Watch Tower Society presidency dispute

In the first of a series of pamphlets from opposing sides, Rutherford told Bible Students: "There is no person on earth who can truthfully say that I ever asked them directly or indirectly to vote for me.

In January 1917,[7] Bethel pilgrim Paul S. L. Johnson had been sent to England with orders to inspect the management and finances of the Watch Tower Society's London corporation.

[9] When he finally returned to New York and apologized to the Bethel family for his excesses in London,[10] Johnson became caught up in a move against Rutherford by four of the seven Watch Tower Society directors.

At issue were new by-laws that had been passed in January by both the Pittsburgh convention and the board of directors, stating that the president would be the executive officer and general manager of the Watch Tower Society, giving him full charge of its affairs worldwide.

Rutherford maintained that Russell, as president, had always acted as the society's manager and that the January 6 vote by shareholders to approve the by-laws proved they wanted this process to continue under his successor.

[15] They claimed Rutherford had become autocratic, refusing to open the Watch Tower Society's books for scrutiny and denying Johnson a fair hearing over his actions in London.

[15] At a board meeting on June 20, Hirsh presented a resolution to rescind the new by-laws and reclaim the powers of management from the president,[16] but a vote was deferred for a month after strenuous objections by Rutherford.

[19] On July 12, Rutherford traveled to Pittsburgh and exercised his right under the society's charter to fill what he claimed were four vacancies on the board, appointing A. H. Macmillan and Pennsylvania Bible Students W. E. Spill, John A. Bohnet and George H. Fisher as directors.

[20] Rutherford called a meeting of the new board on July 17, where the directors passed a resolution expressing "hearty approval" of the actions of their president and affirming him as "the man the Lord has chosen to carry on the work that yet remains to be done.

When the resolution failed to gain a majority, Rutherford exercised shareholder proxies provided for the annual meeting in New York the previous January to secure their expulsion.

[24] The ousted directors' publication disputed the legality of their expulsion, stating that the clause in the Pennsylvania law prohibiting life memberships on boards had been only recently introduced and was not retroactive, exempting existing corporations from the statute.

[28] Some workers complained that they had signed under duress; it was claimed that as many as 35 members of the Bethel family were forced to leave for failing to support Rutherford during his "reign of terror".

[32][36] The four expelled board members made a final attempt to unseat Rutherford, claiming that although he had the backing of the most powerful shareholders, he lacked the support of the Bible Student movement in general.