John Ford (Tennessee Politician)

John Ford (Tennessee Politician)

John N. Ford (born May 3, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee), is a former Democratic member of the Tennessee State Senate and a member of Tennessee's most prominent African American political family. The older brother of former U.S. Representative Harold Ford, Sr. and hence the uncle of former Tennessee U.S. Representative and 2006 United States Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr. In April 2007 he was convicted on Federal bribery charges. As of 2010 he is serving a sentence in U.S. federal prison.

Ford resigned from the Tennessee State Senate on May 28, 2005, in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee, John S. Wilder, and was placed under FBI house arrest. He stated in his letter of resignation that "I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name".

The Fords' involvement in politics is generally thought to have been linked to the connection between N. J. Ford, father of John and Harold Sr., and prominent political boss E. H. Crump. Crump, who died in 1954, is widely believed to have been responsible for directing the business of the families of black persons who died unattended in the former John Gaston Hospital to N. J. Ford's funeral home (still operated under the name N. J. Ford and Sons Funeral Home, although N. J. Ford himself is now deceased).

Six of N. J. Ford's sons became very active in elective politics. Harold Sr. was, in 1974, the first African American elected to Congress from Tennessee since Reconstruction; he served until 1997, when he was succeeded by his son, Harold Ford, Jr. Harold Ford, Sr. and Harold Ford, Jr. are the only African Americans elected to federal office from Tennessee in the modern era. Joe Ford has long been involved in local politics, with varying degrees of success and was interim mayor of Shelby County in 2009 and 2010. James Ford, now deceased, was a Shelby County commissioner. Emmitt Ford served several terms as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Ed Ford served two terms on the Memphis City Council and he was succeeded by his son Ed Ford Jr. Currently, Justin Ford, his nephew, serves as the youngest member of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.