Ronnie Thompson (politician)

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Ronnie Thompson
Mayor of Macon, Georgia
In office
November 1967 – 1975
Preceded byBenjamin Franklin Merritt Jr.
Succeeded byBuck Melton
Personal details
Born(1934-07-21)July 21, 1934
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedMarch 22, 2020(2020-03-22) (aged 85)
Political partyRepublican
Democratic
ProfessionSinger
musician
politician
counselor

Ronald John "Ronnie" Thompson Sr. (July 21, 1934 – March 22, 2020), also known by "Machine Gun Ronnie" Thompson, was an American

Mayor of Macon, Georgia, becoming the city's first Republican mayor in its history.[1] He became known for his unorthodox, often controversial, views and colorful, charismatic personality during his tenure as mayor, which spanned two terms from 1967 to 1975.[1][2]

Biography

Thompson was born in

segregationist until he was 11-years old, when he encountered a black boy who was crying because he was not allowed to use a whites-only bathroom at a rest area in Sparta, Georgia.[2]

Ronnie Thompson joined the United States Air Force. He was honorably discharged but remained at Robins Air Force Base, where he entertained as a member of a gospel quartet.[3] He formed his own group, the Ronnie Thompson Quartet, by 1955.[3]

In addition to his work in gospel, Ronnie Thompson also released several

mental hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia.[1]

Thompson also became friends with regional and national musicians of the time, including the

Allman Brothers and Otis Redding.[2] He was also friends with James Brown. Both Brown and Thompson had grown up in Augusta and worked as shoe shiners as kids in their hometown but didn't meet until they each had moved to Macon.[1] Thompson sometimes accompanied Brown on his tours to help with security and police escorts.[2] Ronnie Thompson would later record a country album, called "Here I Am", with James Brown's record company, Starday Records. Though "Here I Am" had a limited release, Thompson's album came with a "A James Brown Production" logo due to its production at Starday, making it a rare vinyl record collectible item.[2]

Thompson also worked a traveling jewelry salesman before settling in Macon, Georgia, where he expanded his jewelry business.[1][3]

Early political career

Thompson's ongoing success in the music industry led to an interest in politics during the 1960s. Prior to running for office, Louisiana Governor Jimmy Davis advised Thompson that the key to a successful political career was to "sing softly and carry a big guitar."[1][4]

In 1961, Thompson ran for office for the first for a vacant seat on the

nonpartisan city election to win the seat on the council.[3] He served on city council until he was elected Mayor of Macon in 1967.[1]

Mayor of Macon

In 1967, Ronnie Thompson, who was 33-years old, announced his campaign against his former political mentor, incumbent Mayor Benjamin Merritt, who was seeking re-election. Unusually, Thompson ran for mayor as a Republican, in a city and region dominated by Democrats at the time as well as the fact that Thompson was formerly a Democrat. Thompson narrowly won the election with 14,732 votes, while Mayor Merritt garnered 13,002 votes.[3] Thompson made history by becoming Macon's first Republican mayor in its history.[1]

Ronnie Thompson's 1967 mayoral campaign was supported by several of his colleagues in the music industry. Otis Redding and Phil Walden, the founder of Macon-based Capricorn Records, gave Thompson space in the Redwal Music Building on Cotton Avenue for use as a campaign headquarters.[2] Redding, who had worked with Thompson, died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, a little more than one month after Thompson had been inaugurated as Macon's mayor.[2] Mayor Thompson quickly renamed and rededicated one of Macon's bridges as the "Otis Redding Bridge" in the singer's memory.[2]

He won re-election to a second term in 1971 when he defeated Democrat F. Emory Greene, a Bibb County commissioner and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives.

When Thompson was sworn in as mayor shortly after the 1967 election, he presided over a city still in the midst of the

racial tensions that gripped the South at the time.[1] Thompson attempted to navigate the issue of race by focusing largely on law and order issues during his early years, as well as chairing the Macon City Council Library Committee, which opened the library to African-Americans for the first time.[3] However, in 1970, Thompson issued a controversial "shoot to kill" for city police against an upcoming demonstration by the Black Liberation Front, which planned to picket downtown stores, citing the need to combat "lawlessness and anarchy."[1] At another point in his tenure, Thompson floated the idea of arming 1,000 "volunteer lawmen" in the event of civil violence, but the idea was never fulfilled and no one was ever recruited.[1] Critics, including other elected officials in Macon's city government, attacked the idea, noting that it could inflame the present racial tensions.[1]

The issue of race in Macon erupted again in 1971, when a white police officer shot and killed a black city employee.

billboards around Macon, warning that criminals and rioters would be shot during the unrest.[3]

Critics blasted Thompson for inserting himself into the crime scene unnecessarily and derisively called him "Machine Gun Ronnie", despite the fact that he never used a machine gun.[1][3] In a 2010 interview, Thompson defended his actions and the "shoot to kill" orders he issued as a deterrence against potential violence, citing the damage caused by the 1970 Augusta riot a year earlier, in which six black men were shot and killed by police.[2] He told The Macon Telegraph, "The people who put me in the same category as George Wallace don't know me...I got my reputation because I didn't want people to burn the city down."[2]

Still, the "Machine Gun Ronnie" nickname, which Thompson never actively opposed, stuck and remained with him for the rest of his political career.[1] Thompson even used the name to his advantage on the campaign trail by selling election model machine guns with his name "Thompson" printed on them.[3] Months later, Thompson was re-elected to a second term as mayor.

