LONG DRIVE TO THE TOP FOR MAYOR BENDER
Austin Letheridge Bender, affectionately nicknamed “Chunk” by an older brother because he was a chubby baby, became Chattanooga’s mayor in 1969, after Ralph Kelley’s appointment to the federal bench. The youngest of 14 children, Bender learned about politics from his father, George Andrew Bender, a general contractor who moved his family to Chattanooga from Harriman, Tenn., at the beginning of the 20th century. Mayor Bender first observed the political process as he accompanied his father, a precinct leader, on his rounds, including a trip to the courthouse when only 5 to help the elder Bender deliver the ballot box for the official counting. He never forgot those early experiences or his family’s involvement in the Highland Park community.
Mayor Bender often recalled the experiences that prepared him to serve his city. In a Chattanooga Post article published on Jan. 2, 1969, Bender’s rise to prominence was catalogued. “A high school dropout during the Depression era, Bender has gained a good education the hard way — through experience in climbing to the top of the local political machine. And, hard work is no stranger to this native Chattanoogan.”
Bender, who had attended Highland Park Grammar School and East Side Junior High, enrolled at Central High School, working after school and on weekends at the local A&P grocery at the intersection of Willow Street and Chamberlain Avenue. By the end of his junior year, with the economic pressures of the Depression making life difficult for most families, he chose to leave school and begin working full time for the highway department. His job moved him across the state, serving in more than 25 counties, and it was in Lincoln County that he would meet the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kelso. After several years of courtship, Bender and Rozelle Kelso married in 1938. His reputation for hard work in the state highway department resulted in promotions to foreman and then assistant superintendent while his astute political understanding assured his selection as Hamilton County 15th Ward Democratic Precinct chairman, encompassing Brainerd.
Then Pearl Harbor was attacked, and Chunk Bender enlisted in the U.S. Army as
a private. Within months and after having risen quickly to corporal and then sergeant, he was tapped for Officer Candidate School. After graduation, Bender was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He would serve for more than 18 months in the Philippines and be promoted to first lieutenant and then captain before his discharge.
Returning home, the future mayor became a precinct organizer and worked closely with political leaders Sen. Estes Kefauver,
Commissioner George McInturff and County Judge Wilkes Thrasher. Over the next 12 years, Bender worked in real estate and served as county manager for both County Judge Thrasher and then, after Thrasher’s death in a traffic accident, County Judge Chester Frost. In 1962, he was appointed by Chattanooga Mayor Rudy Olgiati and the three other commissioners to serve the remainder of the late Pat Wilcox’s term as public works commissioner.
The next year, he ran for re-election and defeated challengers John Curtis and George Key, receiving 58% of the vote. He had announced his campaign in a public address declaring, “I am asking the citizens of Chattanooga to elect me to a full term. I am very proud of the accomplishments made by this department …” He then spotlighted the issuance of the first contract for the $2.7 million airport improvement and the widening and surfacing of North Moore Road, and sections of Shallowford Road, along with a new Alton Park bridge. Additionally, significant progress had been made with the sanitary sewer program, city beautification, continued railroad track relocation off major city streets and a successful partnership on expanded interstate plans.
His record spoke loudly and, in 1967, he ran for re-election without any opposition, receiving the highest number of votes on the commission. The stage was set for Bender’s next appointment.
At 10:35 a.m. on Jan. 2, 1969, Ralph Kelley took the oath as “referee in bankruptcy,” vacating his position as Chattanooga’s mayor. Thirtythree minutes later, according to a Chattanooga Times article by Springer Gibson, Vice-Mayor A.L. “Chunk” Bender “attained the city’s highest political office as he was sworn in as mayor … Flowers lined the City Commission bench and Mrs. Bender stood with her husband during the simple ceremony at which City Attorney Eugene Collins presided and childhood friend Judge Campbell Carden administered the oath. The new mayor called for all citizens to “become active partners in the operation of Chattanooga’s government …”