The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth by which he is able to protect them.
Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan”

August 2nd is the anniversary of the Battle of Athens in Tennessee.

In 1946, a group of Word War II veterans besieged the jail in Athens. The siege lasted for hours, until the veterans began using dynamite against the building. Unsurprisingly, the deputies inside the jail surrendered at that point.

What had brought to pass a situation in which returning heroes would open fire on their local law enforcement representatives?

Corruption brought the situation to pass..

The county jail was where the deputies had taken the ballot boxes from the countywide elections; elections which threatened to oust the current party machine. The veterans had formed a slate opposing the machine, and feared voter fraud when the deputies took charge of the ballots (in these earlier years, vote fraud was more involved than the last minute “finding” of votes in the trunk of a precinct worker's car). However, this was not the first time the veterans, as individuals or as a political group, had been in conflict with the deputies. Veterans with their mustering out pay had been “targeted” by the Sheriff’s Office as they returned from the war for fines, arrests, beatings, and in two cases, killings (Byrum, 1984), (Piehler and Wilson, 2000), (Seiber, 1985).

Veterans were not the only folk to have been cleaned out by the local Democratic Party machine, the Cantrell machine. The focus of the machinery was the Sheriff’s Office, which in 1946 was controlled by Sheriff Pat Mansfield. Mansfield (previously a deputy) was continuing in the tradition of former Sheriff Paul Cantrell, who had been elected in 1936 and held that office until becoming a state Senator in 1942. This tradition included using ex-convicts as deputies, bootlegging, and gambling operations. It also included “fee grabbing” by ticketing people for drunkenness whether those people were drunk or not. The tradition also included the collection of ballot boxes to be counted at the jail, and the ejection of poll watchers as “troublemakers”. George Woods, both a state legislator and the Secretary of the County Election Board, arranged both for the redistricting of the county and the abolishment of the county court, which had required voting machines (Seiber, 1985). Despite multiple complaints made to the U.S. Department of Justice (under Democratic Party control), no action was taken against this local Democratic Party machine.

The corruption and the shakedowns led the veterans to create a slate of candidates, the GI Non-Partisan League, for local office, composing of Republicans and Democrats alike. An attempt to have either the Attorney General of the United States (a member of the Democratic party) or the Governor of Tennessee (also a member of the Democratic Party) help ensure a clean election was unsuccessful (Seiber, 1985). Sheriff Mansfield hired an additional 200 deputies in preparation for the election, over the normal total of 15. Poll watchers for the GI slate were arrested by the machine's deputies for “Federal Offenses” on election day, but the violence began when black voter Tom Gillespie was first beaten, and then shot in the back, by a deputy in the pay of the Democratic Party machine (Byrum, 1984), (Seiber, 1985). Sheriff Mansfield then ordered the polls closed. Two GI slate poll watchers were taken captive at this time, but later escaped. Over the course of these countywide confrontations, seven deputies were captured, stripped, and beaten (Piehler and Wilson, 2000). Three ballot boxes had been collected by the deputies and taken to the jail.

The veterans had formed a “fighting bunch” to counter-balance the violent tactics of the deputies (Piehler and Wilson, 2000). As hostility turned to violence, the “fighting bunch” broke into the National Guard armory and collected military weapons. The veterans formed a perimeter around the jail, and detached some men to prevent the deputies at the courthouse from joining the ones at the jail. Once the siege lines had been established, the veterans called for the release of the ballot boxes. With the ballots were not produced, the veterans opened fire upon the jail. At about three o'clock in the morning, first the dynamite came out, and then did the deputies. Some of the deputies were beaten by the victorious veterans. During the siege, Woods, Cantrell, and Mansfield had been holed up in the jail, but escaped when the veterans allowed an ambulance passage through the lines. The Democratic Party machine was not recorded as using the ambulance to remove wounded deputies from the jail.

On successful capture of the jail and the recovery of the ballots the deputies had seized, the veterans found clear evidence of vote fraud, by a margin of “fifteen to one” (Piehler and Wilson, 2000). The next morning, a committee was formed by local clergy and businessmen to maintain order. In addition, Woods, the Secretary of the Election Board (who had been in the jail with the other two corruptocrats, and fled with them), sent a written communication stating that he would certify the Non-Partisan League ticket had been elected.

The New York Times was, as ever, quick to the defense of corrupt Democrats. The NY Times accused the veterans of violating the principles of democracy by claiming that the veterans had by-passed “peaceful means” of countering corruption (Election in Tennessee, 1946); the NY Times ignored the very basic fact that there had been three separate investigations by the Democrat Party controlled Department of Justice (in 1940, 1942, and 1944); the NY Times also ignored the fact that Democrats in positions of responsibility (the governor and the attorney general) ignored calls to aid in a clean election; finally the NY Times ignored the fact that none of the corruptocrats were charged for their years of vote fraud, voter intimidation, extortion, malfeasance, and murder under color of authority. Quite frankly, the NT Times ignored every single attempt to peacefully confront Democratic Party corruption. On the other hand, the NY Times maintained a narrative that was constantly critical of the veterans' efforts. An editorial had already been published slandering veterans in general as “violent” (Will there be, 1944); headlines referred to the democratically elected government as a “regime” (Athens, Tenn., Regime, 1947); and the NY Times made the false accusation that the Sheriff had been killed in the election violence (Tennessee Sheriff is, 1946).

Not all government officials and their pet journalists were disappointed that corrupt politicians had fallen. Tennessee Representative John Jennings, Jr. stated that "...at long last decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn..." (Congressional Record, 1946). There was definitely a feeling of emancipation in the county itself (Seiber, 1985). The local newspaper had this to say, “If the people as a whole do not maintain a vigilant watch over matters of government a few people, grasping for power and domination find it easy to undermine all the principles of democracy” (Peck, 1946)

I have made the point before that the first priority of government, and in particular the American government via the Constitution, is to protect the citizenry (see Obligations of Government in Balancing Liberty and Security and Homeland Security: The Sworn Duty of Public Officials). A government that refuses this duty is at risk of losing the obedience of that citizenry. I am referring to the state and Federal governments in the case of Athens; the county government was far beyond failure of duty and into the realm of tyranny. Despite all the caterwauling and whining by the “enlightened” members of the NY Times, the first priority of citizens is to defend themselves from all bandits, whether those bandits are government employees or not. The second priority for citizens is in rule of law...obviously, a government that shakes down it's populace is violating rule of law. Finally, we come in place of priority to the NY Times' morally misplaced concern for public order. Let us just say there is no public order where the rule of law is not paramount.

In the case of Athens, the rule of law was flouted by the county government, but just as vitally to understand,rule of law was abdicated by the state and Federal governments. The Justice Department failed to maintain the rule of law on three occasions, the Governor failed to maintain rule of law when called upon by his citizenry, and the Attorney General chose not to maintain the rule of law when that conflicted with his partisan interests.

James Madison makes the argument that "the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of”. The case of Athens, when government at all levels failed in its obligations to it's citizens, can serve as proof to this argument.

Why does this example matter now? We have a government in which politicians and bureaucrats are not charged for crimes when those crimes have been exposed to the public at large. We have a government which these same people ignore the clearly stated security concerns of the majority in favor of “ambitious” policy that favors their own interests over those of the citizens. We have a government that ignores the murders of it's own citizens when those murders are politically inconvenient.

Taken at the WWII Museum in New Orleans

If these politicians and bureaucrats think that the public will demand “public order” over their own family safety and the rule of law, especially when that version of “public order” has a negative impact on the household budget, then they might want to think about what Bill White, Marine veteran and leader of the “fighting bunch”, said about the events back in 1946:

We didn’t have no freedom. So we had to make us some freedom. Had to come back and fight another war to get a little freedom (Piehler and Wilson, 2000).

References and Suggested Reading:

As recently as 1946, American citizens were forced to take up arms as a last resort against corrupt government officials. (1995, October). Guns and Ammo. Retrieved July 7, 2016 from http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/athens.htm

Athens, Tenn., regime set up by GIs falls. (1947, January 12). The New York Times.

Battle of Athens (1946). (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946)

Byrum, C. (1984). McMinn County. Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis State University Press.

Congressional Record, House. (1946).Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

Election in Tennessee. (1946, August 3). The New York Times.

Peck, J. (1946, August 21). Lincoln said it and it applies now as then. The Daily Post-Athenian. Retrieved July 7, 2016 from http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/athens.htm

Piehler, G. and Wilson, B. (2000). An interview with Bill White. For the Veteran's Oral History Project. Center for the Study of War and Society, Department of History. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Retrieved July 7, 2016 from http://volweb.utk.edu/~wpcsws/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2000-White-Bill-Transcript.pdf

Seiber, L. (1985). The Battle of Athens. American Heritage, 36:2. Retrieved July 7, 2016 from http://www.americanheritage.com/content/battle-athens

Tennessee Sheriff is slain in primary day violence. (1946, August 2). The New York Times.

The Battle of Athens. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2016 from http://www.constitution.org/mil/tn/batathen.htm

Will there be a crime wave?. (1944, November 5). The New York Times.

Further Reading

Homeland Security: The Sworn Duty of Public Officials

Obligations of government in balancing liberty and security

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