True, it would be too easy to treat men with relatively pleasant demeanours a bit more fairly than they should be treated. Russell was always looked upon as a grandfatherly type figure, and in person he seemed to be an amiable character. F.W. Franz also was popular among the Bethel crowd. On the other hand, Rutherford was and is an easy man to detest because he basically was a complete bastard to everyone he had dealings with. Knorr was probably second for his prudish manner and stern moral code. But for all of Knorr's faults, he had nothing to do with writing or the doctrinal part of it. When I think of the 1975 debacle, I don't think of him, but rather of F.W. Franz. As for Russell, he was a part of the original deception, and despite being proven wrong on so many things he stubbornly stuck to his belief that he was right. Even N.H. Barbour at one point gave up and let his magazine go out of print. Not Russell. He died thinking the Gentile Times had ended exactly as he had predicted.
But I'll keep to my pick of Rutherford, and I'll try not to let the fact that he was a complete asshole cloud my judgment. One of the worst aspects of being a Witness was the whole 'faith by works' dogma. I see it now as my ailing grandmother puts Watchtowers out by her bed and calls her unbelieving sisters in order to count her time. Russell didn't make door-to-door preaching as a pre-requisite to salvation. He had his colporteurs. Not Rutherford. Every man, woman, and child was expected to be on the front lines to do battle while he took luxury liners around the world. His obstinancy purposely started fights on the streets and in the courts, which is exactly how he wanted to publicise his JW reboot. Not that Knorr was much of an improvement, but at least he did remove the marriage ban and the field service quotas.
Rutherford to me took the crazed prophecies of Russell, the Knorr prudishness and stern business-like acumen, the intellectual condescension of F.W. Franz and wrapped it all up in a drunken racist douchebag package that was all about him. I can scarcely think of a decent quality Rutherford might have had. He took a organisation that wasn't even his and built a mansion for himself based on a convenient deception. While the others have had similar misgivings about them, none of them approach the level of grandiosity and pompous nature of that vile man.