James J. Pleasants Born: circa 1906 Died:

Hailing from Clarksdale, Mississippi James J. Pleasants earned a law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1930.  In 1939 he entered public service as assistant district attorney in Memphis.  In 1942 Pleasants was elected judge of the criminal court, but entered the Navy instead.

At the end of World War II local political boss E. H. Crump dropped his familiar group of candidates and began to promote a slate of "veteran candidates".  Pleasants fit the description neatly and was allowed to run for mayor in 1947 without measurable opposition. 

During his mayoralty, which lasted less than two years, Pleasants spent much of his time either sick or fretting about his job.  In 1948 Crump suffered his worst political setback in decades when rival forces helped Estes Kefauver win one of Tennessee's two senate seats over Crump's handpicked candidate.  This was a matter of major upset to Crump and Pleasant's alike.  It is alleged that Pleasants once called the entire police force together and dressed them down in a very "intemperate" manner because of rumors that the Crump forces were on their way out.

On Christmas Eve 1948 Pleasants announced he would resign effective January 15th.  He pointed to his generally poor health, which appeared to have begun during his time in the Navy, as the cause.  Whatever the reason Pleasants had become increasingly high profile due to his increasingly agitated appearance.  It is likely that nothing had ever prepared him for the cruel task master Crump was.

On one occasion Crump had then Mayor Pleasants read into the public record accusations that Crump's sworn enemy Ed Meeman (editor of the Memphis Press Scimitar) was a homosexual.  That particular trick was meant to avoid libel suits by Meeman.  It was part of an overall smear campaign that also took the form of direct mail.  During the 1948 senatorial contest Crump had Pleasants attack Kefauver as a communist and earlier, in 1947, Crump put a national spotlight on Pleasants by insisting that the "Freedom Train" exhibit touring the south in 1947 would remain segregated. 

Between the pressures of the job and the frantic state of Crump after the 1948 senatorial defeat it is likely that the parting was mutual. 

Unfortunately, I lose track of Pleasants at this point, but will try to update the article when I learn more.