Remembering Ben Jones: So Much More Than Hazzard County’s Mechanic

Best of luck pigeon holing Ben Jones in your nice and ordered little idea of what being American is supposed to be, cast in the political binary, and weighted on one side or the other of the always-inflamed culture war.

Ben Jones was a man who actively participated in the Civil Rights movement, had been arrested during sit-ins, and was attacked by the KKK … and who was also a staunch defender of the Confederate Flag, and held a leadership role in the Sons of Confederate Veterans. As a United States Representative serving Georgia’s 4th District as a Democrat, he often clashed with his own party, and the Republicans, eventually being replaced by Newt Gingrich, who he investigated on ethics charges and later had reprimanded by the House.

The most famous job Ben Jones ever held was playing a mechanic on one of America’s most-popular yet simple television shows, yet his history as an actor also had him cast in productions of some of the most high brow theater presentations, taking on some of the most complex roles.

Ben Jones also happened to be a reader of Saving Country Music, and at times left lengthy comments and participated in discussions about the degradation of American culture through the medium of popular country. Benjamin Lewis Jones is how he came into the world on August 30th, 1941 in Tarboro, North Carolina. But to many, he was known affectionately as “Cooter.”

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The legacy of Ben Jones as an iconic figure in Southern culture started when he played a cameo role as a trucker in the film Smokey and the Bandit (1977). He also appeared in the film The Moonrunners that was a precursor to The Dukes of Hazzard, which began production in 1978. When the TV show started filming a mere two miles from his home in Covington, Georgia, it only made sense to cast Ben Jones in a role. Jones would go on to become one of the biggest torchbearers for the legacy of the show, helping to cultivate its cult following.

Despite reaching the high of cultural popularity, and populating the halls of power in Congress, Ben “Cooter” Jones came from very humble means more emblematic of the mechanic he played on television than the Congressman he would become. His father worked on the railroad, and the section house Jones grew up in near Portsmouth, Virginia did not have indoor plumbing or electricity at the time. Ben distinguished himself as being intelligent and driven, but had to work for the railroad himself to save enough money to attend a regional college before being accepted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ben Jones continued to work for the railroads to support himself, but also got into acting at this time, working in summer stock productions, and eventually acting in theater in Atlanta, and even later The Kennedy Center. It was also during this period that he was active in the Civil Rights movement, and became a lifelong member of the NAACP. Though Jones hadn’t exactly set out to become an actor, when he landed the role as Cooter and The Dukes of Hazzard became on of the most popular shows on television, he’d found his calling, at least for the time being.

But even as he was playing the friendly local mechanic who’d help the Duke Boys foil the corrupt Boss Hogg, Ben Jones heard a deeper calling, and saw the importance for standing up in what he believed in—something The Dukes of Hazzard affirmed each episode in its own subtle ways. Jones became the president of the Georgia branch of the Screen Actors Guild, once again asserting himself as a leader like he had done in his younger days. But clearly, acting and organizing behind the scenes wasn’t enough.

Ben “Cooter” Jones with his popularity from The Dukes of Hazzard first ran for Georgia’s 4th Congressional District in 1986, barely going down in defeat with 47% of the vote. Though he enjoyed plenty of name recognition from the TV Show, it also typecast Jones as someone who might not have the gravitas for Congress. But he proved himself worthy, and won the seat in 1988 with a 20-point margin. He was re-elected again in 1990.

In both the 101st and 102nd Congress, Ben Jones served on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Committee on Public Works and Transportation, enjoying strong popularity within his district. But redistricting in Georgia dissolved his seat before he could serve a 3rd term, so he ran against Newt Gingrich who not only defeated him in the massive Republican Revolution of 1994 that saw Republicans take the house for the first time in 40 years, Newt would go on to be Speaker of the House. There was no place for a renegade Democrat at that time. Later Jones would renounce all party affiliation, and identify as an independent.

It was his popularity from TV that got Ben Jones elected to Congress, and later he would return the favor by doing what he could to keep the legacy of The Dukes of Hazzard alive, most notably opening numerous locations of “Cooters,” which were museums and theme stores located in Sperryville, VA, Pigeon Forge, TN, and in Nashville near the Grand Ole Opry. At the time, the TV show was still in syndication, including on CMT.

