Ronnie Thompson

2008-04-10T15:04:25Z

BillyHathorn: /* References */

Ronnie Thompson

2008-04-10T15:03:19Z

BillyHathorn:

'''Ronald John Thompson''', known as '''Ronnie Thompson''' or ''''Machine Gun Ronnie' Thompson''' (born [[July 21]], [[1934]]), is a former [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[politician]] who was the first member of his party to have been elected [[mayor]] of [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], his state's sixth largest city. Thompson served two controversial terms from [[1967]]-[[1975]]. He is also a former [[gospel]] and [[Country music]] [[singer]] known for his highly [[Conservative (politics)|conservative]] views on issues.

In [[1972]], Thompson was a [[Republican Party (United States)|GOP]] candidate for the [[United States House of Representatives]], but he was defeated by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[incumbent]] [[W.S. Stuckey, Jr.]], [[scion]] of a wealthy Georgia family. In [[1974]], as his party's [[gubernatorial]] nominee, Thompson was trounced by Democrat [[George D. Busbee]]. A [[populist]] in political philosophy, Thompson was often at odds with his state and national moderate Republican leadership. However, during [[Watergate]] he was a staunch defender of embattled [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]], no particular favorite of many conservative Republicans.

Buddy Kelly Moore ([[1951]]-[[1998]])<ref name=ssdi>http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi</ref>, who completed a [[master of arts]] [[thesis]] on Thompson's career in [[1976]] at [[Georgia College & State University]] in [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]], determined that the Maconite "shocked and fascinated observers with hard-line approaches to law-and-order, [[municipal]] [[organized labor|unionism]], and race relations." Moore defined Thompson's career in terms of a "predilection for the flamboyant."<ref>Buddy Kelly Moore, '''Machine Gun Ronnie' Thompson" A Political Biography'', Georgia College at Milledgeville, Master's thesis, August 1976, p. vi</ref>Unconventional [[author]] Will D. Campbell called Thompson "a harbinger of the [[New Right]]", a movement which emerged in the late [[1970s]] to help to elect Republican [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of [[California]] as [[U.S. President]].<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA191&lpg=RA1-PA191&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5ttPFo0eCj&sig=JwKBOrK4ZnE27_NX2uOT9IjfSjw&hl=en#PRA1-PA140,M1</ref>

==Early years, family, education, business==

Thompson was born in [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]] in eastern Georgia near the [[South Carolina]] state line to Remus Warren Thompson and the former Mattie Lou Watkins ([[1910]]-[[1997]]), a southern working-class couple. The family included two older brothers, Kenneth and William Thompson, and a younger sister, Janice. Remus Thompson worked (1) in a cotton mill, (2) for Friedman's [[Jewelry|Jewelers]] in Augusta, having risen to the rank of [[credit manager]], and (3) as a [[firefighter]] at the Daniel Field air base in Augusta. Mrs. Thompson and Ronnie, while he was still in elementary school, operated a [[restaurant]] near the military base. <ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 1-2</ref>

Originally a [[segregationist]], Thompson said that he had been reared to "believe in separation of the races."<ref>Roger Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", ''Atlanta Magazine'', January 1971, p. 94</ref> He also developed a resentment of the dominant wealth and power [[elite]]. He once said that he could not fully evaluate the overall status of Macon because "I'm from the other side of the [[railroad]] tracks."<ref>Margaret Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer Find Happiness as the First Republican Mayor of Macon?" ''Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine'', May 25, 1969, p. 16</ref>

Macon, situated near the geographic center of Georgia, was chartered in [[1823]] and named for the [[North Carolina]] statesman, [[Nathaniel Macon]]. The city contributed volunteers to the [[Texas Revolution]]. It was a temporary [[capital]] of Georgia after the sacking of Milledgeville in [[1864]] by the army of [[General]] [[William Tecumseh Sherman]].<ref>Ida Young, Julius Gholson, and Clara Nell Hargrove, ''History of Macon, Georgia'' (Macon: Lyon, Marshall, & Brooks, 1950), pp. 43, 48, 62, 88, 278</ref>

Friedman's transferred Remus Thompson to Macon in 1945. Ronnie, then eleven years old, went on to complete grammar school and graduated in [[1951]] from Lanier [[High School]]. He then attended [[Baptist]]-affiliated [[Mercer University]] in Macon, the [[University of Georgia]] extension campus at [[Warner Robins]], and the since disbanded Woodrow Wilson Law School in [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]],<ref>http://www.oglethorpe.edu/administrative/registrar/woodrow_wilson_college_of_law.asp</ref> but only for a quarter in each institution. Instead, he concentrated on his job at Friedman's, and at twenty-three, he became general manager for thirty-three stores in four southeastern states.<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run," p. 94</ref>Meanwhile, Thompson in 1952 married a young woman named Nita; they later had a daughter named Ronita and a son named Johnny. The couple separated in 1972, and a [[divorce]] followed in 1974.<ref>Moore Thesis, p. 4</ref>

==Early political campaigns==

Thompson's first political venture was an unsuccessful race on [[September 27]], [[1961]], to fill a vacancy on the [[Bibb County, Georgia|Bibb County]] Commission. Earlier, he had left Friedman's and opened his own jewelry business in Macon. Thompson reasoned, correctly as it turned out, that publicity from a campaign would generate new customers to his fledgling business. He finished fourth in a field of six but had been bitten by the political bug. The winner of the race, Andy Watson, polled nearly twice as many votes as Thompson.<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, p. 11</ref>

Acting on the advice of his then friend, former Mayor [[B.F. Merritt|Benjamin Franklin Merritt]] ([[1906]]-[[1985]]), a commander of the Georgia [[National Guard]], Thompson in [[1963]] ran for alderman on the then [[nonpartisan]] [[ballot]] and unseated the incumbent Bert Hamilton, a Mercer University professor. Merritt, meanwhile, was elected mayor, having previously served from [[1953]]-[[1959]]. On the council, Thompson took a particular interest in [[aviation]], used his aldermanic pay to finance flying lessons, and soon earned his [[pilot]]'s license.<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 11-12</ref>

On the council, Thompson differed with Mayor Merritt on many issues. The crime rate in Macon soared; municipal finance problems were so severe that the city had to borrow regularly; there were still 150 miles of dirt streets; city services were needed for newly-annexed areas.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', September 1, 1964, p. A14; February 16, 1966, p. A13; June 29, 1966, p. A1</ref>

==Election as Macon mayor, 1967==

Thompson was named one of "Georgia's Five Outstanding Young Men" by the state [[Jaycees]], of which he was an active member. Members of the organization were believed to have played some role in Thompson's initial political success.<ref>http://www.geocities.com/macon_jaycees/history.htm</ref>

Though Thompson had in [[1964]] supported [[Barry M. Goldwater]] for the presidency, he did not declare himself a Republican until he ran in the first ever GOP primary for mayor in 1967. His intraparty opponent, Royce F. Hobbs, was an official at Mercer University and the favorite of the party establishment. Thompson polled more than 7,000 votes, compared to barely 1,300 for Hobbs. Thompson then faced incumbent Mayor Merritt, who had initially encouraged him to run for the city council and with whom he had quarreled as an alderman. Thompson's legitimacy as a candidate was enhanced by open endorsements from former President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Senate Minority Leader]] [[Everett M. Dirksen]] of [[Illinois]], and then [[Governor]] [[Claude Kirk|Claude Roy Kirk, Jr.]], of [[Florida]]. Thompson used the slogan "Make a Change for Progress" and called Merritt a "do-nothing mayor" who engaged in "bossism" and "machine politics".<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', October 28, 1967, p. 4A; November 5, 1967, p. A1; Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 96</ref>He called Merritt "a desperate man who will do anything to stay in office" and a "flip-flopper like his ideal, [[Lyndon Johnson]]."<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', November 2, 1967, p. A23</ref>When Merritt reminded voters that he had served on Eisenhower's staff during [[World War II]], Thompson replied: "It is true that President Eisenhower doesn't know me. [But] that's the very reason that [he] has publicly endorsed me, because he does know Mayor Merritt."<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 22</ref>

Thompson unseated Merritt, 14,732 votes (53.1 percent) to 13,002 (46.9 percent). He lost seventeen of thirty-two [[precincts]], including the boxes in the [[African American]] community. However, the black turnout dropped in the [[general election]] compared to the Democratic primary in which Merritt had to go to court to qualify for the ballot. Blacks then constituted some 38 percent of Macon's population. In the [[2000]] [[census]], however, blacks were 63 percent of the municipal population. Thompson's greatest strength was in the [[blue collar]] section of south Macon. The Republican organization came on board in the last two weeks of the campaign and may have spelled the difference between victory and defeat for Thompson. It is also believed that Thompson benefited considerably from the unpopularity of President Johnson in Georgia.<ref>Billy Watson and Eric Welch, "How Did Thompson Topple Merritt?", ''Macon Telegraph and News'', November 2, 1967, p. A8; Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer?", p. 18</ref>

The law required Thompson to take office the day after the election. He faced a divided City Hall, as twelve of the fifteen aldermen were Democrats. The Macon power structure considered him an intruder. A number of municipal records were removed from the mayor's office on election night and burned though Merritt denied any collusion in the act. As a result, Macon passed an [[ordinance]] which requires municipal papers to be filed permanently.<ref>Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer?", p. 19; Eric Welch, "Mayor Says Some City Files Empty," ''Macon Telegraph'', December 6, 1967, p. A1; ''Macon Telegraph'', January 17, 1968, p. 18A</ref>

==Thompson and African Americans==

Thompson chaired the Macon City Council [[Library]] Committee, which quietly opened services to [[African Americans]]. "Not a word was said about it. We just did it. No big to-do. No press releases to inflame folks. and we started putting branch libraries in different neighborhoods. Nothing racial about it," Thompson recalled.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA188&lpg=RA1-PA188&dq=will+d+campbell+ronnie+thompson&source=web&ots=5ttOIp_gzf&sig=eS3tR54AnASFJxQ77eTFE77MsmM&hl=en#PRA1-PA189,M1</ref>

Most African Americans in Macon, however, opposed the Thompson administration. In [[1969]], Thompson blocked the popular [[boxer]], [[Muhammad Ali]], from fighting at the Macon Coliseum, which Thompson had helped to complete, because Thompson objected to Ali's [[Conscientious Objector]] status during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref>

When racial rioting broke out in Macon on [[June 20]], [[1970]], Thompson issued "shoot-to-kill" orders to [[police]] to stop [[looting]]. He drove a [[National Guard]] [[tank]] onto a Macon [[elementary school]] campus to intimidate would-be criminals . He authorized [[billboards]] in Macon warning that [[armed robbery|armed robbers]] would be "shot on sight".<ref>http://laughingwolf.net/archives/2005_08.html</ref>

In midsummer of 1971, a racial crisis erupted when a black city employee was shot and killed by a white policeman, who a month later was cleared of [[involuntary manslaughter]].<ref>Robert Friedman, "City Votes to Pay Officer's Defense", ''Macon Telegraph'', June 30, 1971, p. A1; Grant Jackson, "Mayor to Keep Beck on Duty", ''Macon Telegraph'', June 30, 1971, p. A3; Jackson, "Beck Case Dismissed by Jury", ''Macon Telegraph'', July 16, 1971, p. A1</ref>Mayor Thompson imposed a 36-hour [[curfew]] after several suspected fire bombings. He fired a [[carbine]] in the air, heard over police [[radio]], while he accompanied a police patrol.<ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref> He further angered [[liberal]]s by publicly discussing the "best type of bullet" to use against the criminal element. Critics called him "Machine Gun Ronnie", a [[sobriquet]] to which he did not object though he never handled a [[machine gun]]. In fact, he paid for his campaigns by selling [[memorabilia]] containing the name "Thompson" on model machine guns.<ref>http://www.rru.com/~meo/ga-folk/ga.5.html; http://www.civilrights.uga.edu/bibliographies/macon/mayor_thompson.htm</ref>

