John Malcolm Patterson

John Malcolm Patterson (born September 27, 1921) is an American politician who served one term as the 44th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1959 to 1963. A staunch segregationist, he was his state's attorney general from 1955 to 1959. His turbulent tenure as governor was roiled by numerous civil rights protests and a long-running extramarital affair with Tina Sawyer, a mother-of-two who would eventually become his third wife.[1]

John Malcolm Patterson
44th Governor of Alabama
In office January 19, 1959 – January 14, 1963
Lieutenant	Albert Boutwell
Preceded by	Jim Folsom
Succeeded by	George Wallace
Attorney General of Alabama
In office January 17, 1955 – January 19, 1959
Governor	Jim Folsom
Preceded by	Bernard Sykes
Succeeded by	MacDonald Gallion
Personal details
Born	(1921-09-27) September 27, 1921 Goldville, Alabama; U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Gladys Broadwater ​ ( m. 1942; div. 1945) Mary Jo McGowin ​ ( m. 1947; div. 1975) Tina Sawyer ( m. after 1975)
Alma mater	University of Alabama
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1939–1945 1951–1953
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War

In 2003, Patterson was the presiding judge over former Chief Justice Roy Moore's appeal against his removal from the Alabama Supreme Court.

Patterson ran with the support of the Ku Klux Klan when he won the governorship of Alabama in 1958.[2] As governor, he was staunchly pro-segregation. He repudiated his past beliefs later in life.

Patterson is currently the oldest and earliest serving living governor of any U.S. state.

Early life and career

Patterson was born in Goldville in Tallapoosa County in east central Alabama. His father was attorney Albert Patterson. He joined the United States Army in 1939 and served in the North African, Sicilian, Italian, Southern France, and German campaigns of World War II. In 1945, he left the Army as a major, and obtained an LL.B. degree from the University of Alabama School of Law at Tuscaloosa. He was recalled to active duty in the Army from 1951 to 1953 in the Korean War. After his military service, he joined his father Albert Patterson's law practice.

Attorney General of Alabama

In 1954, Patterson's father ran for state attorney general in the state's Democratic primary on a platform promising to eliminate crime in the mob-controlled town of Phenix City, where he lived, and also across the state. At the time, Alabama was a de facto one-party state dominated by the Democrats, and the Democratic nominee was all but assured of election. Albert Patterson was fatally shot in Phenix City less than two weeks after winning the Democratic nomination on June 18, 1954. John Patterson replaced his father on the ballot, and as expected won the general election handily. The film The Phenix City Story (1955) was based on these events, and actor Richard Kiley portrayed Patterson in that film.[3]

Patterson continued to challenge organized crime, but became better known for his actions in opposition to civil rights. Following the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered an end to racial segregation in public schools, Patterson used existing state law to frustrate and oppose attempts by African Americans to enforce court decisions against segregation. When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) failed to register as an out-of-state organization, he used this technicality to ban it from operating in the state.[4] Patterson instituted legal action to defeat boycotts by Tuskegee blacks against white businesses.[4]

Governor of Alabama

In 1958 Patterson ran for governor of Alabama on a platform of strong law enforcement and segregation, citing his background in Phenix City and his crime-fighting efforts as attorney general. His strong stand in favor of segregation earned him the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan.[4] He commented, "If a school is ordered to be integrated, it will be closed down."[5] Patterson won the Democratic primary against a field of candidates that included future governor George Wallace.[4] Patterson became the second-youngest governor in Alabama history and the first to move directly from the post of attorney general to governor.

As governor, Patterson had black students who staged a sit-in at Alabama State University expelled, and defended Alabama's voter registration policies against federal criticism.[4]

Aside from his support of segregation, Patterson's tenure was considered progressive for the time. During his term, the Alabama legislature increased funding for highways, inland waterways, schools, and mental health facilities. Laws curtailing loan sharking were also passed.

During his term as governor, Patterson embarked on a long-running extramarital affair with Tina Sawyers, a woman who would eventually become his third wife. Rumors of the affair spread throughout Montgomery, and Alabamians remarked that his infidelity affected his political career.[1] The affair eventually led to the end of his second marriage.

Role in the Bay of Pigs invasion

In 1959, Patterson was approached by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to allow Alabama Air National Guardsmen to help train pilots preparing for an invasion of Fidel Castro's Cuba. Assured that the project had the backing of President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Patterson had served on Eisenhower's staff during the war), Patterson gave his assent.

