Nobody But the People: The Life and Times of Alabama}}}s Youngest Governor [Hardcover]

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. In Nobody But the People, Warren Trest has given us a thoroughly readable and fair-minded account of John Patterson's career, which was one of the most important in Alabama's recent history. As governor the state from 1959-63, Patterson's inclinations on issues ranging from public education to the building of roads were noble and progressive. But on the issue of race, he was caught in the tragic time warp of his place, and Trest explores those failings with honesty and heart. The result is a subtle portrait of a complicated man, who has had the courage to admit his mistakes. In telling this important and multi-layered story, Trest has given us a history that is vivid and alive. ???Frye Gaillard, author of Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America
This biography of John Patterson by Warren Trest offers inside stories of dramatic and monumental events iló¾