Allen Cavett Thompson (November 6, 1906 - October 1980)[1] was the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi for 20 years.
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Thompson was born to Allen and Mattie Thompson. His father was an attorney, city prosecutor and city judge prior to his death in 1916.
Upon graduating from Central High School, Allen enrolled at the University Of Mississippi. During his time at "Ole Miss" he remained very active in sports and was the state tennis champion for three consecutive years.
Thompson married Evana Shelby on August 22, 1929 in Port Gibson, Mississippi. He was offered and accepted a teaching position at Blue Mountain College in North Mississippi.
In 1931 Allen obtained his license to practice law and returned to Jackson. During the next few years Allen and Evana had three children, Allen Jr., Shelby and Billy.
Thompson began his career in politics when he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1940. He served until he resigned to join the U.S. Navy in 1942. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was assigned to Naval Intelligence. He was honorably discharged on January 14, 1946 at which time he returned to Jackson and resumed his law practice.
Soon after his return he was appointed by Governor Bailey to be legislative liaison to the Governor. During this time he became President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, President of the Exchange Club, State Excise Tax Commissioner, and served on the board of Stewards at Galloway Methodist Church.
In 1948 Thompson was elected (Democrat)mayor of the city of Jackson.
During Thompson's time as mayor, the area's population grew from 55,000 to 250,000. The number of public schools went from 18 to 58, the number of fire stations increased from 6 to 17, and 350 people were added to the police force. The city had one library in 1949 but the mayor built a new, more modern facility and added five branches. He was instrumental in the construction of the Memorial Stadium, the Mississippi Coliseum, the Ross Barnett Reservoir, the Municipal Auditorium, the location of the University Medical center, Interstate I-55 and the development of the Jackson Airport.
During his tenure as mayor, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, "[t]he City of Jackson and the State of Mississippi ... maintained a steel-hard, inflexible, undeviating official policy of segregation.”[2] As mayor, Thompson was instrumental in seeking to uphold the city's and state's policies of racial segregation during the 1950s and 1960s. As one Jackson resident later recalled, "during the height of the Civil Rights Movement you had a lot of protests in the city of Jackson. Allen C. Thompson was the mayor of Jackson at the time. He was known for the famous Thompson Tank. He used that to arrest the marchers at the time. And also he used the police force and the fire department to spray the marchers at the time."[3] Also during the 1960s Thompson appointed the first black city employees, which included the first black police officers. Thompson was also named a defendant in the Supreme Court case Palmer v. Thompson, which unsuccessfully sought to force the city to desegregate its swimming pools. Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court which said "It has not been so many years since it was first deemed proper and lawful for cities to tax their citizens to build and operate swimming pools for the public. Probably few persons, prior to this case, would have imagined that cities could be forced by five lifetime judges to construct or refurbish swimming pools which they choose not to operate for any reason, sound or unsound. Should citizens of Jackson or any other city be able to establish in court that public, tax-supported swimming pools are being denied to one group because of color and supplied to another, they will be entitled to relief. But that is not the case here."[4]
During his time as mayor, he was elected twice as President of the American Municipal Association. He was the United States Southern Representative to the International Union of Cities, which was held in Brighton, England where 350 cities and 30 nations were represented. He was involved with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, his cabinet, and heads of select Federal and State Agencies in developing a national atomic civil defense program. Thompson was also a member of the white supremacist Citizens' Council.[5]
After 20 years as mayor of the city of Jackson, Allen Thompson announced his retirement in 1969. After retiring, he practiced law and farmed until his death in 1980.