Ben Jones was also a musician and performer himself, activating the close affiliation between The Dukes of Hazzard and country music, eventually releasing 11 albums of country and Southern rock. He also helped organize “Dukes” reunion festivals, including one that drew over 100,000 participants in 2006 to Nashville, and included a strong musical component.

It was also during this time that the TV franchise increasingly drew the ire of many due to the Confederate Flag adorning the roof of the Dukes of Hazzard car called The General Lee. Despite, or perhaps because of his long-standing role as a Civil Rights proponent, Ben Jones staunchly defended the flag, and The Dukes of Hazzard franchise specifically.

As Ben Jones once said in the very comments section of Saving Country Music,

It’s been a few years, and it seems the task of Saving Country Music is
still going strong. Certainly “country” music has been saved but not, in my
opinion, by the “music industry” but by those pickers and singers
who keep it alive everyday as a part of their lives and the lives of their
families and communities. Where I live, in the Blue Ridge Mountains
of Virginia, it is the traditional music of the culture, and the culture is rich
with it. Our culture is also rich with reverence for our ancestors who gave
their all in the War Between the States, the crucible of the American
Experience.

We can always tell when a person is uninformed in the matter of our reverence
for the Confederacy when the St. Andrews Cross Battle Flag is referred to as
the “Stars and Bars”, a vey different flag which was the emblem of the Confederate
Government. The St. Andrews Cross banner was the emblem of the Southern soldier.
And in my opinion the Battle Flag is not going anywhere, nor should it.
I often say, “Whenever they take one down, we put two of them up…” And, in fact,
we do.

I’d like to join in this colloquy because I believe I bring a different (and hopefully
informed) viewpoint. I am a son of the South, soaked in its many cultures and
curiosities. I grew up on the black side of the tracks, without indoor plumbing
and electricity. I was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. I am a life
member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and an honorary life member
of the NAACP.

The Rebel Battle Flag is not going anywhere. Because of the “politically correct”
attack on all things Southern, more of them are being sold than ever. This thing
runs very deep down here. And it is very prominent on top of the world’s most
beloved car, The General Lee.

There are roughly 40,000 members of “hate groups” according to the Southern
Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups. Thats a lot of bigots, burning
Christian crosses, and waving both the American flag and the Confederate
Battle Flag. But there are 330 million people in the United States. Approximately
75 million of us are descended from those who fought for the South. Add to that
the fact that the flag was prominent on top of the General Lee Dodge, and you
have a lot of positive exposure for the Rebel Battle Flag. Back when there were
only three networks, approximately 40 million Americans watched the “Dukes”
every Friday night. It is now shown all over the world, and is beloved in several
languages.

So that’s where I am coming from. Political correctness is, in my opinion, a
cancer on the nation. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. never spoke against flags,
or statues, or monuments. He wanted an America where, as he so eloquently
phrased it, “The sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners
will dine together at the table of brotherhood.”

We have been doing just that in the South until quite recently when this “cultural
cleansing” movement began. I has not brought us together, but has strained
friendships and divided relationships.

Hazzard County was wonderfully colorblind, the way the world should be. And we
had a very large African/American audience.

I believe that music can be a positive part of the healing of this rancor.

This was just one of two dozen comments Ben Jones left on Saving Country Music, including many tied to the CMT program Party Down South, which like many others, Jones felt was the true symbol of cultural degradation and embarrassment happening within Southern culture. Eventually, CMT cancelled the controversial show, and also cancelled its long-running Dukes of Hazzard syndication due to the political correctness backlash it was receiving.

Ben Jones was a man of a different time, not only because he saw the world from increasingly minority perspectives, but because he believed in dialog between organizations like the NAACP and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He believed in the simple lessons contained in The Dukes of Hazzard, and the complex solutions that had to be crafted through dialog and compromise in the halls of power in Congress.

And whether it was across the aisles of power, across the culture and racial divide, or in the comments section of a country music outlet, Ben “Cooter” Jones was willing to discuss, debate, argue, and attempt to breed understanding amid complex issues in a way that seems foreign to most modern mindsets.

Ben “Cooter” Jones died of a heart attack at his home in Washington, Virginia on August 9th. He was 84 years old.

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