The Reverend Julius Caesar Hope (born [[1932]]), a Macon black minister and the president of the Georgia [[NAACP]], contended that African Americans in Macon were tired of living with unfulfilled promises for so long.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/dvd/viewItemc/wsbn63449-1-broll/flash/6517/2;jsessionid=7157AB6843F3D68E8CA43EC2ED1A0965</ref>Hope viewed Thompson as ambivalent toward blacks: "I think Mayor Thompson was a politician of expediency. I really don't think deep down within Ronnie Thompson was a [[racist]]."<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 34-35</ref> Macon lawyer Virgil Adams, who was a teenager at the time of the Thompson administration, alleged that Thompson "damaged Macon's image. When it got dark, you (blacks) needed to be off the street. Parents wouldn't let us out of the house at night for fear of being locked up, beaten by police, or shot."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=4qPZiyJZOkYC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5vhIr1Ngab&sig=MehwVaKHcaJ3LUWqMi9OYP0eVpc&hl=en</ref>

Thompson, however, defends his mayoral record on race relations. "Race wasn't an issue until my opponent brought it in. My administration built three new [[hospital]]s. Jet airport, firehouses, integrated the police department, had black personnel in every department. We went eight years without a tax increase or [[bond issue]]. I had a biracial committee<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref> that met every month. Things like doctor's offices. Black patients had to go in a back door. We got it stopped. And the [[newspaper]]s had a different edition for black subscribers. My committee talked to them, and they stopped it."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA188&lpg=RA1-PA188&dq=will+d+campbell+ronnie+thompson&source=web&ots=5ttOIp_gzf&sig=eS3tR54AnASFJxQ77eTFE77MsmM&hl=en#PRA1-PA189,M1</ref>

In a 1971 speech to the Macon Optimist Club, Thompson urged blacks to work hard. He noted that he is descended from "a laboring family from a mill town." Thompson said that he understands the discrimination of [[poverty]] and declared that "the best way that I know to fight poverty is to go to work." The speech brought a standing ovation from the Optimists. Thompson declared that the city would fight for its citizens and businesses.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref>

Thompson's tough stance on crime was lauded by the national radio commentator [[Paul Harvey]].<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=TH7nmIjcteQC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=KPPbEuQE4r&sig=IlUX9zhB85ZK8CnXkB4WwgTvuD0&hl=en</ref>

==Nerve gas and unionization==

Thompson was the subject of national attention in [[August]] 1970, when the [[United States Army]] transported [[nerve gas]] from [[Alabama]] and [[Kentucky]] through Macon en route for disposal in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] off the [[North Carolina]] coast. Thompson tried to have the shipment diverted around Macon. Democratic Governor [[Lester G. Maddox]], meanwhile, sided with the Army and vowed that he would be willing to ride with the shipment when it passed through Georgia to demonstrate the safety of the mission. Ultimately, the Army met with Thompson to try to allay his fears, and the gas reached its destination, but there was an unexpected delay in Macon caused by the malfunctioning of an [[air brake]] hose.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909552,00.html; Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 29-32</ref>

In [[1969]], during Thompson's first term, municipal [[sanitation]] workers asked the city to organize through the [[American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees]] union. Thompson rejected unionization as a concept and declared that the City of Macon was already paying employees all that tight budgets would permit. Workers went on strike, and Thompson dismissed them and used city prisoners to collect the [[garbage]]. After some five weeks, the strike ended, and Thompson rehired many of the workers on his own terms.<ref>Bill Maynard, "108 Public Works People on Strike", ''Macon News'', March 12, 1969, p. A1; Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer?", p. 19; Ronnie Ellington, "Union Criticizes Prisoner Use for Garbage Collecton", ''Macon Telegraph'', March 14, 1969, p. A1; Ellington, "Boycott Hinted in Strike Here", ''Macon Telegraph'', March 13, 1969, p. A1</ref>

==School busing==

Thompson emphatically opposed school busing to achieve racial balance as affirmed in 1971 in the [[United States Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education]]''.<ref>http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1970/1970_281/</ref> He blamed President Nixon for directing the machinery of the administration toward achieving school integration. He accused Nixon of having advocated "socialistic trends" in housing and welfare, of leniency toward "[[hippie]]s and revolutionaries", and with failure to end "forced busing."<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 75</ref>In Macon, a court-ordered desegregation plan in 1970 transferred many students to different schools. When Thompson's 12-year-old son, Johnny, was among those relocated, he continued to take his son to the previous school, as did other parents. He was threatened with [[contempt of court]], and despite [[boycott]]s by angry parents, the desegregation plan was implemented.<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 99</ref>

Thompson went to Washington meet with Nixon, whom Thompson said "told me positively, face to face, there would be no busing to meet racial quotas. . . . " As the busing continued, Thompson remained livid with Nixon.<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 75</ref> Watergate, however, prompted Thompson to defend Nixon and to attack the three national television networks for their comparable anti-Nixon coverage. In time, Thompson called on Nixon to surrender the [[White House]] tapes because Thompson expected the information to exonerate the President. Despite Nixon's resignation, Thompson said that he would always hold the former president "in the highest esteem". Thompson said that he never hesitated to take on politically impractical and unpopular causes.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', May 8, 1974, p. A3; Randall Savage, "Nixon Still Gets the Mayor's Respect", ''Macon Telegraph'', August 9, 1974, p. A3; Moore, Thesis, p. 88</ref>

==Reelection in 1971==

In [[1971]], Thompson faced a Democratic opponent who was expected to give him a tough race: Bibb County Commissioner [[Emory Greene|F. Emory Greene]], a former member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]]. In the primary, Greene defeated Bill Laite, who then sat out the general election campaign. Greene questioned Thompson's militant use of the police, the "shoot-to-kill" order during the 1970 racial unrest, and the nerve-gas matter. He also claimed that Thompson's campaign organization compensated Laithe for the remainder of his debts in return for neutrality in the general election campaigns. Greene said that Thompson must be defeated to avoid four more years of "radicalism, noise, confusion, and [[publicity]]-seeking maneuvers which leave the city standing still." <ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 32-33</ref>

Thompson defeated Greene 19,329 (58.2 percent) to 13,881 (41.8 percent), having received strong support once again from blue collar white voters.<ref>City of Macon, Election Statistics, Bonnie Smith, 1-478-784-9774</ref>Thompson polled a bare majority of affluent whites. Virtually all of the black voters sided with Greene despite what Thompson saw as his considerable assistance to the minority community.<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 35</ref> Thompson's reelection as mayor came ten months after [[Jimmy Carter]], whom Thompson opposed, became Georgia's new Democratic governor.

==Rallying behind the military and the police==

Thompson enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]] after his high school graduation. He served in the intelligence unit during the [[Korean War]] until a [[football]] injury resulted in his discharge in [[1952]] and disqualified him from [[pilot]] training.<ref>Buddy Kelly, Thesis, p. 4</ref> Thompson was a strong proponent of the American troops who were assigned to block the expansion of [[communism]] in the [[Vietnam War]]. He traveled to South Vietnam and went into the [[combat]] areas. He returned to Macon with numerous hand-delivered messages from the troops for their families. The sight of the American [[flag]] inspired staunch [[patriotism|patriotic]] feeings in Thompson. "I always get a thrill when I see the flag go by or hear the ''[[Star-Spangled Banner]]'', said Thompson, who contends that his maternal family is descended from [[Francis Scott Key]].<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run?", p. 90</ref> Thompson established the label "Flag City U. S. A." for Macon, where on Poplar Street are fifty-four flagpoles which fly the emblems of each state, the U.S. flag, and the standards of the [[District of Columbia]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Virgin Islands]].<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', November 14, 1975, p. A4</ref>

Thompson said that he felt compelled to protect the students of Mercer University, which he had briefly attended, from subversive speakers brought to the campus. He once vowed to arrest the antiwar activist and [[actress]] [[Jane Fonda]] were she to speak at Mercer.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA191&lpg=RA1-PA191&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5ttPFo0eCj&sig=JwKBOrK4ZnE27_NX2uOT9IjfSjw&hl=en#PRA1-PA140,M1</ref>

He also rallied to the defense of [[U.S. Army]] [[Lieutenant Colonel]] [[William Calley|William L. Calley, Jr.]], a fellow southerner who was convicted in the [[My Lai]] massacre during the Vietnam War. Thompson even offered Calley employment when the officer was paroled. Like Thompson had in his earlier years, Calley thereafter earned his livelihood in the jewelry business, but in Atlanta.<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 86</ref>

As he had with the troops in Vietnam, Thompson declared himself a strong supporter of the police. He recorded "A Policeman's Prayer" in the venue of [[John Wayne]]'s patriotic ''[[The Green Berets]]''.<ref>http://item.express.ebay.com/Mayor-RONNIE-THOMPSON-A-Policemans-Prayer-Macon-GA_W0QQitemZ170027297404QQihZ007QQfromsoiZ1QQcmdZExpressItem</ref>

==Thompson's singing career==

Thompson's father originally sang in a [[quartet]] in Augusta, and Ronnie developed similar interests at a young age in part to please the senior Thompson. After he had left the Air Force, Thompson himself sang with a [[gospel]] quartet at [[Robins Air Force Base]], and by [[1955]], having created his own quartet, he was heard on local [[radio]] in Macon. In time, he drifted into [[Country music]] and made his first such record in [[1958]].<Don Rountree, "Alderman Finding Success in Popular Song Field," ''Macon Telegraph'', April 19, 1964, p. A6</ref>In [[1960]], Thompson took over several radio and [[television]] programs for Friedman's Jewelers. His television show was broadcast in Macon, Augusta, and [[Asheville, North Carolina]]. An observer said that the telegenic Thompson "projects sincerity, with a seductive overlay of devotion, patriotism, and simple honesty. He is a pleasing public speaker, and he comes across beautifully on television."<ref>Williams, pp. 75, 96</ref>

Thompson's singing style was described as "pleasant Country-Western baritone-bass, with a hard 'r' twang."<ref>Shannon, Gospel Singer, p. 18</ref>Thompson once admitted that he wonders what might have happened had he stuck to music as a potential career and insists that "I would have been successful had I stayed in the music business."<ref>Christopher Bonner, "Thompson: Whatever Else, His Reign Was Never Dull," ''Macon Telegraph and News'', December 7, 1975, p. A8</ref>

Thompson was in a line of southern politicians who had been musicians: Governor and [[U.S. Senator]] [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], Governor [[W. Lee O'Daniel]] of [[Texas]], and Governor [[Jimmie Davis]] of [[Louisiana]]. Davis, immortalized for his song "You Are My Sunshine"<ref>Robert Sherill, ''Gothic Politics in the Deep South'' (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1968), p. 31</ref>once told Thompson, "If you want to have any success in politics, sing softly and carry a big [[guitar]]," a play on an old [[Theodore Roosevelt]] adage.<ref>Eric Welch, "Gospel-singing Jeweler Is 'Country' Candidate", ''Macon Telegraph'', August 26, 1967, p. A1.</ref>

In Thompson's last year in office, he commissioned a portrait of the late African American [[singer]] [[Otis Redding]], best known for ''[[Sitting on the Dock of the Bay]]''. He offered the portrait to Governor Busbee for use in the state [[capitol]], but it remained in Macon until late in [[2007]], when it went missing in the transition between Mayor [[C. Jack Ellis]], Macon's first black chief executive, and current Mayor [[Robert Reichert]], a former Democratic member of the Georgia House. Thompson, through his career in gospel singing, had been personally friendly with Macon's well-known musicians, including Redding, [[James Brown]], [[Little Richard]], [[Wayne Cochran]], and the [[Allman Brothers]].<ref>Williams, What Makes Ronnie Run?, p. 92</ref>

==Mental depression==

In 1972, Thompson was a passenger in a private Piper Comanche [[airplane]]. During a downdraft, Thompson's head crashed into the door latch, a concussion resulted, and there was serious internal bleeding. He spent a week in Macon Medical Center. On returning home, he collapsed, possibly a result of powerful [[medication]]s. A neighbor had allegedly seen him shooting a pistol in his backyard. A woman called a radio [[talk show]] and claimed that Thompson had been seen nude in his backyard. Thompson sued the radio station for $2.36 million.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', July 27, 1973, p. A1; Randall Savage, "Thompson Names WBML in $2.36 Million Law," ''Macon Telegraph'', April 12, 1974, p. A3</ref>

