E. H. Crump - Career

Career

A native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, Crump moved to Memphis, Tennessee on September 21, 1893, according to the Holly Springs Reporter. In Memphis, the on-going Panic of 1893, the worst recession in the United States history to that time, made things hard for Crump when he first arrived in Memphis. However, eventually, he obtained a clerical position with Walter Goodman Cotton Company located on Front Street in downtown Memphis. This was the start of a career, which led Crump to became a successful businessman in Memphis.

In early 1901, Edward Crump began seriously courting a 23 year old young woman by the name of Bessie Byrd McLean. Bessie or "Betty," McLean was a prominent Memphis socialite and has been described as "one of the city's most beautiful and most sought after women." Betty was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Robert McLean. Robert McLean was then serving as the vice president of the William R. Moore Dry Goods Company. Edward H. Crump and Betty McLean were married on January 22, 1902 at the Calvary Episcopal Church.

Alongside his rising business career, Crump began to make the political connections that served him for the rest of his life. He was a delegate to the Tennessee Democratic State Convention in 1902 and 1904. In 1905, he was named to the municipal Board of Public Works, and was appointed Commissioner of Fire and Police in 1907.

Starting in the 1910s, Crump began to build a political machine which came to have statewide influence. He was particularly adept in his use of what were at the time two politically weak minority groups in Tennessee: blacks and Republicans. Unlike most Southern Democrats of his era, Crump was not opposed to blacks voting as Memphis blacks were reliable Crump machine voters for the most part. One of Crump's lieutenants in the black community was funeral director N. J. Ford, whose family (in the persons of sons Harold Sr. and John Ford, daughter Ophelia and grandson Harold, Jr.) is still influential in Memphis politics today. A symbiotic relationship developed in which blacks aided Crump and Crump aided them. Crump also skillfully manipulated Republicans, who were numerically very weak in the western two-thirds of the state but dominated politics in East Tennessee. Frequently, they found it necessary to ally themselves with Crump in order to accomplish any of their goals and, often, they did.

Crump was influential for nearly half a century. He usually preferred to work behind the scenes and served only three two-year terms as mayor of Memphis (1910–1915) at the beginning of his career. He essentially named the next several mayors. His rise to prominence disturbed many of the state political leaders in Nashville; the "Ouster Law", designed to remove officials who refused to enforce state laws, was passed primarily with Crump and his lax enforcement of state Prohibition in mind. He was county treasurer of Shelby County from 1917 to 1923. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention seven times.

Crump became involved in earnest in state politics during the 1928 gubernatorial election when Henry Horton was seeking election in his own right; Horton had been speaker of the state senate and became governor when Austin Peay died. Crump supported Hill McAlister in the Democratic primary while the Nashville machine of Luke Lea supported Governor Horton. Horton won the primary despite the lopsided McAlister vote in Shelby County. When Horton ran for reelection in 1930, Crump and Lea cut a deal and Crump swung his formidable political machine behind Horton. Horton defeated independent Democrat L. E. Gwinn in the primary and Republican C. Arthur Bruce in the general election.

After years of working behind the scenes, Crump decided to run for U.S. Representative in 1930. He was easily elected to the Tenth District, which was then co-extensive with Shelby County (it became the Ninth in 1932). He served two terms: from March 4, 1931 to January 3, 1935. (The Twentieth Amendment was enacted in 1933, shifting the starting date of Congressional terms.) During this time, he was also a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. He remained hugely influential in Memphis as well, staying in constant communication with his operatives there and visiting during all Congressional recesses.

In 1936 Crump was named to the Democratic National Committee, serving on that body until 1945. In 1939 he was elected a final time as mayor, although that term was actually served by Walter Chandler. Chandler was U.S. Representative for the Ninth District, and Crump thought that Chandler's time was better spent tending to congressional matters in Washington than campaigning for mayor in Memphis. So, without a platform, without a speech, and without opposition, Crump was elected mayor of Memphis.

Crump was sworn in at a few minutes past midnight on January 1, 1940, in a snow storm on the platform of the railroad station, just before leaving for New Orleans to see the Sugar Bowl. In high humor, he resigned immediately. Vice Mayor Joseph Boyle became Mayor till the next day, when the faithful City Commission met and elected Chandler. Watkins Overton's term had ended at midnight, and thus Memphis had four mayors in less than 24 hours.

Crump's statewide influence began to wane in the late 1940s. Two powerful opponents were elected to office in 1948. Gordon Browning, a one-time protégé whom Crump had helped elect governor in 1936, was elected governor again, now over Crump's opposition, while Congressman Estes Kefauver was elected to the United States Senate. For the rest of his life, Crump's influence was largely limited to Memphis. In 1952, his longtime associate, Senator Kenneth McKellar, was defeated in the Democratic primary--in those days, the real contest in Tennessee--by Congressman Albert Gore. The days of Crump's massive influence over Tennessee politics were almost over; his death came less than two years later. A final triumph for Crump was the victory of his chosen candidate, Frank G. Clement, over Browning for governor, also in 1952. Crump was interred at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.