In another memorable episode, Thompson authorized the city to acquire a

.50-caliber machine gun to the vehicle to guard against future riots.[1]

The events of the 1971 riots and the tank acquisition overshadowed some of Ronnie Thompson's accomplishments. He introduced official non-discriminatory hiring practices for the first time.

firefighters.[3] His successor, former Mayor Buck Melton, credited Thompson with saving and restoring many of Macon's larger old buildings.[3] Thompson, who had met former President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a golf course in Augusta, led the effort to name the Eisenhower Parkway, which runs through the city's south side, after the former president.[1]

Throughout his time as mayor, Thompson hosted his own radio talk show and wrote a column for the Macon Herald, a weekly newspaper.[3]

Ronnie Thompson unsuccessfully ran for higher office while serving as mayor. In

U.S. Representative W. S. Stuckey Jr. Two years later, in 1974, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was term-limited and could not run for re-election. Thompson won the Republican gubernatorial nomination but lost to Democratic nominee George Busbee in the 1974 general election
. Busbee handily defeated Thompson 69.1% to 30.9%.

Thompson left office in 1975 after two terms and was succeeded by Mayor Buck Melton.

Thompson's time as mayor left an impression that many in the political realm still remembered years after he left office. Jim Marshall, who was Macon's mayor from 1995 to 1999, recalled being asked about Thompson by other mayors when he served on the United States Conference of Mayors' executive committee in the 1990s, over two decades after Thompson had left office, "And one mayor of Macon was well known: Ronnie Thompson...Not necessarily for good reasons, but some mayors actually had stories about him, what, almost 25 years later?"[1] Marshall said he did not know Thompson until long after his political life had ended, "But in his later life, I did meet him and he seemed like an awfully decent person. And I really enjoyed his company."[1]

Later life and career

Ronnie Thompson lived a much more private life after leaving elected politics in 1975. He wrote a column for the

Macon Telegraph.[3]

Thompson largely left politics to focus on his education and a new career after leaving politics. In a 2010 interview with The Telegraph, he stated, "When I came out of the mayor's office, I only had a

high school degree."[2] He eventually became a mental health caseworker and community support services counselor at the River Edge Behavioral Health Center in Macon, where he supervised thirty-five patients with mental illness per day.[2] Thompson taught social skills and management to patients to help them better navigate society.[2]

According to Thompson, he became interested in mental health services when he met and befriended a mentally handicapped man nicknamed "Bullfrog" before becoming Macon's mayor.

Civil Rights Movement, referring to Bullfrog as a "typical black" who should join the 60,000 Detroiters who were unemployed at the time.[2] Thompson, then a city alderman, called Mayor Cavanagh to apologize and paid for a bus ticket to bring Bullfrog back to Macon.[2]

Additionally, Thompson also worked nights at the Crest Lawn Funeral Home in Macon.

associates degree and his bachelor's degree.[2] By 2010, Thompson was working on his master's degree in addiction studies to help with his full-time career at the River Edge Behavioral Health Center.[2] He suffered a minor stroke in the summer of 2009, which forced him to take two months off from work and his education.[2]

Ronnie Thompson died from Alzheimer's disease on March 22, 2020, at the age of 85.[1]

Electoral history

Georgia's 8th congressional district:[5]

Year Republican Votes % Democratic Votes %
1972 Ronnie Thompson 42,986 37.6% √ W. S. Stuckey Jr. 71,283 62.4%
Georgia gubernatorial election, 1974[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic George Busbee 646,777 69.07%
Republican Ronnie Thompson 289,113 30.87%
Democratic hold Swing

References

  1. ^
    The Telegraph (Macon). Archived
    from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Horne, Chris (January 27, 2010). "'Machine Gun' Ronnie Thompson back to work after stroke". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 20, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Davis, D.A. (2012). "Mayor Ronnie Thompson" (PDF). Mercer University. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  4. ^ Davis, quoted in Eric Welch, "Gospel-singing Jeweler Is 'Country' Candidate", Macon Telegraph, 1967 August 26, p. A1.
  5. ^ Fortson, Ben (1972). "Official state of Georgia tabulation by counties for Presidential Electors, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representatives, state officers and constitutional amendments, General Election November 7, 1972" (PDF). Digital Library of Georgia. p. 11-12. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  6. ^ "1974 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Georgia".
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Governor of Georgia
1974 		Succeeded by
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