Nobody But the People: The Life and Times of Alabama’s Youngest Governor

In this first authorized biography of former Alabama Governor John Patterson, historian Warren Trest offers new insights and rich details into the life of a significant Southern politician whose career touched some of the key struggles of the twentieth century civil rights movement. Patterson later recanted his segregationist views and went on to become a widely respected judge, but as governor from 1958–62, he led Alabama into full white-supremacist rebellion against the national effort to integrate schools and public accommodations. He was a rare Southern supporter of JFK in 1960, but the two broke bitterly over the 1961 Freedom Rides and Kennedy had to send federal marshals into Montgomery to quell KKK-led mobs. Not merely a civil rights account, Nobody But the People also details Patterson's World War II heroism, his role as attorney general in cleaning up vice and corruption, and his efforts to improve education and the economy. Patterson is revealed as a complex and likable politician and jurist whose career was unfortunately blighted by decisions he later regretted on racial issues.