During the 1960 presidential campaign Patterson was among a handful of Southern governors who backed John F. Kennedy for president. He raised money, collected delegates loyal to Kennedy within the state of Alabama, and led the state's delegation to the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. Patterson informed Kennedy of the Cuban invasion plan, thinking that carrying out the invasion before election day would have benefited Kennedy's Republican opponent, Vice President Richard Nixon.[6] Only a few months into his presidency, Kennedy approved a modified version of the invasion plan, the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Failed election bids

Patterson left office in 1963; at the time the Constitution of Alabama did not allow governors to run for immediate reelection. His Democratic opponent from 1958, George Wallace, succeeded him. In 1966 Patterson ran a second time for governor but was defeated by Wallace's wife, Lurleen, who was widely understood to be a surrogate candidate for her husband.

In 1972, Patterson unsuccessfully contested the Democratic nomination for the post of Alabama Chief Justice, losing to later U.S. Senator Howell Heflin.

Continued public service

From the late 1970s through the late 1980s, Patterson taught American government at Troy State University. During part of this time, George Wallace Jr. was an administrator at the school. During the same time, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Max Rafferty, headed the education department.

In 1984, Patterson was appointed to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, at which he remained until his retirement in 1997.

In 2003, Patterson was appointed chief justice of a "Special Supreme Court" that tried the case of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who appealed his removal from office after he had refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse despite orders from a federal court judge to do so. The special court ruled that Moore's removal was legal.[7] In 2012, Moore was again elected as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, though later removed again in 2016 over another issue.

A 90-minute documentary film on Patterson was completed in 2007 by Alabama filmmaker Robert Clem. Entitled John Patterson: In the Wake of the Assassins, the film features an extended interview with Patterson himself as well as with journalists, historians, and such key figures as John Seigenthaler of Tennessee, an aide to Robert Kennedy at the time of the Freedom Rides.[8]

Patterson endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. On the day before Obama was sworn in, Patterson said that during his era, support for integrating the public schools was a political non-starter in Alabama:

When I became governor, there were 14 of us running for governor that time and all 14 of us were outspoken for segregation in the public schools...And if you had been perceived not to have been strong for that, you would not have won...I regret that, but there was not anything I could do about it but to live with it.[9]

An authorized biography of Patterson entitled Nobody but the People, written by historian Warren Trest, was published in 2008 by New South Books.[10][11][12]

Personal life

John Malcolm Patterson has been married three times. He married his first wife, Gladys Broadwater, in 1942. Patterson soon expressed regrets over the marriage, and he and Gladys divorced soon after he entered university.[13] He married his second wife, Mary Jo, in 1947.[14] During this marriage, Patterson engaged in a long-running extramarital affair with another woman, Tina Sawyers, whom he eventually married. Although Mary Jo was deeply affected by the affair, she chose to stay in the marriage and eventually got used to his infidelities. News of the extramarital affair damaged his public reputation.[15] After 28 years of marriage, Mary Jo Patterson filed for divorce, citing her husband's infidelities as the reason. The divorce was finalized on June 10, 1975, and Mary kept their Montgomery house. Mary Jo, a former heavy smoker and drinker who quit her habits at the behest of her husband, died in 1985. In interviews shortly before her death, she expressed disdain for her former husband and his mistress and distress over the loss of her marriage, although she said that her life was happy and that she did not regret the divorce.[16] On September 30, 1975, just three months after his divorce from Mary, Patterson married his mistress, Tina.[16]

Electoral history

Alabama gubernatorial election, 1958:

Democratic primary:[17]

• John Malcolm Patterson – 196,859 (31.82%)
• George Wallace – 162,435 (26.26%)
• James H. Faulkner – 91,512 (14.79%)
• A.W. Todd – 59,240 (9.58%)
• Laurie Battle – 38,955 (6.30%)
• George C. Hawkins – 24,332 (3.93%)
• C.C. Owen – 15,270 (2.47%)
• Karl Harrison – 12,488 (2.02%)
• Billy Walker – 7,963 (1.29%)
• W.E. Dodd – 4,753 (0.77%)
• John G. Crommelin – 2,245 (0.36%)
• Shearen Elebash – 1,177 (0.19%)
• James Gulatte – 798 (0.13%)
• Shorty Price – 655 (0.11%)

