[1] When he first arrived in Memphis, the ongoing Panic of 1893, possibly the worst recession in the United States to that time, made it hard for Crump to find work.

Eventually, he obtained a clerical position with the Walter Goodman Cotton Company, on Front Street in downtown Memphis.

[3] Alongside his rising business career, Crump began to make the political connections that served him for the rest of his life.

Crump also skillfully manipulated Republicans, who were numerically very weak in the western two-thirds of the state due to the disenfranchisement of the Black population, but dominated politics in East Tennessee.

He usually preferred to work behind the scenes and served only three two-year terms as mayor of Memphis (1910–1915) at the beginning of his career.

Horton had earlier been speaker of the state senate and succeeded to the position of governor when Austin Peay died in office.

[7] Crump was sworn in at a few minutes past midnight on January 1, 1940, in a snowstorm on the platform of the railroad station, just before leaving for New Orleans to attend the Sugar Bowl football game.

After he staged a rally for Republican Wendell Willkie later than month, Crump ordered officers to "police" or search all patrons of Martin's South Memphis Drugstore, including children.

Because Crump threatened a possible term for him in prison workhouse on trumped up charges, Martin left the city.

Crump's subordinates responded by denying Randolph speaking venues by intimidating local Black leaders into withdrawing invitations and shunning him.

Her reply on December 18, 1943 to Randolph read in full: "I referred your letter to a friend of mine when I received it and I am sorry it has not been answered before.

Edward J. Meeman, editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar, opposed Crump's initiatives and called for a city manager government and abolition of the poll tax to weaken the power of the machine.

He also worked to unseat U. S. Senator Tom Stewart, whom Crump supported in the 1948 Democratic primary against his intra-party challenger, U.S. Representative Estes Kefauver.

In 1952, his longtime associate, Senator Kenneth McKellar, was defeated in the Democratic primary — in those days with a practically powerless state Republican party, the real contest in Tennessee — by Congressman Albert Gore, Sr. A final triumph for Crump was the victory in 1952 of his chosen candidate, Frank G. Clement in the gubernatorial primary over Browning.

He used all of the familiar techniques of the big city boss: ballot manipulation, patronage for friends, and frustrating bureaucratic obstacles for the opposition.

Crump built a complex alliance with established power figures at the local, state, and national levels.

Secondly, he included the modernizers: business-oriented progressives who were most concerned with upgrading the city's waterfront, parks, highways, and skyscrapers, as well as a moderately good school system.

In return, the city received ample relief programs, which provided jobs for the unemployed, as selected by machine lieutenants.