Edward Hull Crump
E.H. Crump was a southern Democratic politician who ran a political machine in Memphis, Tennessee for forty years. The Crump machine linked business interests in Memphis to political interests at the local, state and national levels and Crump personally selected each Mayor of Memphis from 1910, when he was elected to the position himself serving until 1915, through 1954. Crump combined a successful career as a businessman with politics to build his machine.
As Mayor of Memphis in 1911, Crump petitioned the state to pass a law which allowed the city to be run by a commission. Crump then retained control of the commission. Crump was solicitous of the African American vote at a time when most large southern cities denied them the right, and kept close contact with African American community leaders, despite Memphis being segregated at the time. During prohibition Crump, through the commission, turned a blind eye towards illegal alcohol, drawing the wrath of state legislators, who passed a law which would allow the state to oust elected officials who did not enforce the law.
Crump prevented those who disagreed with his management of the city by dominating the newspapers, limiting their voice, and dispensed patronage in the form of jobs and city services. Elections were controlled through the manipulation of voter registration rolls and ballots. Crump was an early and avid supporter of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which earned him the gratitude of the President and ample federal relief during the Depression in the form of jobs and building projects. These were awarded to voters who were known to be loyal to the machine.
Crump served two terms in Congress in the 1930s before returning to Memphis, preferring to remain behind the scenes as he used his influence to control the city. In 1939 he was again elected Mayor, although he had no intention of serving in that capacity. He ran solely so that his designee for mayor, then serving in Congress, was not forced to abandon his congressional duties to campaign for mayor. Crump won the election, was sworn in as mayor, resigned, and the next day the commission appointed his designee, Walter Chandler, as Mayor of Memphis.