After the collapse at home, Thompson was again hospitalized and was pronounced clinically dead. Miraculously, physicians revived him, and he lay unconscious for three days. After a ten-day stay, he returned to his office, but was soon rushed to College Street Hospital, a [[psychiatric]] facility. Diagnosed with mild [[depression]], Thompson remained in the psychiatric hospital for three weeks and received electroshock treatment. His mental health problems seriously damaged his political career. So did after effects of the firefighters' strike, for blue collar white voters, Thompson's traditional base, were generally sympathetic to the firefighters. Rumors circulated that Thompson had been unfaithful to Nita and had been injured, not in the airplane mishap, but by the husband of a mistress. Such rumors, apparently baseless, hurt Thompson among "Bible Belt" [[fundamentalist]]s. The [[divorce]] from Nita made the moralistic, gospel-singing mayor seem hypocritical in the eyes of such voters.<ref>Max Haggard, "Thompson Recalls Health Crisis," ''Macon Telegraph'', December 31, 1972, p. A4; Buddy Moore, Thesis, p. 102</ref>

==Congressional campaign, 1972==

Mayor Thompson was unopposed for the Republican nomination for the Eighth Congressional District seat, whereas W.S. Stuckey defeated two intraparty opponents, State Representative Mitch Miller (no relation to the entertainer of the same name) and Harry Powell, a newspaper publisher from [[Dublin, Georgia|Dublin]], who was active in the [[anticommunist]] [[John Birch Society]]. ([[John Birch (missionary)|John Birch]] grew up in Macon.) Stuckey declined to discuss Thompson's mental breakdown, for fear of evoking sympathy for the mayor. Thompson's announcement that he had been offered $50,000 by an undisclosed person in Stuckey's organization to withdraw from the race reinforced questions of mental stability in the eyes of many voters.<ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 110-111</ref>

Campaign issues in the race were similar to those in other districts: the status of the Vietnam War, forced busing to achieve school integration, welfare, [[inflation]], and [[taxation]]. Thompson stressed "law-and-order", his most familiar mantra. Stuckey said that "Ronnie and I were agreeing on most of the issues in that campaign. . . . He wanted the job that I had."<ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 111-112; Grant Jackson, "Taxes, Inflation: Issues in Eighth," ''Macon Telegraph and News'', October 29, 1972, p. D1</ref>

Stuckey and Thompson conducted mobile campaigns and went from town to town to shake hands. Stuckey distributed pencils; Thompson serenaded voters with his rendition of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" or "Have A Little Talk with [[Jesus]]".<ref>Archie McKay, "Stuckey-Campaign Style: A Handshake and a Pencil", ''Macon Telegraph', October 10, 1972, p. A3; McKay, "Law and Order, Songs Mark Thompson Style," ''Macon Telegraph'', October 17, 1972, p. A3</ref>Stuckey repeatedly refused Thompson's request for a television debate. Thompson called Stuckey "a rich playboy" who "socializes with the [[Edward M. Kennedy|Kennedy]] crowd in Washington". Thompson described himself as a "[[cotton]]-sock Republican running against a [[silk]]-stocking Democrat."<ref>Bill Montgomery, "Thompson Plans Stay in Politics," ''Atlanta Journal and Constitution'', November 12, 1972, p. A21; Max Haggard, "Foe 'Socializing', Thompson Claims," ''Macon Telegraph'', September 6, 1972, p. A1; Jackson, "Mayor Describes Illness," p. 1</ref>

The national GOP steered clear of Thompson either because of his perceived ultraconservative philosophy or the mental depression episode. When Nixon visited Atlanta, Thompson was not invited to ride in the [[parade]]. [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Spiro T. Agnew]] journeyed to Augusta and [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]] but never mentioned Thompson or the Eighth District race.<ref>Selby McCash, "GOP Holds Mayor at Arm's Length," ''Macon Telegraph'', October 29, 1972, p. D3</ref>Thompson was overwhelmed in fund-raising, having spent about $16,000 in the race to Stuckey's $250,000. Thompson disliked asking potential donors for contributions and instead depended on the sale of machine-gun pins for funding his campaign, insufficient as such sales proved to have been.<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 114-115</ref>

Thompson received 33,539 votes (37.8 percent) to Stuckey's 55,247 votes (62.2 percent).<ref>Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, U.S. House, 1972</ref>Thompson found a unique way to justify his defeat in Macon: city voters who repudiated his congressional candidacy had decided that Thompson should remain mayor. Thompson said that black voters who overwhelmingly backed Stuckey were "voting to keep Machine Gun Ronnie in Macon. I hope they realize that."<ref>Christopher Bonner, "Thompson: Whatever Else, His Reign Was Never Dull", ''Macon Telegraph and News'', December 7, 1975, p. 9</ref>

==Gubernatorial primary, 1974==

In [[1974]], Thompson cross-filed in both the Republican and Democratic parties for governor, a practice then allowed in Georgia but not used by previous candidates during the state's long period of Democratic hegemony. Thompson said that his cross-filing was intended to increase his name identification and propel him to the leading position among four Republican primary candidates. <ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, p. 116</ref>After the election, the state law permitting cross-filing was repealed in the Busbee administration. California similarly had a cross-filing law in the [[1950s]], used by then Governor [[Earl Warren]]. Thompson had considered running once again for U.S. representative or for [[lieutenant governor]] but instead filed for governor. He expected to face then Lieutenant Governor Lester Maddox of the Atlanta metro area, a former governor known nationally for his past appeals to segregation. Thompson called Maddox "a counterfeit conservative" and challenged the former governor to a head-to-head debate, which Maddox promptly rejected.<ref>Selby McCash and Randall Savage, "'Bring on Maddox,' Mayor Says," ''Macon Telegraph'', August 14, 1974, p. A1</ref>

Thompson also clashed with [[J.B. Stoner]], a self-avowed [[white supremacy|white supremacist]], who ran as a Democrat for lieutenant governor to succeed Maddox. Stoner, the former attorney for [[James Earl Ray]], the convicted [[assassin]] of [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]], placed a controversial advertisement on the side of a bus of the Macon Transit Company. Thompson had the sign removed, and Stoner sued successfully in federal court to have the sign returned though it was seen as hostile to blacks. Stoner even urged blacks to support Thompson for governor, a recommendation he made tongue-in-cheek.<ref>Randall Savage, "Stoner's Signs Removed from Buses," ''Macon Telegraph'', May 23, 1974, p. A3; Richard Harris, "Council Bans Political Ads from Buses," ''Macon Telegraph'', July 18, 1974, p. A3; ''Macon Telegraph'', June 28, 1974, p. A3</ref>Stoner received more votes in his race for lieutenant governor -- 73,449 or 9 percent of the total -- than were cast for all candidates in the Republican gubernatorial primary.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=FiRbQYoZtv0C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=4hgVyttuXS&sig=9s_rGFItLI_uxkmWIFy6z-uuuQA&hl=en</ref>

In the gubernatorial primary, Thompson faced four opponents, W.M. Coolidge, Harold Dye, [[Harry Geisinger]], and George Lankford. Dye (born [[1917]]) of [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]] is a retired [[brigadier general]] who was a former member of the [[United Nations]] Military Armistice Commission and an official in the Georgia Department of Industry and Trade. Coolidge and Lankford were [[county commission]]ers in [[DeKalb County, Georgia|DeKalb]] and [[Cobb County, Georgia|Cobb]] counties, respectively. Geisinger, a native of [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]], years later was elected to the [[Georgia State Legislature|Georgia House of Representatives]] from [[Roswell, Georgia|Roswell]] and served in the House Republican leadership.<ref>http://www.electharry.org/</ref>

In the [[August 14]] primary, held five days after the resignation of Richard Nixon as president, Thompson led with 17,830 votes (41 percent); Harold Dye finished second with 9,870 ballots (23 percent). Thompson received 21,848 Democratic votes, presumably at the expense of Lester Maddox, who led his party ballot with 277,921. Busbee finished second with 167,811, barely above the total of [[banker]] [[Bert Lance]], who would in [[1977]] become President Carter's first director of the [[Office of Management and Budget]].<ref>''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', Georgia Gubernatorial Primary Returns, 1974</ref>

==Runoff primary, 1974==

In the runoff primary campaign, State GOP Chairman [[Bob Shaw (Georgia politician)|Bob Shaw]] of Atlanta, himself a gospel singer, approached Thompson in a debate and questioned the likelihood of Thompson being [[indictment|indicted]] as a result of an investigation into [[gambling]] in Macon. Thompson was [[subpoena]]ed for three hours before a [[grand jury]] but was not indicted.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', September 7, 1974, p. A.1</ref> Thompson called for the resignation of Shaw and the entire sixty-seven members of the state executive committee.<ref>''Macon Telegraph and News'', September 2, 1974, pp. A1-2; Selby McCash, "Thompson Party Rift Widens", ''Macon Telegraph'', September 11, 1974, p. A1</ref>

Thompson only narrowly prevailed in the second Republican primary balloting, 22,211 (50.6 percent) to Dye's 21,669 (49.4 percent). <ref>Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 1974 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff results</ref>Considering the ongoing schism, Dye and other party leaders refused to endorse Thompson in the general election. In the Democratic runoff, Busbee easily defeated Maddox, who was said to have appealed more broadly to the same bloc of voters who were partial to Thompson. Maddox declared that the race with Busbee was "the ugliest thing I have ever been involved in."<ref>''The New York Times'', August 1974</ref>

==General election issues==

Thompson advocated [[decentralization]] of Georgia state government: He proposed the relocation of the Georgia Department of Health to Augusta to be near the state medical college and the moving of the Department of Public Safety to Macon in the center of the state. He proposed a state takeover of the City of Atlanta if the capital did not reduce the crime rate within six months of his [[inauguration]]. He favored standardized testing of school teachers to remove the incompetent. He proposed legalization of [[bingo]] and [[parimutuel betting]] by local county option.<ref>Randall Savage, "Mayor Favors Relocation of Agencies," ''Macon Telegraph'', July 25, 1974, p. C1; Rex Granum, "Thompson Says He'd Ask General Assembly Control of Atlanta,'' ''Atlanta Constitution'', September 27, 1974, p. A6; Linda Wilson, "Thompson Would Support Winning GOP Opponent," ''Macon Telegraph'', July 12, 1974, p. A3</ref>

Thompson continued hs hard-line rhetoric against crime. He said that he would offer condemned criminals the possibility of a [[firing squad]] or [[hanging]] in lieu of the electric chair. He proposed that police use [[Teflon]]-tipped flat-headed bullets which expand once inside the body, even though such ammunition would appear to violate the [[Geneva Convention]]. It was not clear to all whether Thompson was being serious or facetious.<ref>Wilson, "Thompson Would Support"; John Grimond, "Georgia's Vote: A British View", ''The New York Times'', November 10, 1974, sect. IV, p. 3</ref>

Thompson could make little traction in the race against Busbee, who refused the Republican's repeated call for debates. He alleged that Busbee was tied to the Georgia Power Company, [[milk]] interests, and [[International Telephone and Telegraph]] and that the bulk of Busbee's funding was from "special interests".<ref>Selby McCash, "Busbee Fears Open Debate, Thompson Charges," ''Macon Telegraph'', September 25, 1974, p. A3.; Hopkins, "Thompson Not Invited", p. 8</ref>Busbee was so far ahead in public opinion polls that he could ignore Thompson. And it was a heavily Democratic year nationally in the aftermath of Watergate.

