I have never heard of this incident in all my years. Please watch. It is a true story and a lesson for our times.
I pray that such action not be needed again if things get worse. But I hope such principles still exist if it is needed.
I have the DVD of the movie created from this true story of what once WAS American courage to fight for what was right at all costs. Very inspiring!
Unfortunately, now we have way too few willing to put government in its rightful place of being controlled by us rather than its current ruling elite of dictators, completely ignoring just about every element of the US Constitution which may tend to limit government powers.
I live in Athens TN. We are all very proud of this even to this day and we haven’t changed much.
Athens is a beautiful conservative small town in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
SOURCE: The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, Tenn., August 7, 1946; pages 1, 6.
Mrs. Roosevelt Grasps Local Facts Better Than Most
Editor's Note — Our attention has been called to Mrs. Roosevelt's column upon McMinn. She seems to have grasped the facts and significance better than any other outside writer:
McMinn A Warning — By Eleanor Roosevelt
New York, Monday — After any war, the use of force throughout the world is almost taken for granted. Men involved in the war have been trained to use force, and they have discovered that, when you want something, you can take it. The return to peacetime methods governed by law and persuasion is usually difficult.
We in the U.S.A., who have long boasted that, in our political life, freedom in the use of the secret ballot made it possible for us to register the will of the people without the use of force, have had a rude awakening as we read of conditions in McMinn County, Tennessee, which brought about the use of force in the recent primary. If a political machine does not allow the people free expression, then freedom-loving people lose their faith in the machinery under which their government functions.
In this particular case, a group of young veterans organized to oust the local machine and elect their own slate in the primary. We may deplore the use of force but we must also recognize the lesson which this incident points for us all. When the majority of the people know what they want, they will obtain it.
Any local, state or national government, or any political machine, in order to live, must give the people assurance that they can express their will freely and that their votes will be counted. The most powerful machine cannot exist without the support of the people. Political bosses and political machinery can be good, but the minute they cease to express the will of the people, their days are numbered.
This is a lesson which wise political leaders learn young, and you can be pretty sure that, when a boss stays in power, he gives the majority of the people what they think they want. If he is bad and indulges in practices which are dishonest, or if he acts for his own interests alone, the people are unwilling to condone these practices.
When the people decide that conditions in their town, county, state or country must change, they will change them. If the leadership has been wise, they will be able to do it peacefully through a secret ballot which is honestly counted, but if the leader has become inflated and too sure of his own importance, he may bring about the kind of action which was taken in Tennessee.
If we want to continue to be a mature people who, at home and abroad, settle our difficulties peacefully and not through the use of force, then we will take to heart this lesson and we will jealously guard our rights. What goes on before an election, the threats or persuasion by political leaders, may be bad but it cannot prevent the people from really registering their will if they wish to.
The decisive action which has just occurred in our midst is a warning, and one which we cannot afford to overlook.
bkmk
Pinging Kart! Thought you might find this one of interest!
Simply WOW!
Why we have and need the 2A.
If anyone is on social media, please spread this far and wide!
Bump!
Here is an oral history of a man named Bill White who participated in the Battle of Athens.
First, go to page 18, start reading the second to the last paragraph at the bottom of the page to the end of the document for the Battle of Athens.
Then, read about Bill’s WWII experiences starting at the beginning of the document.
All of it reads like an adventure novel. An amazing man with an amazing story.
http://web.utk.edu/~csws/interviews/white.pdf