General Discussion

trof

(54,256 posts) Wed Jun 17, 2015, 07:19 PM Jun 2015

John Patterson was 'unelectable' as governor in Alabama in 1959.

He was running against Judge George Corley Wallace who had mounted a very strong campaign.
Wallace was the favorite in most polls.

Understand that both men would be considerd racist by today's standards.
99% of whites here in Alabama at the time were racists.

My mother was instrumental in Patterson's campaign in Jefferson County (Birmingham).
In talking with friends and business associates she heard over and over "I like Patterson, but nobody's gonna vote for him. Wallace has got it."

She turned that into Patterson's campaign slogan: "Nobody But The People!"
"Who's gonna vote for Patterson? Nobody but the people."
He won.

6 replies

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John Patterson was 'unelectable' as governor in Alabama in 1959. (Original Post) trof Jun 2015 OP

In later life he redeemed himself. trof Jun 2015 #1

That was the race where George Wallace said he would never be out N worded again ... DemocratSinceBirth Jun 2015 #2

Yes, that's true. trof Jun 2015 #3

IMHO, Wallace was more of a racist out of convenience than out of conviction. DemocratSinceBirth Jun 2015 #4

True. trof Jun 2015 #5

He was a fiery orator./NT DemocratSinceBirth Jun 2015 #6

trof

(54,256 posts)

1. In later life he redeemed himself.

Reply to trof (Original post)

Wed Jun 17, 2015, 07:36 PM

Jun 2015

In 2003, Patterson was the presiding judge over former Chief Justice Roy Moore's appeal against his removal from the Alabama Supreme Court.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Malcolm_Patterson

DemocratSinceBirth

(99,710 posts)

2. That was the race where George Wallace said he would never be out N worded again ...

Reply to trof (Original post)

Wed Jun 17, 2015, 07:41 PM

Jun 2015

That was the race where George Wallace said he would never be out N worded again ...In other words he would always be the most outspoken racist in the election:

Today is the forty-fifth anniversary of George Corley Wallace's swearing-in for his first term as governor of Alabama. After being defeated in the 1958 governor's race by John Patterson, Wallace, according to some--and largely corroborated by Dan T. Carter in his excellent political biography of Wallace, The Politics of Rage--stated that he would never be "out-niggered" in another election. To this point, Wallace had been a protege of "Big Jim" Folsom, governor of Alabama in the 1950s notable for his progressive racial politics. With the rise of "massive resistance" throughout the South in the wake of Brown v. Board of Ed., racial tolerance was no longer tolerated in the white South. At his inauguration on this date, Wallace's speach ended famously, "...segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segegation forever!"

http://biggerbillhaywood.blogspot.com/2008/01/segregation-forever.html

Not a good model.

trof

(54,256 posts)

3. Yes, that's true.

Reply to DemocratSinceBirth (Reply #2)

Wed Jun 17, 2015, 07:55 PM

Jun 2015

In retrospect, Wallace, at the time, was more of a populist than Patterson.
I believe a lot of blacks (those who jumped through all the hoops and could actually cast a vote) supported Wallace.

Patterson's campaign was very anti 'Negro'.
You would have had to live here, as I did, to understand how it was.

I don't hold Patterson up as a 'model', just that there was the same mindset as has been demonstrated here about Sanders.
'Unelectable'.

You're only unelectable until you get elected.