==A striking defeat==

In the general election, Busbee was a runaway winner, 646,777 (69.1 percent) to Thompson's 289,113 (30.9 percent). Thompson ran nearly 10 percentage points below Carter's 1970 Republican opponent, the late [[Hal Suit]], a former Atlanta-area [[broadcaster]] who had opposed [[capital punishment]]. Thompson had considered filing as a [[write-in candidate]] in the 1970 general election against both Carter and Suit, whom he considered a liberal Republican, but did not follow through. His undermining of Suit's candidacy subsequently led to hostility to Thompson within the party's largely Atlanta-centered Republican establishment.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', October 2, 1970, p. A1</ref>

Thompson claimed that the Republican leadership which repudiated him was more concerned with control of the party apparatus than in electing a governor. The GOP hierarchy, while it could not win many elections, could still influence federal grants and appointments. Thompson said that he could "never fit into that organization" and because he was "threatening the power structure", the leadership turned on him.<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 125</ref> [[Newt Gingrich]], the future [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]] who made his maiden but unsuccessful congressional race in 1974, supported Thompson and hailed the nominee for refusing to adhere to the wishes of the "big shots" in the party. Still, many observers thought that Thompson's intraparty conflicts made him appear unstable and unwilling to accommodate minor differences.<ref>Selby McCash, "Macon Mayor v. The "Big Shots'," ''Macon Telegraph and News'', October 27, 1974, p. C1</ref>The party schism was discussed in [[Washington, D.C.]] All state gubernatorial nominees except Thompson were invited to the [[White House]] for a meeting with new President [[Gerald R. Ford, Jr.]]<ref>Sam Hopkins, "Thompson Not Invited by Ford", ''Atlanta Constiution'', September 25, 1974, p. A8</ref>

On election night, disgruntled Thompson supporters attacked chairman Shaw at the candidate's state headquarters in Atlanta. Shaw, who denied that he had ever undermined Thompson's candidacy and had indeed voted for him, sustained a deep gash in his forehead. Thompson said that he would "reconstruct" the GOP, vowed to tour the state to revive the party's sagging fortunes, but he never did so. Thompson did work to replace Shaw as chairman with [[Mack Mattingly]], who six years later in [[1980]] would win election to the U.S. Senate from Georgia in the same election in which the state voted once again for Jimmy Carter as president, rather than the national winner, Ronald Reagan.<ref>Selby McCash, "Revamp of Party Vowed by Mayor," ''Macon Telegraph'', November 6, 1974, p. A1; McCash, "Thompson Plans", p. 1; Moore, Thesis, p. 128</ref>

Thompson's defeat may have contributed to the loss of five Republican seats in the state legislature, as the GOP numbers fell from twenty-nine to twenty-four. In addition, the defeat of conservative Republican U.S. Representative [[Ben Blackburn]] by Democat [[Elliot Levitas]] in the Atlanta suburbs made the Georgia congressional delegate once again all-Democratic, as it had been prior to 1965.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=FiRbQYoZtv0C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=4hgVyttuXS&sig=9s_rGFItLI_uxkmWIFy6z-uuuQA&hl=en</ref>

==A Democrat succeeds Thompson==

Thompson could not seek a third term as mayor. Republicans nominated Sydney Pyles to run in the 1975 general election. Democrats conducted a runoff primary between Buck Melton and the [[minister (Christianity)|minister]], Julius Caesar Hope, the first African American to have sought the mayoralty in modern times. Melton, an easy winner over the Reverend Hope, then overwhelmed Pyles, 18,778 (68.1 percent) to 8,783 (31.9 percent).<ref>City of Macon, Election Statistics, Bonnie Smith, 1-478-784-9774</ref>A Republican elected to the city council that year, [[George Israel|George M. Israel, III]] (born [[1949]]), would emerge four years later in [[1979]] as the second and thus far last Republican to have served as mayor of Macon. Israel served two terms, with his service concluding in [[1987]].<ref>List of Macon, Georgia, mayors</ref>

Nita Thompson had walked out of the marriage during the congressional campaign in 1972. In Thompson's words, "She got tired of the threats of violence, people throwing bricks at the car with her in it, the children not being able to go any place in peace, the police living in our house . . . She wanted me to get out of politics. I told her I would remain in it until I accomplished the things I set out to do. The day that I qualified for Congress, I came home, and she's never been back since."<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 102-103</ref> In 1975, Thompson hastily married then twenty-six-year-old Linda Duffey, but the union lasted only a few months. In [[1976]], he married the former Gloria Milligan.<ref>Randall Savage, "The Last Hours"," ''Macon Telegraph'', December 10, 1975, p. B1</ref>

==Thompson's accomplishments as mayor==

Thompson's mayoral accomplishments abounded despite the political controversies. He promoted industrial expansion, airport improvements, the upgrading of hospitals, and the completion in [[1968]] of the $4.5 million 14,000-set Macon Colisuem. <ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref>Buckner Melton said that Thompson, despite his many critics, "had the vision to support the proper restoration of this great old building."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=MpmJY-xpSBgC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=T01co3ucRn&sig=2TkAK58Hznjp3gMUswPtMEPTWAc&hl=en</ref> Libraries and city recreational programs were expanded. Seventy-seven miles of streets were paved, and nondiscriminatory hiring practices were instituted by the city. Thompson pushed for upgrading the Macon police and fire departments, with the number of police having increasd from 168 to 242 and firefighters from 181 to 297. Thompson pushed for [[civil defense]] and created "one of the best programs in the state."<ref>Christopher Bonner, "Thompson Abandons Third Term Bid", ''Macon Telegraph'', August 15, 1975, p. A8</ref>His accomplishment were not accompanied by a bond issue or an increase of [[ad valorem]] taxes. Yet, his positive accomplishments were overshadowed by his flamboyance and his hard-line positions on law-and-order and municipal unionism.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=TH7nmIjcteQC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=KPPbEuQE4r&sig=IlUX9zhB85ZK8CnXkB4WwgTvuD0&hl=en; Moore, Thesis, pp. 136-137</ref>

Thompson's last act as mayor was to release all prisoners from city jail. He then wrote a column for the weekly ''Macon Herald'' and hosted a radio talk show before such exchanges were commonplace on the airwaves.<ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 137-138</ref>Subsequently, he wrote for the ''Macon News'' until [[1983]], when it merged with the ''Macon Telegraph''. In a column about the newspaper consolidation, Thompson said "the most permanent thing known to mankind is change."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=7q4C6hESNrcC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=3wHxNjuzmD&sig=3zx4MsOqDWNNFCFSz3x8qZVzngc&hl=en</ref>

Thompson is a featured artist on the [[CD]] ''America Speaks from the Heart'' by Centurion, a tribute to the victims of [[September 11]], [[2001]], and the American military personnel in the [[terrorism|War on Terror]].<ref>http://cdbaby.com/cd/centurion</ref>

In recent years, Thompson has been a [[counselor]] at the River Edge Behavioral Health Center in Macon.<ref>Confirmed at 478-751-4519</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT|Thompson, Ronnie}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:People from Macon, Georgia]]
[[Category:People from Augusta, Georgia]]
[[Category:People from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Georgia Republicans]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) politicians ]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Mayors of Macon, Georgia]]
[[Category:American gospel singers]]
[[Category:American country singers]]
[[Category:American musicians]]
[[Category:American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Mercer University alumni]]
[[Category:United States Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:American radio personalities]]
[[Category:Columnists]]

Ronnie Thompson

2008-04-10T15:01:14Z

BillyHathorn: New page: {{Infobox _ Officeholder | name=Ronald John "Ronnie" Thompson |nationality=American | office= {{flagicon|USA}} Mayor of [[Mac...

{{Infobox _ Officeholder
| name=[[Ronnie Thompson (Georgia politician)|Ronald John "Ronnie" Thompson]]
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
| office= {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mayor]] of [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], [[Bibb County, Georgia|Bibb County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[United States|USA]]
| term_start=[[1967]]
| term_end=[[1975]]
| preceded=Benjamin Franklin Merritt, Jr.
| succeeded=Buckner F. "Buck" Melton
|office2=[[Alderman]] in Macon, Georgia
|term_start2=[[1963]]
|term_end2=1967
| party=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] [[gubernatorial]] [[nominee]], [[1974]], and congressional nominee, [[1972]]
| date of birth={{birth date and age |1934|7|21|}}
| place of birth={{flagicon|Georgia}} [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]], [[Richmond County, Georgia |Richmond County]], Georgia
| date of death=
| place of death=
|residence=Macon, Georgia
| occupation=[[Businessman]] [[Gospel]] [[singer]] [[Newspaper]] [[columnist]] [[Radio]] [[talk show]] host [[Counselor]]
| spouse= (1) Nita Thompson ([[1952]]-[[1972]]) (2) Linda Duffey Thompson (1975) (3) Gloria Milligan Thompson ([[1976]]- ?)
| children= From first marriage: Ronita John (born ca. [[1958]])
| religion=[[Baptist]]
|footnotes=(1) [[Thesis]] author Buddy Kelly Moore said that Thompson "shocked and fascinated observers with hard-line approaches to law-and-order, [[municipal]] [[organized labor|unionism]], and race relations."

(2) Thompson was known nationally during his mayoral tenure for "his predilection for the flamboyan," including his opposition to school busing and his staunch defense of [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] during [[Watergate]].

(3) Like [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], [[W. Lee O'Daniel]] of [[Texas]], and [[Jimmie Davis]] of [[Louisiana]], Thompson effectively used [[gospel]] and [[Country music]] in his political campaigns.

(4) When Thompson ran for [[governor]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in [[1974]], he found himself as opposed as much by many of his fellow [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] as the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], who had coalesced behind [[George D. Busbee]].

(5) Though he was called "[[Machine Gun]]" Ronnie and did not object to the [[epithet]], there is no evidence that Thompson actually ever handled a machine gun.

}}
'''Ronald John Thompson''', known as '''Ronnie Thompson''' or ''''Machine Gun Ronnie' Thompson''' (born [[July 21]], [[1934]]), is a former [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[politician]] who was the first member of his party to have been elected [[mayor]] of [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], his state's sixth largest city. Thompson served two controversial terms from [[1967]]-[[1975]]. He is also a former [[gospel]] and [[Country music]] [[singer]] known for his highly [[Conservative (politics)|conservative]] views on issues.

In [[1972]], Thompson was a [[Republican Party (United States)|GOP]] candidate for the [[United States House of Representatives]], but he was defeated by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[incumbent]] [[W.S. Stuckey, Jr.]], [[scion]] of a wealthy Georgia family. In [[1974]], as his party's [[gubernatorial]] nominee, Thompson was trounced by Democrat [[George D. Busbee]]. A [[populist]] in political philosophy, Thompson was often at odds with his state and national moderate Republican leadership. However, during [[Watergate]] he was a staunch defender of embattled [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]], no particular favorite of many conservative Republicans.

Buddy Kelly Moore ([[1951]]-[[1998]])<ref name=ssdi>http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi</ref>, who completed a [[master of arts]] [[thesis]] on Thompson's career in [[1976]] at [[Georgia College & State University]] in [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]], determined that the Maconite "shocked and fascinated observers with hard-line approaches to law-and-order, [[municipal]] [[organized labor|unionism]], and race relations." Moore defined Thompson's career in terms of a "predilection for the flamboyant."<ref>Buddy Kelly Moore, '''Machine Gun Ronnie' Thompson" A Political Biography'', Georgia College at Milledgeville, Master's thesis, August 1976, p. vi</ref>Unconventional [[author]] Will D. Campbell called Thompson "a harbinger of the [[New Right]]", a movement which emerged in the late [[1970s]] to help to elect Republican [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of [[California]] as [[U.S. President]].<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA191&lpg=RA1-PA191&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5ttPFo0eCj&sig=JwKBOrK4ZnE27_NX2uOT9IjfSjw&hl=en#PRA1-PA140,M1</ref>

==Early years, family, education, business==

Thompson was born in [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]] in eastern Georgia near the [[South Carolina]] state line to Remus Warren Thompson and the former Mattie Lou Watkins ([[1910]]-[[1997]]), a southern working-class couple. The family included two older brothers, Kenneth and William Thompson, and a younger sister, Janice. Remus Thompson worked (1) in a cotton mill, (2) for Friedman's [[Jewelry|Jewelers]] in Augusta, having risen to the rank of [[credit manager]], and (3) as a [[firefighter]] at the Daniel Field air base in Augusta. Mrs. Thompson and Ronnie, while he was still in elementary school, operated a [[restaurant]] near the military base. <ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 1-2</ref>

Originally a [[segregationist]], Thompson said that he had been reared to "believe in separation of the races."<ref>Roger Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", ''Atlanta Magazine'', January 1971, p. 94</ref> He also developed a resentment of the dominant wealth and power [[elite]]. He once said that he could not fully evaluate the overall status of Macon because "I'm from the other side of the [[railroad]] tracks."<ref>Margaret Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer Find Happiness as the First Republican Mayor of Macon?" ''Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine'', May 25, 1969, p. 16</ref>

Macon, situated near the geographic center of Georgia, was chartered in [[1823]] and named for the [[North Carolina]] statesman, [[Nathaniel Macon]]. The city contributed volunteers to the [[Texas Revolution]]. It was a temporary [[capital]] of Georgia after the sacking of Milledgeville in [[1864]] by the army of [[General]] [[William Tecumseh Sherman]].<ref>Ida Young, Julius Gholson, and Clara Nell Hargrove, ''History of Macon, Georgia'' (Macon: Lyon, Marshall, & Brooks, 1950), pp. 43, 48, 62, 88, 278</ref>

