Jerry Summers: The Battle Of Athens Thursday, April 8, 2021 - by Jerry Summers Jerry Summers The returning ex-GIs from World War II little expected that they would fight another armed battle when they arrived back in McMinn County in 1946. Political corruption and improper government had existed in Athens and Etowah for many years. Citizens’ complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944 had gone unheeded with no action being taken by the United States Department of Justice after investigations. In 1936, the Democratic candidate for sheriff from Etowah had won the office as part of the Roosevelt landslide across the country and established the political machines that would lead to the violence in the August 1946 election.