteriorated in the late 1930s. In 1937 the Memphis leader criticized the mayor’s handling of refugees fleeing from the Ohio-Mississippi Valley Flood, and a year later their relationship ended when the two squabbled over the city purchasing private electric and gas companies.2 When the split became public, Overton vowed never to work with Crump again: “I will never bow my knee to any tyrant.”3 But as time passed, his anger subsided. Overton refused to further criticize Crump, responding to periodic media questions by simply saying: “It was a difference of opinion. Mr. Crump has done a wonderful job for Memphis .”4 This mollified Crump, and in 1947 he asked Overton to serve as president of the Shelby County Board of Education, where he again demonstrated his considerable leadership skills.5 Crump expressed his support for the school board president by attending local football games with him, so there was little surprise when it was announced that Overton would be Pleasants’s successor.6 At 11:10 am on January 15, 1949, over a thousand people crowded into city hall to watch as Watkins Overton again took the oath of office as mayor of Memphis. It must have been a moment of triumph for the new mayor, but he did have to pay a price. In his inaugural address Overton declared, “I  ˜IU
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OKQPD™ don’t return to office after nine years with any bitterness in my heart. I am proud to feel that I will have the friendship and counsel and guidance of the man who has done more than any other man for Memphis—to speak speci fically, I refer to the Honorable E. H. Crump.”7 Despite feeling compelled to pay homage to Crump, Overton no doubt hoped his new administration would be more pleasant than in 1938–1939. As Overton settled into the mayor’s office, Lucius Burch and Edmund Orgill watched the revolving door at city hall with disgust. Their experience with the Kefauver campaign had convinced them that reform could come to Memphis if enough citizens agitated for it. Burch had emerged as the most vocal critic of the Crump organization, sparring with Mayor Pleasants over the low wages paid local police officers and constantly pointing out the weaknesses of the commission form of government. In particular Burch objected to the small size of the commission—only five men to govern a city of 292,000—and its easy dominance by an ambitious politician such as Crump. In order to expand the wedge driven into local politics by Kefauver’s victory , Orgill, Burch, and forty-eight other professionals formed the Civic Research Committee to “promote research, study and interest in our local government and to do it on a non-partisan, non-political basis.”8 Although officially nonpartisan, the committee clearly hoped to weaken the power of the local Democratic Party, as evidenced by Burch’s comment that the end of “one-man” rule in Memphis was near its end.9 The committee adopted several long-term goals for the city, including civil service protection for government employees, permanent voter registration , the replacing of paper ballots with voting machines, and the adoption of a city manager form of government.10 Although the others were important , the overriding goal for the Civic Research Committee was replacing the mayor and city commission with a city manager hired by a part-time city council. If adopted, this would fundamentally alter the structure of local government, which Crump and Overton knew full well. In November...