Friedman's transferred Remus Thompson to Macon in 1945. Ronnie, then eleven years old, went on to complete grammar school and graduated in [[1951]] from Lanier [[High School]]. He then attended [[Baptist]]-affiliated [[Mercer University]] in Macon, the [[University of Georgia]] extension campus at [[Warner Robins]], and the since disbanded Woodrow Wilson Law School in [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]],<ref>http://www.oglethorpe.edu/administrative/registrar/woodrow_wilson_college_of_law.asp</ref> but only for a quarter in each institution. Instead, he concentrated on his job at Friedman's, and at twenty-three, he became general manager for thirty-three stores in four southeastern states.<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run," p. 94</ref>Meanwhile, Thompson in 1952 married a young woman named Nita; they later had a daughter named Ronita and a son named Johnny. The couple separated in 1972, and a [[divorce]] followed in 1974.<ref>Moore Thesis, p. 4</ref>

==Early political campaigns==

Thompson's first political venture was an unsuccessful race on [[September 27]], [[1961]], to fill a vacancy on the [[Bibb County, Georgia|Bibb County]] Commission. Earlier, he had left Friedman's and opened his own jewelry business in Macon. Thompson reasoned, correctly as it turned out, that publicity from a campaign would generate new customers to his fledgling business. He finished fourth in a field of six but had been bitten by the political bug. The winner of the race, Andy Watson, polled nearly twice as many votes as Thompson.<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, p. 11</ref>

Acting on the advice of his then friend, former Mayor [[B.F. Merritt|Benjamin Franklin Merritt]] ([[1906]]-[[1985]]), a commander of the Georgia [[National Guard]], Thompson in [[1963]] ran for alderman on the then [[nonpartisan]] [[ballot]] and unseated the incumbent Bert Hamilton, a Mercer University professor. Merritt, meanwhile, was elected mayor, having previously served from [[1953]]-[[1959]]. On the council, Thompson took a particular interest in [[aviation]], used his aldermanic pay to finance flying lessons, and soon earned his [[pilot]]'s license.<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 11-12</ref>

On the council, Thompson differed with Mayor Merritt on many issues. The crime rate in Macon soared; municipal finance problems were so severe that the city had to borrow regularly; there were still 150 miles of dirt streets; city services were needed for newly-annexed areas.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', September 1, 1964, p. A14; February 16, 1966, p. A13; June 29, 1966, p. A1</ref>

==Election as Macon mayor, 1967==

Thompson was named one of "Georgia's Five Outstanding Young Men" by the state [[Jaycees]], of which he was an active member. Members of the organization were believed to have played some role in Thompson's initial political success.<ref>http://www.geocities.com/macon_jaycees/history.htm</ref>

Though Thompson had in [[1964]] supported [[Barry M. Goldwater]] for the presidency, he did not declare himself a Republican until he ran in the first ever GOP primary for mayor in 1967. His intraparty opponent, Royce F. Hobbs, was an official at Mercer University and the favorite of the party establishment. Thompson polled more than 7,000 votes, compared to barely 1,300 for Hobbs. Thompson then faced incumbent Mayor Merritt, who had initially encouraged him to run for the city council and with whom he had quarreled as an alderman. Thompson's legitimacy as a candidate was enhanced by open endorsements from former President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Senate Minority Leader]] [[Everett M. Dirksen]] of [[Illinois]], and then [[Governor]] [[Claude Kirk|Claude Roy Kirk, Jr.]], of [[Florida]]. Thompson used the slogan "Make a Change for Progress" and called Merritt a "do-nothing mayor" who engaged in "bossism" and "machine politics".<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', October 28, 1967, p. 4A; November 5, 1967, p. A1; Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 96</ref>He called Merritt "a desperate man who will do anything to stay in office" and a "flip-flopper like his ideal, [[Lyndon Johnson]]."<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', November 2, 1967, p. A23</ref>When Merritt reminded voters that he had served on Eisenhower's staff during [[World War II]], Thompson replied: "It is true that President Eisenhower doesn't know me. [But] that's the very reason that [he] has publicly endorsed me, because he does know Mayor Merritt."<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 22</ref>

Thompson unseated Merritt, 14,732 votes (53.1 percent) to 13,002 (46.9 percent). He lost seventeen of thirty-two [[precincts]], including the boxes in the [[African American]] community. However, the black turnout dropped in the [[general election]] compared to the Democratic primary in which Merritt had to go to court to qualify for the ballot. Blacks then constituted some 38 percent of Macon's population. In the [[2000]] [[census]], however, blacks were 63 percent of the municipal population. Thompson's greatest strength was in the [[blue collar]] section of south Macon. The Republican organization came on board in the last two weeks of the campaign and may have spelled the difference between victory and defeat for Thompson. It is also believed that Thompson benefited considerably from the unpopularity of President Johnson in Georgia.<ref>Billy Watson and Eric Welch, "How Did Thompson Topple Merritt?", ''Macon Telegraph and News'', November 2, 1967, p. A8; Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer?", p. 18</ref>

The law required Thompson to take office the day after the election. He faced a divided City Hall, as twelve of the fifteen aldermen were Democrats. The Macon power structure considered him an intruder. A number of municipal records were removed from the mayor's office on election night and burned though Merritt denied any collusion in the act. As a result, Macon passed an [[ordinance]] which requires municipal papers to be filed permanently.<ref>Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer?", p. 19; Eric Welch, "Mayor Says Some City Files Empty," ''Macon Telegraph'', December 6, 1967, p. A1; ''Macon Telegraph'', January 17, 1968, p. 18A</ref>

==Thompson and African Americans==

Thompson chaired the Macon City Council [[Library]] Committee, which quietly opened services to [[African Americans]]. "Not a word was said about it. We just did it. No big to-do. No press releases to inflame folks. and we started putting branch libraries in different neighborhoods. Nothing racial about it," Thompson recalled.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA188&lpg=RA1-PA188&dq=will+d+campbell+ronnie+thompson&source=web&ots=5ttOIp_gzf&sig=eS3tR54AnASFJxQ77eTFE77MsmM&hl=en#PRA1-PA189,M1</ref>

Most African Americans in Macon, however, opposed the Thompson administration. In [[1969]], Thompson blocked the popular [[boxer]], [[Muhammad Ali]], from fighting at the Macon Coliseum, which Thompson had helped to complete, because Thompson objected to Ali's [[Conscientious Objector]] status during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref>

When racial rioting broke out in Macon on [[June 20]], [[1970]], Thompson issued "shoot-to-kill" orders to [[police]] to stop [[looting]]. He drove a [[National Guard]] [[tank]] onto a Macon [[elementary school]] campus to intimidate would-be criminals . He authorized [[billboards]] in Macon warning that [[armed robbery|armed robbers]] would be "shot on sight".<ref>http://laughingwolf.net/archives/2005_08.html</ref>

In midsummer of 1971, a racial crisis erupted when a black city employee was shot and killed by a white policeman, who a month later was cleared of [[involuntary manslaughter]].<ref>Robert Friedman, "City Votes to Pay Officer's Defense", ''Macon Telegraph'', June 30, 1971, p. A1; Grant Jackson, "Mayor to Keep Beck on Duty", ''Macon Telegraph'', June 30, 1971, p. A3; Jackson, "Beck Case Dismissed by Jury", ''Macon Telegraph'', July 16, 1971, p. A1</ref>Mayor Thompson imposed a 36-hour [[curfew]] after several suspected fire bombings. He fired a [[carbine]] in the air, heard over police [[radio]], while he accompanied a police patrol.<ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref> He further angered [[liberal]]s by publicly discussing the "best type of bullet" to use against the criminal element. Critics called him "Machine Gun Ronnie", a [[sobriquet]] to which he did not object though he never handled a [[machine gun]]. In fact, he paid for his campaigns by selling [[memorabilia]] containing the name "Thompson" on model machine guns.<ref>http://www.rru.com/~meo/ga-folk/ga.5.html; http://www.civilrights.uga.edu/bibliographies/macon/mayor_thompson.htm</ref>

The Reverend Julius Caesar Hope (born [[1932]]), a Macon black minister and the president of the Georgia [[NAACP]], contended that African Americans in Macon were tired of living with unfulfilled promises for so long.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/dvd/viewItemc/wsbn63449-1-broll/flash/6517/2;jsessionid=7157AB6843F3D68E8CA43EC2ED1A0965</ref>Hope viewed Thompson as ambivalent toward blacks: "I think Mayor Thompson was a politician of expediency. I really don't think deep down within Ronnie Thompson was a [[racist]]."<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 34-35</ref> Macon lawyer Virgil Adams, who was a teenager at the time of the Thompson administration, alleged that Thompson "damaged Macon's image. When it got dark, you (blacks) needed to be off the street. Parents wouldn't let us out of the house at night for fear of being locked up, beaten by police, or shot."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=4qPZiyJZOkYC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5vhIr1Ngab&sig=MehwVaKHcaJ3LUWqMi9OYP0eVpc&hl=en</ref>

Thompson, however, defends his mayoral record on race relations. "Race wasn't an issue until my opponent brought it in. My administration built three new [[hospital]]s. Jet airport, firehouses, integrated the police department, had black personnel in every department. We went eight years without a tax increase or [[bond issue]]. I had a biracial committee<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref> that met every month. Things like doctor's offices. Black patients had to go in a back door. We got it stopped. And the [[newspaper]]s had a different edition for black subscribers. My committee talked to them, and they stopped it."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA188&lpg=RA1-PA188&dq=will+d+campbell+ronnie+thompson&source=web&ots=5ttOIp_gzf&sig=eS3tR54AnASFJxQ77eTFE77MsmM&hl=en#PRA1-PA189,M1</ref>

In a 1971 speech to the Macon Optimist Club, Thompson urged blacks to work hard. He noted that he is descended from "a laboring family from a mill town." Thompson said that he understands the discrimination of [[poverty]] and declared that "the best way that I know to fight poverty is to go to work." The speech brought a standing ovation from the Optimists. Thompson declared that the city would fight for its citizens and businesses.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref>

Thompson's tough stance on crime was lauded by the national radio commentator [[Paul Harvey]].<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=TH7nmIjcteQC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=KPPbEuQE4r&sig=IlUX9zhB85ZK8CnXkB4WwgTvuD0&hl=en</ref>

==Nerve gas and unionization==

Thompson was the subject of national attention in [[August]] 1970, when the [[United States Army]] transported [[nerve gas]] from [[Alabama]] and [[Kentucky]] through Macon en route for disposal in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] off the [[North Carolina]] coast. Thompson tried to have the shipment diverted around Macon. Democratic Governor [[Lester G. Maddox]], meanwhile, sided with the Army and vowed that he would be willing to ride with the shipment when it passed through Georgia to demonstrate the safety of the mission. Ultimately, the Army met with Thompson to try to allay his fears, and the gas reached its destination, but there was an unexpected delay in Macon caused by the malfunctioning of an [[air brake]] hose.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909552,00.html; Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 29-32</ref>

In [[1969]], during Thompson's first term, municipal [[sanitation]] workers asked the city to organize through the [[American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees]] union. Thompson rejected unionization as a concept and declared that the City of Macon was already paying employees all that tight budgets would permit. Workers went on strike, and Thompson dismissed them and used city prisoners to collect the [[garbage]]. After some five weeks, the strike ended, and Thompson rehired many of the workers on his own terms.<ref>Bill Maynard, "108 Public Works People on Strike", ''Macon News'', March 12, 1969, p. A1; Shannon, "Can a Gospel Singer?", p. 19; Ronnie Ellington, "Union Criticizes Prisoner Use for Garbage Collecton", ''Macon Telegraph'', March 14, 1969, p. A1; Ellington, "Boycott Hinted in Strike Here", ''Macon Telegraph'', March 13, 1969, p. A1</ref>

==School busing==

Thompson emphatically opposed school busing to achieve racial balance as affirmed in 1971 in the [[United States Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education]]''.<ref>http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1970/1970_281/</ref> He blamed President Nixon for directing the machinery of the administration toward achieving school integration. He accused Nixon of having advocated "socialistic trends" in housing and welfare, of leniency toward "[[hippie]]s and revolutionaries", and with failure to end "forced busing."<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 75</ref>In Macon, a court-ordered desegregation plan in 1970 transferred many students to different schools. When Thompson's 12-year-old son, Johnny, was among those relocated, he continued to take his son to the previous school, as did other parents. He was threatened with [[contempt of court]], and despite [[boycott]]s by angry parents, the desegregation plan was implemented.<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 99</ref>

