SAMCRO member Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) was Sons Of Anarchy's main protagonist for the entirety of the series. He started off as Vice President and later assumed leadership of the club after the reckless Clay was voted out in the fifth season. Before Clay, Jax's father John Teller had been president too, but his tenure happened before the series began.
Jax was never a perfect leader either. He made bad decisions as frequently as he made good ones. But overall, he was an improvement from Clay. In the end, the consequences of his decisions were too heavy, and he ended up committing suicide. Here are the highs and lows of his leadership.
Great: The Anti-Gun Speech
Earlier in the sixth season, Jax developed a conscience and tried to steer away from trading automatic weapons. Crime bosses trying to go legitimate is a common theme in Hollywood productions. Michael Corleone tried to do the same thing too.
Great leaders give great speeches, and Jax has one when he rallies the charters and explains how dealing guns has been detrimental to the organization. It's a speech worthy of being delivered to a crowd of 10,000 people. In the end, everyone agrees with him, and the venture into the non-violent businesses begins.
Worst: Ordering The Death Of An Innocent Mother
Season 6 had plenty of violence and in the first episode, a kid decided to shoot up his school. It turned out that the gun he used had been sold by SAMCRO. This meant that the feds would come knocking much sooner, So, Jax felt he had to do something.
The club agreed to get the kid's mother, Darvany Jennings, out of town, since she was clearly distressed and she could have cooperated with the authorities. However, Jax decided that the best thing to do was kill Jennings, so he ordered Juice to do it without other members knowing.
Great: Abolishing Racism In SAMCRO
The major thing Jax deserves credit for is treating everyone equally. Despite being surrounded by white supremacist gang members, racism was the last thing on his mind. During Clay's era and all the eras before his, SAMCRO was a rather racist club. Only non-black people were allowed to be members. But during Jax's tenure, all this changed.
In the episode titled "Papa's Goods," Jax set up a new rule meant to get rid of an old unwritten law that prohibited African-Americans from becoming Sons of Anarchy members. As a result, T.O. became the first African-American person to be patched in.
Worst: Killing Jury
Part of what made Jax a bad leader was his inability to find out the real truth before acting. Jury—the president of the Indian Hills Charter—often came off as a good and loyal guy but Jax still had problems with him. In the Season 7 episode titled "Separation of Crows," the two had a heated argument. Jax incorrectly believed that Jury was involved in his father's passing. This wasn't true.
Jax also believed Jury was ratting out the club to the Chinese gang, so a few minutes later, he ended up killing him. However, in the episode titled "Suits of Woe", it was revealed that the rat was actually the Stockton PD officer Charles Barosky and not Jury.
Great: Cutting Ties With The Cartel
It can be argued that Jax was also responsible for getting the Sons into the drug game in the first place. But he also has to be given credit for pulling out when he realized just how much the business would hurt the club. There was just so much heat, and so he devised a plan to terminate the deal amicably.
Jax secretly organized to have the Chinese become the new arms dealers for the Galindo cartel. He was aware that the IRA had no intention of dealing with Galindo and by making this move, he left everyone happy.
Worst: Going Against His Word With T.O.
When Randall (one of the men who beat Opie to death in prison) gets out, SAMCRO goes after him. However, Randall happens to be T.O.'s cousin. Jax convinces T.O. to bring Randall over by lying that they "just want to ask him a few questions."
Despite Randall pleading for mercy, Jax ordered Chibs to kill him right in front of T.O. The move almost ruined the partnership with the Grim Bastards. What made the death even sadder is that T.O. was a reliable guy who ended up being very useful to the Sons.
Great: Framing Clay For Damon Pope's Murder
"You know what happens to whoever kills me right?" Those were the words that Oakland crime boss Damon Pope uttered to Jax before he was shot. But Jax knew the exact consequences that would result from such an action and he had a plan for it.
This moment portrays Jax as a great leader in two ways. First, he refuses to sacrifice his own man Tig to Pope when Pope thought this would be the case. A good leader protects their subordinates. Second, he avoids retaliation to the club by using Clay's gun, thus framing him for the murder. At that point, Clay was of no use to the club, so the move was justified.
Worst: Refusing To Listen To Tara
It always comes a point where the best thing for an organization or an institution is for its leader to leave. Overstaying leads to forceful removal or tragedy, and the latter is exactly what happened to Jax.
During his most reckless days, his wife Tara often persuaded him to leave the life of crime behind, but he just couldn't do it. Doing this would have done both the club and himself a lot of good. But he didn't listen. As a result, the club nearly crumbled and Jax eventually ended up dead.
Great: Making An Immunity Deal With The District Attorney
In the sixth season, San Joaquin District Attorney Tyne Patterson made it her mission to bring down the whole of SAMCRO for selling guns in Charming. She tried to get both Nero and Tara to rat on Jax and the club but they were reluctant to do it. She thus decided to put Jax under 24-hour surveillance.
Realizing the threat the club was facing, Jax approached the DA seeking to make a deal. Since Patterson was after the source of the guns and IRA leader Galen was already waging war against SAMCRO, Jax offered to give him up in exchange for the club's immunity. By doing this, he solved two problems at once.
Worst: Linking Up The Irish Republican Army With August Marks
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had been responsible for selling guns to the Sons for a number of years, However, after the school shooting, Jax wanted nothing to do with them. But he knew he couldn't leave the IRA without alternative buyers, so he tried to link one of their members named Galen with August Marks.
There was just one thing Jax hadn't considered. The IRA were quite racist and they'd never work with an African American. Galen felt so offended by Jax's offer that he attempted to kill several members of the club.