Democratic primary runoff:[18]

• John Malcolm Patterson – 315,353 (55.74%)
• George Wallace – 250,451 (44.27%)

General election:[19]

• John Malcolm Patterson (D) – 234,583 (88.22%)
• William Longshore (R) – 30,415 (11.44%)
• William Jackson (I) – 903 (0.34%)

1966 Alabama gubernatorial election

Democratic primary:[20]

• Lurleen Wallace – 480,841 (54.10%)
• Richmond Flowers – 172,386 (19.40%)
• Carl A. Elliot – 71,972 (8.10%)
• Bob Gilchrist – 49,502 (5.57%)
• Charles Woods – 41,148 (4.63%)
• John Malcolm Patterson – 31,011 (3.49%)
• Jim Folsom – 24,145 (2.72%)
• A. W. Todd – 9,013 (1.01%)
• Sherman Powell – 7,231 (0.81%)
• Eunice Gore – 1,589 (0.18%)

Election of Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, 1970:

Democratic primary:[21]

• Howell Heflin – 550,997 (65.71%)
• John Malcolm Patterson – 287,594 (34.30%)

[22]

References

1. Howard, Gene L. (May 21, 2008). Patterson for Alabama: The Life and Career of John Patterson. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316051.
2. Mccabe, Daniel (writer, director, producer), Paul Stekler (writer, director, producer), Steve Fayer (writer) (2000). George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (Documentary). Boston, USA: American Experience.
3. Eder, Bruce. "The Phenix City Story". AllMovie. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
4. "Alabama Governors: John Malcolm Patterson". Alabama Department of Archives and History. February 7, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
5. Hanna-Jones, Nikole (September 6, 2017). "The Resegrgation of Jefferson County". New York Times. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
6. Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot (1997), Chapter 12.
7. WSFA TV Montgomery, AL – Moore Appeal Denied
8. John Patterson: In the Wake of the Assassins
9. Archived July 19, 2012, at Archive.today
10. Howard, Gene (2008). Patterson for Alabama: The Life and Career of John Patterson. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-8173-1605-1.
11. Clem, Robert. "In the Wake of the Assassins". www.onestatefilms.com/assassins.htm. One State Films. Missing or empty |url= (help)
12. Trest, Warren (2008). Nobody but the People: The Life and Times of Alabama's Youngest Governor. Montgomery, Alabama: New South Books. p. 496. ISBN 1-58838-221-4.
13. Howard, Gene L. (May 21, 2008). Patterson for Alabama: The Life and Career of John Patterson. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316051.
14. Howard, Gene L. (May 21, 2008). Patterson for Alabama: The Life and Career of John Patterson. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316051.
15. Howard, Gene L. (May 21, 2008). Patterson for Alabama: The Life and Career of John Patterson. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316051.
16. Howard, Gene L. (May 21, 2008). Patterson for Alabama: The Life and Career of John Patterson. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316051.
17. Our Campaigns – AL Governor D Primary Race – Jun 3, 1958
18. Our Campaigns – AL Governor D Runoff Race – Jun 24, 1958
19. Our Campaigns – AL Governor Race – Nov 3, 1958
20. Our Campaigns – AL Governor – D Primary Race – Jun 3, 1966
21. Our Campaigns – AL State Supreme Court Chief Justice – D Primary Race – May 5, 1970
22. Barnes, Margaret Anne (2002). The Tragedy and the Triumph of Phenix City Alabama (Revised ed.). Georgia: Mercer University Press. p. 350. ISBN 0-86554-613-4.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN

Legal offices
Preceded by Bernard Sykes	Attorney General of Alabama January 17, 1955 – January 19, 1959	Succeeded by MacDonald Gallion
Party political offices
Preceded by Jim Folsom	Democratic nominee for Governor of Alabama 1958	Succeeded by George Wallace
Political offices
Preceded by Jim Folsom	Governor of Alabama January 19, 1959 – January 14, 1963	Succeeded by George Wallace
Honorary titles
Preceded by Mike Stepovich	Earliest Serving Governor Still Living 2014–present	Succeeded by Most recent
Preceded by David Buckson	Oldest living American governor 2017–present	Succeeded by Most recent