Thompson went to Washington meet with Nixon, whom Thompson said "told me positively, face to face, there would be no busing to meet racial quotas. . . . " As the busing continued, Thompson remained livid with Nixon.<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run", p. 75</ref> Watergate, however, prompted Thompson to defend Nixon and to attack the three national television networks for their comparable anti-Nixon coverage. In time, Thompson called on Nixon to surrender the [[White House]] tapes because Thompson expected the information to exonerate the President. Despite Nixon's resignation, Thompson said that he would always hold the former president "in the highest esteem". Thompson said that he never hesitated to take on politically impractical and unpopular causes.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', May 8, 1974, p. A3; Randall Savage, "Nixon Still Gets the Mayor's Respect", ''Macon Telegraph'', August 9, 1974, p. A3; Moore, Thesis, p. 88</ref>

==Reelection in 1971==

In [[1971]], Thompson faced a Democratic opponent who was expected to give him a tough race: Bibb County Commissioner [[Emory Greene|F. Emory Greene]], a former member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]]. In the primary, Greene defeated Bill Laite, who then sat out the general election campaign. Greene questioned Thompson's militant use of the police, the "shoot-to-kill" order during the 1970 racial unrest, and the nerve-gas matter. He also claimed that Thompson's campaign organization compensated Laithe for the remainder of his debts in return for neutrality in the general election campaigns. Greene said that Thompson must be defeated to avoid four more years of "radicalism, noise, confusion, and [[publicity]]-seeking maneuvers which leave the city standing still." <ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 32-33</ref>

Thompson defeated Greene 19,329 (58.2 percent) to 13,881 (41.8 percent), having received strong support once again from blue collar white voters.<ref>City of Macon, Election Statistics, Bonnie Smith, 1-478-784-9774</ref>Thompson polled a bare majority of affluent whites. Virtually all of the black voters sided with Greene despite what Thompson saw as his considerable assistance to the minority community.<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 35</ref> Thompson's reelection as mayor came ten months after [[Jimmy Carter]], whom Thompson opposed, became Georgia's new Democratic governor.

==Rallying behind the military and the police==

Thompson enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]] after his high school graduation. He served in the intelligence unit during the [[Korean War]] until a [[football]] injury resulted in his discharge in [[1952]] and disqualified him from [[pilot]] training.<ref>Buddy Kelly, Thesis, p. 4</ref> Thompson was a strong proponent of the American troops who were assigned to block the expansion of [[communism]] in the [[Vietnam War]]. He traveled to South Vietnam and went into the [[combat]] areas. He returned to Macon with numerous hand-delivered messages from the troops for their families. The sight of the American [[flag]] inspired staunch [[patriotism|patriotic]] feeings in Thompson. "I always get a thrill when I see the flag go by or hear the ''[[Star-Spangled Banner]]'', said Thompson, who contends that his maternal family is descended from [[Francis Scott Key]].<ref>Williams, "What Makes Ronnie Run?", p. 90</ref> Thompson established the label "Flag City U. S. A." for Macon, where on Poplar Street are fifty-four flagpoles which fly the emblems of each state, the U.S. flag, and the standards of the [[District of Columbia]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Virgin Islands]].<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', November 14, 1975, p. A4</ref>

Thompson said that he felt compelled to protect the students of Mercer University, which he had briefly attended, from subversive speakers brought to the campus. He once vowed to arrest the antiwar activist and [[actress]] [[Jane Fonda]] were she to speak at Mercer.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA191&lpg=RA1-PA191&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5ttPFo0eCj&sig=JwKBOrK4ZnE27_NX2uOT9IjfSjw&hl=en#PRA1-PA140,M1</ref>

He also rallied to the defense of [[U.S. Army]] [[Lieutenant Colonel]] [[William Calley|William L. Calley, Jr.]], a fellow southerner who was convicted in the [[My Lai]] massacre during the Vietnam War. Thompson even offered Calley employment when the officer was paroled. Like Thompson had in his earlier years, Calley thereafter earned his livelihood in the jewelry business, but in Atlanta.<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 86</ref>

As he had with the troops in Vietnam, Thompson declared himself a strong supporter of the police. He recorded "A Policeman's Prayer" in the venue of [[John Wayne]]'s patriotic ''[[The Green Berets]]''.<ref>http://item.express.ebay.com/Mayor-RONNIE-THOMPSON-A-Policemans-Prayer-Macon-GA_W0QQitemZ170027297404QQihZ007QQfromsoiZ1QQcmdZExpressItem</ref>

==Thompson's singing career==

Thompson's father originally sang in a [[quartet]] in Augusta, and Ronnie developed similar interests at a young age in part to please the senior Thompson. After he had left the Air Force, Thompson himself sang with a [[gospel]] quartet at [[Robins Air Force Base]], and by [[1955]], having created his own quartet, he was heard on local [[radio]] in Macon. In time, he drifted into [[Country music]] and made his first such record in [[1958]].<Don Rountree, "Alderman Finding Success in Popular Song Field," ''Macon Telegraph'', April 19, 1964, p. A6</ref>In [[1960]], Thompson took over several radio and [[television]] programs for Friedman's Jewelers. His television show was broadcast in Macon, Augusta, and [[Asheville, North Carolina]]. An observer said that the telegenic Thompson "projects sincerity, with a seductive overlay of devotion, patriotism, and simple honesty. He is a pleasing public speaker, and he comes across beautifully on television."<ref>Williams, pp. 75, 96</ref>

Thompson's singing style was described as "pleasant Country-Western baritone-bass, with a hard 'r' twang."<ref>Shannon, Gospel Singer, p. 18</ref>Thompson once admitted that he wonders what might have happened had he stuck to music as a potential career and insists that "I would have been successful had I stayed in the music business."<ref>Christopher Bonner, "Thompson: Whatever Else, His Reign Was Never Dull," ''Macon Telegraph and News'', December 7, 1975, p. A8</ref>

Thompson was in a line of southern politicians who had been musicians: Governor and [[U.S. Senator]] [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], Governor [[W. Lee O'Daniel]] of [[Texas]], and Governor [[Jimmie Davis]] of [[Louisiana]]. Davis, immortalized for his song "You Are My Sunshine"<ref>Robert Sherill, ''Gothic Politics in the Deep South'' (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1968), p. 31</ref>once told Thompson, "If you want to have any success in politics, sing softly and carry a big [[guitar]]," a play on an old [[Theodore Roosevelt]] adage.<ref>Eric Welch, "Gospel-singing Jeweler Is 'Country' Candidate", ''Macon Telegraph'', August 26, 1967, p. A1.</ref>

In Thompson's last year in office, he commissioned a portrait of the late African American [[singer]] [[Otis Redding]], best known for ''[[Sitting on the Dock of the Bay]]''. He offered the portrait to Governor Busbee for use in the state [[capitol]], but it remained in Macon until late in [[2007]], when it went missing in the transition between Mayor [[C. Jack Ellis]], Macon's first black chief executive, and current Mayor [[Robert Reichert]], a former Democratic member of the Georgia House. Thompson, through his career in gospel singing, had been personally friendly with Macon's well-known musicians, including Redding, [[James Brown]], [[Little Richard]], [[Wayne Cochran]], and the [[Allman Brothers]].<ref>Williams, What Makes Ronnie Run?, p. 92</ref>

==Mental depression==

In 1972, Thompson was a passenger in a private Piper Comanche [[airplane]]. During a downdraft, Thompson's head crashed into the door latch, a concussion resulted, and there was serious internal bleeding. He spent a week in Macon Medical Center. On returning home, he collapsed, possibly a result of powerful [[medication]]s. A neighbor had allegedly seen him shooting a pistol in his backyard. A woman called a radio [[talk show]] and claimed that Thompson had been seen nude in his backyard. Thompson sued the radio station for $2.36 million.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', July 27, 1973, p. A1; Randall Savage, "Thompson Names WBML in $2.36 Million Law," ''Macon Telegraph'', April 12, 1974, p. A3</ref>

After the collapse at home, Thompson was again hospitalized and was pronounced clinically dead. Miraculously, physicians revived him, and he lay unconscious for three days. After a ten-day stay, he returned to his office, but was soon rushed to College Street Hospital, a [[psychiatric]] facility. Diagnosed with mild [[depression]], Thompson remained in the psychiatric hospital for three weeks and received electroshock treatment. His mental health problems seriously damaged his political career. So did after effects of the firefighters' strike, for blue collar white voters, Thompson's traditional base, were generally sympathetic to the firefighters. Rumors circulated that Thompson had been unfaithful to Nita and had been injured, not in the airplane mishap, but by the husband of a mistress. Such rumors, apparently baseless, hurt Thompson among "Bible Belt" [[fundamentalist]]s. The [[divorce]] from Nita made the moralistic, gospel-singing mayor seem hypocritical in the eyes of such voters.<ref>Max Haggard, "Thompson Recalls Health Crisis," ''Macon Telegraph'', December 31, 1972, p. A4; Buddy Moore, Thesis, p. 102</ref>

==Congressional campaign, 1972==

Mayor Thompson was unopposed for the Republican nomination for the Eighth Congressional District seat, whereas W.S. Stuckey defeated two intraparty opponents, State Representative Mitch Miller (no relation to the entertainer of the same name) and Harry Powell, a newspaper publisher from [[Dublin, Georgia|Dublin]], who was active in the [[anticommunist]] [[John Birch Society]]. ([[John Birch (missionary)|John Birch]] grew up in Macon.) Stuckey declined to discuss Thompson's mental breakdown, for fear of evoking sympathy for the mayor. Thompson's announcement that he had been offered $50,000 by an undisclosed person in Stuckey's organization to withdraw from the race reinforced questions of mental stability in the eyes of many voters.<ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 110-111</ref>

Campaign issues in the race were similar to those in other districts: the status of the Vietnam War, forced busing to achieve school integration, welfare, [[inflation]], and [[taxation]]. Thompson stressed "law-and-order", his most familiar mantra. Stuckey said that "Ronnie and I were agreeing on most of the issues in that campaign. . . . He wanted the job that I had."<ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 111-112; Grant Jackson, "Taxes, Inflation: Issues in Eighth," ''Macon Telegraph and News'', October 29, 1972, p. D1</ref>

Stuckey and Thompson conducted mobile campaigns and went from town to town to shake hands. Stuckey distributed pencils; Thompson serenaded voters with his rendition of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" or "Have A Little Talk with [[Jesus]]".<ref>Archie McKay, "Stuckey-Campaign Style: A Handshake and a Pencil", ''Macon Telegraph', October 10, 1972, p. A3; McKay, "Law and Order, Songs Mark Thompson Style," ''Macon Telegraph'', October 17, 1972, p. A3</ref>Stuckey repeatedly refused Thompson's request for a television debate. Thompson called Stuckey "a rich playboy" who "socializes with the [[Edward M. Kennedy|Kennedy]] crowd in Washington". Thompson described himself as a "[[cotton]]-sock Republican running against a [[silk]]-stocking Democrat."<ref>Bill Montgomery, "Thompson Plans Stay in Politics," ''Atlanta Journal and Constitution'', November 12, 1972, p. A21; Max Haggard, "Foe 'Socializing', Thompson Claims," ''Macon Telegraph'', September 6, 1972, p. A1; Jackson, "Mayor Describes Illness," p. 1</ref>

The national GOP steered clear of Thompson either because of his perceived ultraconservative philosophy or the mental depression episode. When Nixon visited Atlanta, Thompson was not invited to ride in the [[parade]]. [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Spiro T. Agnew]] journeyed to Augusta and [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]] but never mentioned Thompson or the Eighth District race.<ref>Selby McCash, "GOP Holds Mayor at Arm's Length," ''Macon Telegraph'', October 29, 1972, p. D3</ref>Thompson was overwhelmed in fund-raising, having spent about $16,000 in the race to Stuckey's $250,000. Thompson disliked asking potential donors for contributions and instead depended on the sale of machine-gun pins for funding his campaign, insufficient as such sales proved to have been.<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 114-115</ref>

Thompson received 33,539 votes (37.8 percent) to Stuckey's 55,247 votes (62.2 percent).<ref>Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, U.S. House, 1972</ref>Thompson found a unique way to justify his defeat in Macon: city voters who repudiated his congressional candidacy had decided that Thompson should remain mayor. Thompson said that black voters who overwhelmingly backed Stuckey were "voting to keep Machine Gun Ronnie in Macon. I hope they realize that."<ref>Christopher Bonner, "Thompson: Whatever Else, His Reign Was Never Dull", ''Macon Telegraph and News'', December 7, 1975, p. 9</ref>

