Jerry Summers
Before the landmark United States Supreme Court decision of Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962) establishing the “one man, one vote” standard for legislative districting, three rural Tennessee legislators, Jim Cummings of Woodbury, I.D. Beasley of Carthage, and Walter (Pete) Haynes of Winchester kept the legislature under the control of the rural interests of the state at the expense of the larger cities such as Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. They would often be joined in their bloc by Paul (Stump Daddy) Graham of South Pittsburgh.
Mr.
Jim Cummings was the leader of the influential trio that held the metropolitan areas captive and was subsequently given the honorary title of “Dean of the Legislature.” He also was referred to as “The Last of the Four Dollar A Day Men,” because during his legislative service Tennessee General Assembly members were paid no salary and were allotted only $4.00/day in expense money. He was born on November 8, 1890, in Cannon County, Tennessee, and initially became a school teacher, circuit court clerk, and publisher of the Cannon Carrier from 1916-1918 prior to becoming a clerk in the State Comptroller’s Office in Nashville. He used his position to attend the YMCA night law school where he was admitted to the bar in 1922 and then attended Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he earned his diploma in 1923.
After an unsuccessful venture in the Florida postwar and boom, Cummings returned to Woodbury and entered the practice of law. A successful law practice allowed him to gain enough public recognition to run and win a seat in the State Senate in 1929. He would continue to serve in the General Assembly as either a senator or representative for over 40 years and never lost. The era of the control of Memphis by Edward H. Crump’s (the Red Snapper) political machine had a direct conflict with Cummings and his other colleagues representing the rural communities in the state.
The power of the Cummings bloc continued beyond the demise of the Crump machine in the 1950’s and the big cities would remain subservient to rural counties until the Baker decision in 1962. Cummings once summed up the philosophy of his colleagues as follows: “Raise the money in the cities and spend it in the county!” As a result tiny Cannon County represented by Cummings had more employees on the State payroll than did the much larger city of Knoxville.
I.D. Beasley of Carthage was another member of Cummings' rural bloc in the legislature. A short, heavy-set man, he possessed the unique quality of being able to duplicate the voice of any man or woman and often used this unusual characteristic to either play practical jokes or to turn politicians around on any issue that might pertain to the interest of the rural bloc in the legislature. During the legislative session in Nashville he roomed with Jim Cummings. Both of them were well known for getting their meals and free whiskey from lobbyists that were known as “a golden goose.” Beasley was not only part of the Cummings-Beasley-Haynes rural voting bloc but was also fondly thought of by those who knew him in Nashville.
Beasley created a lifelong friendship with Jim Farley, chairman of the national Democratic Party and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s chief political operative, that arose out of a joke Beasley played on Farley by mimicking Cordell Hull, Secretary of State. As a result, Farley appointed I.D. to be a sergeant at arms, who accompanied Cummings as a non-delegate to each National Democratic Party Convention and allegedly received more privileges and benefits than the actual delegates themselves.
Beasley’s ability to mimic everyone created a lot of humor and chaos with many legislators who might not have complied with the laws and rules pertaining to Prohibition and morality.
The third member of the Unholy Trinity was Pete Haynes, a representative from Franklin County who also was a successful trial lawyer who served five terms as speaker of either the Tennessee House of Representatives or Senate. As a speaker, he held life or death power over legislation as he appointed committee chairmen and decided which legislation would come to a vote. The Unholy Trinity’s battles with Boss Crump are part of the political history of the Volunteer State.
Haynes also possessed the talent of being a master forger of written documents which came into use when the trio needed a vote or two. Using personal notepads bearing the Governor's name that were stolen from his office the trio would have Haynes forge a note asking the representative or senator to come to the Governor's Office immediately. While the unsuspecting legislator was at the Executive's Office the bill in question would be brought to the floor and in his absence would either pass or fail without his vote.
Former Governor Buford Ellington was quoted as saying, “If these three decided to kill you on a particular they could…..It was as simple as that….When they wanted something, they got it by hook or crook…..Whenever Jim or I.D. or Pete came to my office, the first thing I would do was hide my personal notepads.”
Using tactics that were both humorous and illegal or at least unethical, this trio of rural legislators had a lasting and unbreakable effect upon the Tennessee General Assembly prior to the Baker v. Carr decision.
Ironically, Chattanooga attorney Ray Brock in the defense of controversial Hamilton County Judge Raulston Schoolfield in his impeachment trial in 1958 by the Tennessee General Assembly had raised the same re-apportionment issue claiming that the legislative composition was illegal and lacked jurisdiction to try the jurist. The issue was never decided by the legislative body and Schoolfield was impeached and subsequently disbarred by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
According to sources, Brock begged Schoolfield to allow him to appeal the disbarment ruling to the United States Supreme Court. Although the re-apportionment issue had been dropped in the impeachment trial and not raised in the disbarment case, if it had been pursued the Schoolfield case may have become the historical legal authority rather than Baker v. Carr.
The antics of Cummings, Haynes, and Beasley would probably be unacceptable today, but their paralyzing hold on state government greatly benefited their rural constituents. Two areas they vigorously opposed were truck weight limits and morality bills.
Cummings served 36 years in the Tennessee General Assembly and never lost a race. Pete Haynes acquired a reputation in Franklin County and the state as a successful trial lawyer and allegedly only lost one capital murder case out of 400 that resulted in a client being executed. I.D. Beasley was a short, overweight colleague who was the court jester of the trio. His ability to mimic political figures was often used to mislead legislators into voting for the side of the Unholy Trinity.
It was a different time and many of their power-wielding tactics of those days would not be allowed today, but it provided a colorful chapter in the political history of the State of Tennessee.
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Jerry Summers can be reached at jsummers@summersfirm.com