A dispute developed in 1917 within the leadership of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society following the death of society president Charles Taze Russell and election of legal counsel Joseph Franklin Rutherford as his successor. An acrimonious battle ensued between Rutherford and four of the society’s seven directors, who accused him of autocratic behavior and sought to reduce his powers. Rutherford claimed the dissident directors had formed a conspiracy to seize control of the society and overcame the challenge by gaining a legal opinion that his four opposers had not been legally appointed. He subsequently replaced them with four new sympathetic directors. The four ousted directors later gained 12 legal opinions that Rutherford’s actions were unlawful. The leadership crisis divided the Bible Student community and helped contribute to the loss of one-seventh of the Watch Tower adherents by 1919.
Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell died on October 31, 1916, in Pampa, Texas during a cross-country preaching trip. On January 6, 1917, Joseph Rutherford, aged 47, was elected president of the Watch Tower Society, unopposed, at a convention in Pittsburgh. Controversy soon followed. Author Tony Wills claims that nominations were suspended once Rutherford had been nominated, preventing votes for other candidates, and within months Rutherford felt the need to defend himself against rumors within the Brooklyn Bethel that he had used “political methods” to secure his election. 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.” By June, the dispute surrounding Rutherford’s election as president was turning into what he called a “storm” that ruptured the Watch Tower Society for the remainder of 1917.
In January 1917, 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. He dismissed two managers of the corporation, seized its funds and attempted to reorganize the body. Rutherford—who was convinced Johnson was insane and suffering religious delusions—ordered his recall to New York in late February, but Johnson refused and claimed he was answerable only to the full board of directors. When he finally returned to New York and apologized to the Bethel family for his excesses in London, Johnson became caught up in a move against Rutherford by four of the seven Watch Tower Society directors.
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Keywords: 1914, Charles Taze Russell, Russell, Charles Tazz Russell, JW, Jehovah, Jehovah's Witness, Jehovah witnesses, Jehovah's witnesses, Watchtower, Watchtower organization, world translation, Student movement, Joseph Rutherford, Rutherford, Judge Rutherford, Watchtower society
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