Article September 1, 2013

Local government

Ray Jenkins, Frederick W. Roevekamp, Robert C. Nelson, Emelie Tavel

Originally published in the January 4, 1963 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

For decades Phenix City had little industry but vice. The intake from gambling, prostitution, dope peddling, and illegal liquor sales was said to have exceeded $100,000,000 annually at times when Fort Benning, a sprawling Army base just across the Georgia-Alabama boundary, was at peak manpower.

So entrenched was vice that gambling was regarded as an upright, respectable profession. The lottery operator was socially prominent, and many children of Phenix City aspired to someday own their own lottery.

Occasional reformers were silenced by beatings, bombings, and burnings. The spidery racketeer-political machine held tight control of numerous city and county ofﬁces.

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