Rebel with a cause

Posted: March 26, 2008 - 10:30pm

HIS FATHER got it exactly right in a letter he wrote to Frank S. Cheatham Jr. on the younger man's 21st birthday.

"I recognize in you the qualities of greatness," the elder Mr. Cheatham penned back in 1945.

Truer words have never been written about any Savannahian. The retired Chatham County Superior Court judge, who died early Wednesday at the age of 84, was a courageous yet humble man who was instrumental in reforming Savannah city government and bringing power to where it belonged - the people who live here.

To appreciate what Judge Cheatham accomplished, who have to understand the era in which he and many other future leaders of Savannah came of age - the late 1940s and early 1950s.

At that time, both the city and county governments were essentially run by John J. Bouhan, the longtime county attorney. The Bouhan machine used well-placed public officials and department heads to reward its friends, punish its enemies and manipulate elections.

To get along with the cronyism, you had to go along - a moral compromise that several young men refused to make.

One was a young attorney, Mr. Cheatham. He was a rebel with a cause - getting rid of the Bouhan-backed patronage system, which brought the city to the edge of bankruptcy. He and other reformers wanted to replace it with a council-manager form of government.

So he ran for the state legislature in 1952. Boss Bouhan scoffed. He said the young man, if elected, would be as effective as a "Pekinese dog on a coon hunt." But he did win. And that "dog" could hunt.

His stunning victory spelled the beginning of the end for the Bouhan crowd, and the beginning of a new, more professional and democratic city government. He went on to have a successful law practice and serve 21 years on the bench, where he earned a reputation for integrity and fairness.

His was a remarkable life and career. Corruption didn't slow him down. Neither did polio - he was stricken in 1925 when he was 21 months old.

His mother reportedly cried for two weeks. But her tears were for nought.

Her son had the heart of a lion. He didn't let his condition slow him down in the journeys that counted - being a husband and father (he married wife Becky in 1975, and they raised two daughters) and changing the world around him.

Judge Cheatham thankfully recorded his oral history two years ago with the help of the Georgia Historical Society. During an interview, he was asked the one thing he wanted to be remembered for. His answer? "He did the best he could with what he had."

His best was splendid. His legacy is a much better place for anyone who calls Savannah home.

He was a courageous yet humble man who was instrumental in reforming city government.

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