==Gubernatorial primary, 1974==

In [[1974]], Thompson cross-filed in both the Republican and Democratic parties for governor, a practice then allowed in Georgia but not used by previous candidates during the state's long period of Democratic hegemony. Thompson said that his cross-filing was intended to increase his name identification and propel him to the leading position among four Republican primary candidates. <ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, p. 116</ref>After the election, the state law permitting cross-filing was repealed in the Busbee administration. California similarly had a cross-filing law in the [[1950s]], used by then Governor [[Earl Warren]]. Thompson had considered running once again for U.S. representative or for [[lieutenant governor]] but instead filed for governor. He expected to face then Lieutenant Governor Lester Maddox of the Atlanta metro area, a former governor known nationally for his past appeals to segregation. Thompson called Maddox "a counterfeit conservative" and challenged the former governor to a head-to-head debate, which Maddox promptly rejected.<ref>Selby McCash and Randall Savage, "'Bring on Maddox,' Mayor Says," ''Macon Telegraph'', August 14, 1974, p. A1</ref>

Thompson also clashed with [[J.B. Stoner]], a self-avowed [[white supremacy|white supremacist]], who ran as a Democrat for lieutenant governor to succeed Maddox. Stoner, the former attorney for [[James Earl Ray]], the convicted [[assassin]] of [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]], placed a controversial advertisement on the side of a bus of the Macon Transit Company. Thompson had the sign removed, and Stoner sued successfully in federal court to have the sign returned though it was seen as hostile to blacks. Stoner even urged blacks to support Thompson for governor, a recommendation he made tongue-in-cheek.<ref>Randall Savage, "Stoner's Signs Removed from Buses," ''Macon Telegraph'', May 23, 1974, p. A3; Richard Harris, "Council Bans Political Ads from Buses," ''Macon Telegraph'', July 18, 1974, p. A3; ''Macon Telegraph'', June 28, 1974, p. A3</ref>Stoner received more votes in his race for lieutenant governor -- 73,449 or 9 percent of the total -- than were cast for all candidates in the Republican gubernatorial primary.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=FiRbQYoZtv0C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=4hgVyttuXS&sig=9s_rGFItLI_uxkmWIFy6z-uuuQA&hl=en</ref>

In the gubernatorial primary, Thompson faced four opponents, W.M. Coolidge, Harold Dye, [[Harry Geisinger]], and George Lankford. Dye (born [[1917]]) of [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]] is a retired [[brigadier general]] who was a former member of the [[United Nations]] Military Armistice Commission and an official in the Georgia Department of Industry and Trade. Coolidge and Lankford were [[county commission]]ers in [[DeKalb County, Georgia|DeKalb]] and [[Cobb County, Georgia|Cobb]] counties, respectively. Geisinger, a native of [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]], years later was elected to the [[Georgia State Legislature|Georgia House of Representatives]] from [[Roswell, Georgia|Roswell]] and served in the House Republican leadership.<ref>http://www.electharry.org/</ref>

In the [[August 14]] primary, held five days after the resignation of Richard Nixon as president, Thompson led with 17,830 votes (41 percent); Harold Dye finished second with 9,870 ballots (23 percent). Thompson received 21,848 Democratic votes, presumably at the expense of Lester Maddox, who led his party ballot with 277,921. Busbee finished second with 167,811, barely above the total of [[banker]] [[Bert Lance]], who would in [[1977]] become President Carter's first director of the [[Office of Management and Budget]].<ref>''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', Georgia Gubernatorial Primary Returns, 1974</ref>

==Runoff primary, 1974==

In the runoff primary campaign, State GOP Chairman [[Bob Shaw (Georgia politician)|Bob Shaw]] of Atlanta, himself a gospel singer, approached Thompson in a debate and questioned the likelihood of Thompson being [[indictment|indicted]] as a result of an investigation into [[gambling]] in Macon. Thompson was [[subpoena]]ed for three hours before a [[grand jury]] but was not indicted.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', September 7, 1974, p. A.1</ref> Thompson called for the resignation of Shaw and the entire sixty-seven members of the state executive committee.<ref>''Macon Telegraph and News'', September 2, 1974, pp. A1-2; Selby McCash, "Thompson Party Rift Widens", ''Macon Telegraph'', September 11, 1974, p. A1</ref>

Thompson only narrowly prevailed in the second Republican primary balloting, 22,211 (50.6 percent) to Dye's 21,669 (49.4 percent). <ref>Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 1974 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff results</ref>Considering the ongoing schism, Dye and other party leaders refused to endorse Thompson in the general election. In the Democratic runoff, Busbee easily defeated Maddox, who was said to have appealed more broadly to the same bloc of voters who were partial to Thompson. Maddox declared that the race with Busbee was "the ugliest thing I have ever been involved in."<ref>''The New York Times'', August 1974</ref>

==General election issues==

Thompson advocated [[decentralization]] of Georgia state government: He proposed the relocation of the Georgia Department of Health to Augusta to be near the state medical college and the moving of the Department of Public Safety to Macon in the center of the state. He proposed a state takeover of the City of Atlanta if the capital did not reduce the crime rate within six months of his [[inauguration]]. He favored standardized testing of school teachers to remove the incompetent. He proposed legalization of [[bingo]] and [[parimutuel betting]] by local county option.<ref>Randall Savage, "Mayor Favors Relocation of Agencies," ''Macon Telegraph'', July 25, 1974, p. C1; Rex Granum, "Thompson Says He'd Ask General Assembly Control of Atlanta,'' ''Atlanta Constitution'', September 27, 1974, p. A6; Linda Wilson, "Thompson Would Support Winning GOP Opponent," ''Macon Telegraph'', July 12, 1974, p. A3</ref>

Thompson continued hs hard-line rhetoric against crime. He said that he would offer condemned criminals the possibility of a [[firing squad]] or [[hanging]] in lieu of the electric chair. He proposed that police use [[Teflon]]-tipped flat-headed bullets which expand once inside the body, even though such ammunition would appear to violate the [[Geneva Convention]]. It was not clear to all whether Thompson was being serious or facetious.<ref>Wilson, "Thompson Would Support"; John Grimond, "Georgia's Vote: A British View", ''The New York Times'', November 10, 1974, sect. IV, p. 3</ref>

Thompson could make little traction in the race against Busbee, who refused the Republican's repeated call for debates. He alleged that Busbee was tied to the Georgia Power Company, [[milk]] interests, and [[International Telephone and Telegraph]] and that the bulk of Busbee's funding was from "special interests".<ref>Selby McCash, "Busbee Fears Open Debate, Thompson Charges," ''Macon Telegraph'', September 25, 1974, p. A3.; Hopkins, "Thompson Not Invited", p. 8</ref>Busbee was so far ahead in public opinion polls that he could ignore Thompson. And it was a heavily Democratic year nationally in the aftermath of Watergate.

==A striking defeat==

In the general election, Busbee was a runaway winner, 646,777 (69.1 percent) to Thompson's 289,113 (30.9 percent). Thompson ran nearly 10 percentage points below Carter's 1970 Republican opponent, the late [[Hal Suit]], a former Atlanta-area [[broadcaster]] who had opposed [[capital punishment]]. Thompson had considered filing as a [[write-in candidate]] in the 1970 general election against both Carter and Suit, whom he considered a liberal Republican, but did not follow through. His undermining of Suit's candidacy subsequently led to hostility to Thompson within the party's largely Atlanta-centered Republican establishment.<ref>''Macon Telegraph'', October 2, 1970, p. A1</ref>

Thompson claimed that the Republican leadership which repudiated him was more concerned with control of the party apparatus than in electing a governor. The GOP hierarchy, while it could not win many elections, could still influence federal grants and appointments. Thompson said that he could "never fit into that organization" and because he was "threatening the power structure", the leadership turned on him.<ref>Moore, Thesis, p. 125</ref> [[Newt Gingrich]], the future [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]] who made his maiden but unsuccessful congressional race in 1974, supported Thompson and hailed the nominee for refusing to adhere to the wishes of the "big shots" in the party. Still, many observers thought that Thompson's intraparty conflicts made him appear unstable and unwilling to accommodate minor differences.<ref>Selby McCash, "Macon Mayor v. The "Big Shots'," ''Macon Telegraph and News'', October 27, 1974, p. C1</ref>The party schism was discussed in [[Washington, D.C.]] All state gubernatorial nominees except Thompson were invited to the [[White House]] for a meeting with new President [[Gerald R. Ford, Jr.]]<ref>Sam Hopkins, "Thompson Not Invited by Ford", ''Atlanta Constiution'', September 25, 1974, p. A8</ref>

On election night, disgruntled Thompson supporters attacked chairman Shaw at the candidate's state headquarters in Atlanta. Shaw, who denied that he had ever undermined Thompson's candidacy and had indeed voted for him, sustained a deep gash in his forehead. Thompson said that he would "reconstruct" the GOP, vowed to tour the state to revive the party's sagging fortunes, but he never did so. Thompson did work to replace Shaw as chairman with [[Mack Mattingly]], who six years later in [[1980]] would win election to the U.S. Senate from Georgia in the same election in which the state voted once again for Jimmy Carter as president, rather than the national winner, Ronald Reagan.<ref>Selby McCash, "Revamp of Party Vowed by Mayor," ''Macon Telegraph'', November 6, 1974, p. A1; McCash, "Thompson Plans", p. 1; Moore, Thesis, p. 128</ref>

Thompson's defeat may have contributed to the loss of five Republican seats in the state legislature, as the GOP numbers fell from twenty-nine to twenty-four. In addition, the defeat of conservative Republican U.S. Representative [[Ben Blackburn]] by Democat [[Elliot Levitas]] in the Atlanta suburbs made the Georgia congressional delegate once again all-Democratic, as it had been prior to 1965.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=FiRbQYoZtv0C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=4hgVyttuXS&sig=9s_rGFItLI_uxkmWIFy6z-uuuQA&hl=en</ref>

==A Democrat succeeds Thompson==

Thompson could not seek a third term as mayor. Republicans nominated Sydney Pyles to run in the 1975 general election. Democrats conducted a runoff primary between Buck Melton and the [[minister (Christianity)|minister]], Julius Caesar Hope, the first African American to have sought the mayoralty in modern times. Melton, an easy winner over the Reverend Hope, then overwhelmed Pyles, 18,778 (68.1 percent) to 8,783 (31.9 percent).<ref>City of Macon, Election Statistics, Bonnie Smith, 1-478-784-9774</ref>A Republican elected to the city council that year, [[George Israel|George M. Israel, III]] (born [[1949]]), would emerge four years later in [[1979]] as the second and thus far last Republican to have served as mayor of Macon. Israel served two terms, with his service concluding in [[1987]].<ref>List of Macon, Georgia, mayors</ref>

Nita Thompson had walked out of the marriage during the congressional campaign in 1972. In Thompson's words, "She got tired of the threats of violence, people throwing bricks at the car with her in it, the children not being able to go any place in peace, the police living in our house . . . She wanted me to get out of politics. I told her I would remain in it until I accomplished the things I set out to do. The day that I qualified for Congress, I came home, and she's never been back since."<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 102-103</ref> In 1975, Thompson hastily married then twenty-six-year-old Linda Duffey, but the union lasted only a few months. In [[1976]], he married the former Gloria Milligan.<ref>Randall Savage, "The Last Hours"," ''Macon Telegraph'', December 10, 1975, p. B1</ref>

==Thompson's accomplishments as mayor==

Thompson's mayoral accomplishments abounded despite the political controversies. He promoted industrial expansion, airport improvements, the upgrading of hospitals, and the completion in [[1968]] of the $4.5 million 14,000-set Macon Colisuem. <ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref>Buckner Melton said that Thompson, despite his many critics, "had the vision to support the proper restoration of this great old building."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=MpmJY-xpSBgC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=T01co3ucRn&sig=2TkAK58Hznjp3gMUswPtMEPTWAc&hl=en</ref> Libraries and city recreational programs were expanded. Seventy-seven miles of streets were paved, and nondiscriminatory hiring practices were instituted by the city. Thompson pushed for upgrading the Macon police and fire departments, with the number of police having increasd from 168 to 242 and firefighters from 181 to 297. Thompson pushed for [[civil defense]] and created "one of the best programs in the state."<ref>Christopher Bonner, "Thompson Abandons Third Term Bid", ''Macon Telegraph'', August 15, 1975, p. A8</ref>His accomplishment were not accompanied by a bond issue or an increase of [[ad valorem]] taxes. Yet, his positive accomplishments were overshadowed by his flamboyance and his hard-line positions on law-and-order and municipal unionism.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=TH7nmIjcteQC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=KPPbEuQE4r&sig=IlUX9zhB85ZK8CnXkB4WwgTvuD0&hl=en; Moore, Thesis, pp. 136-137</ref>

