Crump, Edward

Crump, (Edward Hull) “Boss”

(1874–1954) mayor, U.S. representative, political boss; born in Holly Springs, Miss. A self-made man, he began his political machine as Memphis, Tenn., councilman in 1905. As Democratic mayor of Memphis (1911–17), he took over public utilities and opposed the Ku Klux Klan, but resigned after failing to enforce prohibition. Establishing E. H. Crump Insurance in 1920, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1931–35) and controlled state Democrats until 1948.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.