Title: Patterson for Alabama : the life and career of John Patterson /
Authors: Howard, Gene L., 1940-
Publisher: University of Alabama Press,
Year: 2008
Subjects: Patterson, John,; Governors Alabama Biography; Lawyers Alabama Biography.; Judges Alabama Biography.; Alabama Politics and government; Alabama Social conditions; Phenix City (Ala.) History; Alabama Biography.
Abstract: "John Patterson, Alabama governor from 1959 to 1963, was thrust into the Alabama political arena after the brutal murder of his father, attorney general Albert Patterson in 1954. Allowed by the Democratic Party to take his father's place and to complete his elder's goal of cleaning up corruption in his hometown Phenix City, Patterson made a young, attractive, and sympathetic candidate. Patterson for Alabama details his efforts to clean up his hometown, oppose corruption in the administration of Governor Big Jim Folsom, and to resist school desegregation. Popular on all three counts, Patterson went on to defeat rising populist George Wallace for governor."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: 1. Looking for a rainbow in Phenix City -- 2. From El Guettar to the university -- 3. Praying the devil out of town -- 4. The RBA challenges the gangsters -- 5. Albert Patterson beats the mob -- 6. Assassins make a politician of John Patterson -- 7. Trying his father's murderers -- 8. Bankrupting the loan sharks -- 9. Playing cops and robbers with the Folsomites -- 10. Patterson sets his sights on integration -- 11. The Montgomery bus boycott changes Alabama forever -- 12. Nobody but the people -- 13. Alabama elects a boy governor -- 14. Trying to build a "better Alabama" -- 15. Battling black belters and courting Kennedy -- 16. MLK, Castro, and a new romance -- 17. Freedom riders tarnish Patterson administration -- 18. Scandal spoils Patterson's big finish -- 19. Twice embarrassed at the polls -- App. The Patterson cabinet.