Ralph Houston Kelley was city’s youngest mayor
(Editor’s note: First of two parts)
Many Chattanoogans remember Ralph Houston Kelley as Chattanooga’s youngest mayor when elected in 1963 and later on the U.S. Bankruptcy bench, serving as judge from 1969 to 1993. But Kelley’s interest in government and public service began decades earlier with an unusual appointment to the U.S. Congress.
At age 12, Kelley was selected by U.S. Rep. Estes Kefauver to serve as a congressional page. Kefauver, impressed by the young student’s knowledge of foreign affairs and the increasing political and military complexities created by the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, invited Kelley to serve for three additional years beyond the initial term.
Kefauver was not the only congressional official to be impressed by the young man. Kelley would later be the first page tapped by House Speaker Sam Rayburn to serve as his “exclusive” page. The Chattanooga Daily Times, April 25, 1944, published one of the first newspaper photos of young Kelley, shown talking with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt at the congressional pages annual luncheon at the White House. Kelley had been elected president of the Student Council at the Congressional Pages Boys’ School.
The knowledge, skills and personal relationships developed during his years at the Capitol accompanied Kelley during his military service with the Army Air Corps at the end of World War II and while taking courses at the University of Maryland. He returned to Chattanooga and enrolled at the University of Chattanooga, majoring in political science. A 1950 Chattanooga Daily Times headline noted that Ralph Kelley and Lowell Lehrman had been elected “Co-Editors of the UC Echo.” Kelley’s extensive judicial papers collection illustrated his ability to succinctly identify legal issues and clarify appropriate application of the law. He found the writing skills honed in the nation’s capital valuable as a university student.
After graduating from UC, the future mayor attended Vanderbilt University Law School. In 1954, he returned to Chattanooga as an assistant prosecutor in the district attorney general’s office and served later as Hamilton County assistant district attorney. He often credited Judges Joseph F. DiRisio and Clarence Shattuck as his legal mentors. Judge Shattuck would serve as one of Kelley’s pallbearers at his 2004 funeral.
After brief service in the Tennessee General Assembly, Kelley focused his attention on Chattanooga and in a somewhat surprising move announced his candidacy for mayor, challenging incumbent Rudy Olgiati. Even more shocking to many local residents was the defeat of Mayor Olgiati by the young challenger, only 34 years old, in the March 1963 election.
Perhaps Kelley’s most controversial but courageous action as mayor occurred within the first six months of his first term, when on Sept. 24, 1963, Mayor Kelley announced that “all public buildings, parks, playgrounds, swimming pool, golf courses and community centers” were open to “all citizens.” His commitment to desegregation, however, extended beyond opening public facilities.
One month later, in October 1963, Mayor Kelley joined with Bishop Ernest Hickman at Warren Chapel to host the annual session of the AME churches of East Tennessee. While Chattanooga struggled with the implementation of desegregation, Mayor Kelley believed that citizens from all communities across the city working together had lessened the violence so often witnessed in other cities. The city’s “Chattanooga Mayors” website page includes Kelley’s statement offered years later that, “At least we kept Chattanooga off the front page of national newspapers at a time that they were highlighting actions across the south.”
No profile of Chattanooga Mayor Ralph Kelley would be complete without a mention of “Kelley’s Raiders” and the fight to retain the city’s famous locomotive, The General. Local history enthusiasts will recall that the first Medals of Honor were awarded to members of Andrews Raiders for their daring attempt aboard The General to destroy the railroad between Big Shanty, Georgia, and Chattanooga, thus impeding future Confederate actions.
The General was housed at Chattanooga’s Union Depot from 1891 until 1961, when the L&N Railroad moved it to Louisville to “renovate it for a reenactment of Andrews Raiders’ Great Locomotive Chase.” Upon completion of the renovation and a national centennial tour, the L&N announced the engine would be enshrined permanently at Kennesaw, Georgia. Mayor Kelley disagreed, citing that the train had been awarded to Chattanooga 70 years earlier as a “charitable trust” and challenged the decision.
The stage was set for a showdown.