Thompson's last act as mayor was to release all prisoners from city jail. He then wrote a column for the weekly ''Macon Herald'' and hosted a radio talk show before such exchanges were commonplace on the airwaves.<ref>Moore, Thesis, pp. 137-138</ref>Subsequently, he wrote for the ''Macon News'' until [[1983]], when it merged with the ''Macon Telegraph''. In a column about the newspaper consolidation, Thompson said "the most permanent thing known to mankind is change."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=7q4C6hESNrcC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=3wHxNjuzmD&sig=3zx4MsOqDWNNFCFSz3x8qZVzngc&hl=en</ref>

Thompson is a featured artist on the [[CD]] ''America Speaks from the Heart'' by Centurion, a tribute to the victims of [[September 11]], [[2001]], and the American military personnel in the [[terrorism|War on Terror]].<ref>http://cdbaby.com/cd/centurion</ref>

In recent years, Thompson has been a [[counselor]] at the River Edge Behavioral Health Center in Macon.<ref>Confirmed at 478-751-4519</ref>

{{start box}}
{{succession box
|before=Benjamin Franklin Merritt, Jr.
|title=[[Mayor]] of [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
[[Ronnie Thompson (Georgia politician)|Ronnie Thompson]]
|years=1967–1975
|after=Buckner F. "Buck" Melton
}}
{{end box}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT|Thompson, Ronnie (Georgia politician)}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:People from Macon, Georgia]]
[[Category:People from Augusta, Georgia]]
[[Category:People from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Georgia Republicans]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) politicians ]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Mayors of Macon, Georgia]]
[[Category:American gospel singers]]
[[Category:American country singers]]
[[Category:American musicians]]
[[Category:American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Mercer University alumni]]
[[Category:United States Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:American radio personalities]]
[[Category:Columnists]]

Ben C. Toledano

2008-04-02T18:28:40Z

BillyHathorn:

(This article was posted on Wikipedia.org on April 15, 2006. It was deleted on December 21, 2007, as part of a "Wikistalking" move against its author, Billy Hathorn. Mr. Toledano was the Republican candidate for mayor of New Orleans in 1970 and for the U.S. Senate in 1972, and has since been a "paleoconservative" columnist. Now Wikipedia falsely claims that he lacks "notability".)

'''Benjamin Casansa Toledano''', or '''Ben C. Toledano''' (born September 7, 1932), is a paleoconservative author, activist, and attorney who was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for mayor of New Orleans in 1970 and for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana in 1972.

'''Contents'''

'''1 Running for mayor of the Crescent City'''

'''2 Challenging J. Bennett Johnston and John McKeithen'''

'''3 Judicial consideration'''

'''4 Moving temporarily to Virginia'''

'''5 Paleoconservative columnist'''

'''6 References'''

'''7 External links'''

'''Running for mayor of the Crescent City'''

Prior to filing as the lone Republican candidate for mayor, Toledano had been a member, first, of the Democratic Party, and, then, of the States' Rights Party. He sought to succeed the retiring two-term Democratic Mayor Victor H. Schiro in 1970. The Democrats had a slugfest for the office in two primaries held in the fall of 1969. The more liberal candidate, Maurice "Moon" Landrieu was placed in a runoff -- this was before Louisiana had its jungle primary format -- with the more conservative former City Councilman James Edward "Jimmy" Fitzmorris, Jr., who would be elected lieutenant governor three years later and served from 1972-1980.

When Landrieu defeated Fitzmorris with a vow to carry on the liberal legacies of his predecessors, including deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., (service: 1946-1961), and then Mayor Schiro, Republicans sensed a rare opportunity in the Crescent City. Toledano appeared initially to be a strong contender for the position, for he picked up the support of many Fitzmorris leaders and waged an intense, well-organized, and heavily-financed campaign. Toledano noted that blacks had voted overwhelmingly for Landrieu, who would later serve in the Jimmy Carter administration as secretary of housing and urban development, but he mostly stressed the "need-for-a-change" theme always available for nearly any southern Republican seeking office at that time.

The 1970 mayoral race concluded with the highest turnout until that time in the history of the city, some 70 percent of registrants. Black participation in the general election surpassed what it had been in the Landrieu-Fitzmorris runoff. It was estimated that 80 percent of blacks cast ballots, and 98 percent supported Landrieu, the father of the state's current Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu and Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. Indeed, the Landrieus built a political dynasty, with their strength also demonstrated statewide.

Moon Landrieu received 94,332 (59 percent) votes, compared to 65,558 (41 percent) for Toledano. The Republican won 60 percent of the votes of whites. Two shifts in the voting behavior of whites in New Orleans, soon to become a distinct minority of the city's population, occurred between the Democratic runoff and the general election. A number of upper and middle income precincts in the Uptown University area and in Algiers, switched from Landrieu to Toledano, mostly those which had voted Republican for president in the past. The 25 white precincts with the highest socio-economic status switched from Landrieu to Toledano. The other white voter change occurred in the mid-city area, where numerous middle-to-lower economic status precincts which had favored Fitzmorris in the runoff remained with the Democratic nominee in the general election. Otherwise, the Toledano vote pattern was similar to that for Fitzmorris.

Toledano's vote was patterned more on that of the 1968 George C. Wallace, Sr., support in New Orleans than the tabulation for the Republican ticket of Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew. Nixon had won 26.7 percent in Orleans Parish, compared to 32.7 percent for Wallace, and 40.6 percent for Vice President Hubert Humphrey. In the runoff, Landrieu scored well with former Nixon supporters, but he lost to Toledano a number of white precincts which Nixon had carried less than two years earlier. Three Louisiana political scientists who analyzed the New Orleans mayoral returns concluded that Republicans could not become competitive unless they appealed to "the more moderate instincts of the upper and upper-middle socio-economic status white voters . . . as well as the black voters." Of course, the racial composition of New Orleans changed drastically in the coming decade, and the white vote was significant thereafter only as a swing bloc vote between two black candidates. The political scientists underestimated the attrition of the white population from New Orleans. In 1978, New Orleans elected its first black mayor, and all mayors since that time have been blacks.

'''Challenging J. Bennett Johnston and John McKeithen'''

Toledano's showing for mayor propelled him in 1972 to seek the U.S. Senate seat held by 36-year incumbent Democrat Allen J. Ellender, a native of Houma in Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana. However, C.M. McLean of Lafayette was unopposed for the Republican senatorial nomination. When McLean withdrew, the Republican State Central Committee tapped Toledano as its nominee for the November general election. Meanwhile, former state senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport had challenged Ellender in the Democratic primary. Ellender died on July 27, and Johnston was left as the de facto Democratic nominee. Former Governor John McKeithen filed as an independent because the time had passed for Democrats to enter the primary. Johnston entered the general election as the prohibitive favorite even though McKeithen had been the only governor until that time to have served two consecutive terms and despite Richard Nixon' apparent likelihood of an easy reelection at the top of the Republican ballot.

Johnston polled 598,987 votes (55.2 percent); McKeithen drew 250,161 (23.1 percent), and Toledano finished third with 206,846 (19.1 percent). [[Hall M. Lyons]] (1923-1998) of Lafayette, son of Charlton Lyons, the "grand old man of the Louisiana GOP," polled another 28,910 votes, or 2.6 percent, as the nominee of George Wallace's former American Independent Party. Hall Lyons had filed for governor earlier in 1972 on the AIP ticket but was persuaded to withdraw in favor of Republican David C. Treen. Treen was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Third Congressional District in this same 1972 general election.

Toledano's performance was extremely weak. His best showing was a meager 30 percent in Jefferson Parish, which supported Treen for Congress and Nixon for president. In previously inclined Republican parishes Iberia and Caddo, for instance, Toledano failed to win even a fourth of the vote.

'''Judicial consideration'''

In 1982, President Ronald W. Reagan considered nominating Toledano to a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans. The civil rights lobby objected to Toledano's previous affiliation with the States' Rights Party, the Republican-majority Senate showed no enthusiasm for the choice, and Reagan never made the nomination. Ironically, in 1987, Reagan tried to place former Governor Treen on the same court, and the then Democratic Senate majority refused to consider his nomination. Toledano and Treen both had past ties to the States' Rights Party which sunk attempts to place them into federal judicial positions.

'''Moving temporarily to Virginia'''

In 1983, the Toledanos -- Ben, wife Roulhac, three daughters, and a son -- relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia, where they renovated a $200,000 warehouse building into an elegant home true to cultural tastes in the home city of Thomas Jefferson. Toledano bought five copies of classical books, one for his wife and himself and one for each of their children. He particularly stressed southern Agrarians and classicists such as Walker Percy and Eudora Welty.

By the 1990s, however, the Toledanos had returned to the New Orleans area, where Ben continued his career as a lawyer, columnist, and man of letters.

'''Paleoconservative columnist'''

Toledano emerged as a columnist, author, and political thinker, writing for William F. Buckley's ''National Review'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Texas Monthly'', and Thomas Fleming's ''Chronicles Magazine'', a paleoconservative publication from Rockford, Illinois. Paleoconservatives generally follow the viewpoints of such individuals as the defeated presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan or the columnist Samuel Francis (1947-2005). They believe that "neoconservatives" in national Republican administrations have "sold out" traditional Republican values to keep the United States involved in endless war to promote "democracy" and to promote international trade agreements which lead to outsourcing and decline of American jobs. Toledano hence writes in the Buchanan-Francis mold by taking what the media would call "hard-right" positions on issues. Over the years, Toledano alienated many politicians. He also spoke out against the "barbaric" practice of New Orleans Mardi Gras, the most popular of his city's annual festivals. He praised the Jewish community in the city, who he claimed had primarily preserved the best of New Orleans social culture.

In 1981, Governor Edwin Washington Edwards said that he expected to draw considerable Republican support when he ran for a third term in 1983 against sitting Republican Governor Treen. But, Edwards clarified, "I would not want Ben Toledano supporting me … he’s poison. I don’t want him involved in my campaign." Toledano replied: "Most people don’t receive very many special compliments in a lifetime. I am deeply flattered by Edwards’ remarks. Love me most for the enemies I have made."

In 2004, Toledano wrote a review of Kevin Phillips's ''American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush''. Toledano was as critical of the Bushes as any Democrat had been: "There was a time when people in high places believed in avoiding even the appearance of impropriety. Phillips' book suggest that the Bushes do not even know what propriety is." Toledano continued, in reference to the religious conversion of George W. Bush: "I choose not to question the sincerity of George W.’s conversion and faith . . . Unlike his father, whose deeds defy and defile his words, he may well be a true believer even if he uses his beliefs to obtain political support and votes."

The Toledanos reside in Hurricane Katrina-damaged Pass Christian, Mississippi, east of New Orleans. He penned a well-known column entitled "New Orleans -- An Autopsy" about the political implications of Katrina on New Orleans, having concluded that the city was in rampant social decay for a generation before the storm struck so severely in August 2005.

'''References'''

Billy Hathorn, "The Republican Party in Louisiana, 1920-1980", Master's thesis, Northwestern State University at Natchitoches, 1980

Mark T. Carleton et al, ''Readings in Louisiana Politics'', 1975

http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/Chronicles/June2004/0604Toledano.html

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/archives/2001/0123/feat-letters.html

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v46/ai_15544254

Retrieved by author from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_C._Toledano"

Categories: Articles for deletion | 1932 births | Living people | American journalists | Louisiana lawyers | Louisiana politicians | Louisiana Republicans | People from New Orleans | People from Louisiana | People from Mississippi |Conservatives

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toledano, Ben C.}}

[[Category:Political people]]
[[Category:Louisiana]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Law]]

Kevin O'Brien

2008-03-23T22:10:51Z

BillyHathorn:

2008-03-13T14:58:37Z

BillyHathorn: