Art
11-17-2021, 04:14
Ordinarily I'd post this in books and movies but for a lot of reasons I've decided to post it here.
A little background. In the 1940s the town of Athens in McMinn County Tenn was controlled by the extremely, and I mean banana republic corrupt Crump political machine that controlled Memphis. The Crump machine ran what amounted to an organized crime organization through the local government located in the County Seat at Athens. Among other excesses the Sheriff's office routinely shook down returning G.I.s The returning soldiers formed a local non partisan organization and ran a slate of candidates against the Crump cronies running the county. When it became clear that the GI party would probably win on election day the local pols closed the polls, and seized the ballot boxes. The GI party and their supporters armed themselves with weapons from the local armory and engaged in a gunbattle with the Crump machine people numbering about 200. It ended when the Crump people were "dynamited into submission." The GI party candidates won the election and ended machine politics in McMinn County.
This was the only successful armed rebellion in the history of the United States.
The movie in the title, originally released on the Hallmark Channel as "An American Story" is a fictionalized depiction of the events above and is very accurate on the causes (abuses) leading to the GI candidates slate and the actual gunfight. Its cast includes a lot of veteran Hollywood "B" List actors including Brad Johnson, Patricia Clarkson, Kathleen Quinlan, G.W. Bailey and Tom Sizemore
Oh, the movie is entertaining. It's appears unavailable on any format except youtube where a low resolution version can be watched for free. Interestingly, nothing on it is on IMDB under the title "The Battle of Athens."
Another movie about Tennessee folks standing up to corruption is "Marie" starring Sissy Spacek and Fred Thompson. Its the story of Marie Ragghianti who was a Tennessee state Pardons and Paroles official who exposed a racket, in which Gov. Ray Blanton was selling clemencies. Blanton went to prison. Fred Thompson was Ragghianti's lawyer and played himself in the movie which led to his acting and senate career.
A little background. In the 1940s the town of Athens in McMinn County Tenn was controlled by the extremely, and I mean banana republic corrupt Crump political machine that controlled Memphis. The Crump machine ran what amounted to an organized crime organization through the local government located in the County Seat at Athens. Among other excesses the Sheriff's office routinely shook down returning G.I.s The returning soldiers formed a local non partisan organization and ran a slate of candidates against the Crump cronies running the county. When it became clear that the GI party would probably win on election day the local pols closed the polls, and seized the ballot boxes. The GI party and their supporters armed themselves with weapons from the local armory and engaged in a gunbattle with the Crump machine people numbering about 200. It ended when the Crump people were "dynamited into submission." The GI party candidates won the election and ended machine politics in McMinn County.
This was the only successful armed rebellion in the history of the United States.
The movie in the title, originally released on the Hallmark Channel as "An American Story" is a fictionalized depiction of the events above and is very accurate on the causes (abuses) leading to the GI candidates slate and the actual gunfight. Its cast includes a lot of veteran Hollywood "B" List actors including Brad Johnson, Patricia Clarkson, Kathleen Quinlan, G.W. Bailey and Tom Sizemore
Oh, the movie is entertaining. It's appears unavailable on any format except youtube where a low resolution version can be watched for free. Interestingly, nothing on it is on IMDB under the title "The Battle of Athens."
Another movie about Tennessee folks standing up to corruption is "Marie" starring Sissy Spacek and Fred Thompson. Its the story of Marie Ragghianti who was a Tennessee state Pardons and Paroles official who exposed a racket, in which Gov. Ray Blanton was selling clemencies. Blanton went to prison. Fred Thompson was Ragghianti's lawyer and played himself in the movie which led to his acting and senate career.