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Nobody But the People NewSouth Books In this first authorized biography of former Alabama Governor John Patterson, historian Warren Trest offers new insights into the life of a significant Southern politician whose career touched some of the key struggles of the twentieth-century civil rights movement. John Patterson was thrust into Alabama politics by the brutal murder of his father, Attorney General–elect Albert L. Patterson, in June 1954. Albert Patterson had pledged to clean up vice-ridden Phenix City—“the wickedest city in America”—but was gunned down before he could take office. The sensational murder led to the cleanup of Phenix City. The bereaved son, who stepped into the breach and took his father’s place, was determined to keep it that way. The young crime-fighting attorney general gained a political following that propelled him into the governor’s office in January 1959—becoming the state’s youngest elected governor and the only candidate to ever defeat George Wallace in a gubernatorial campaign. As governor, Patterson led the state’s resistance to federally ordered desegregation. He later expressed regret that he had not done more to help Alabama’s black citizens in their struggle for equal rights. Under his administration the state made giant strides in public education, highway construction, industrial growth, law enforcement, government reform, increased old-age benefits, including the state’s first program of medical care for the elderly, and other areas. The Alabama Journal cited the Patterson era as “one of the greatest periods in state history.”
Reviews “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 of 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.” “Undoubtedly, former Alabama Governor John Patterson placed himself on the wrong side of history in enforcing Alabama laws against civil rights activists in the 1950s and 1960s. However, there is a great deal more to this biography of Patterson than racial segregation in the South and the civil rights movement. The reader will learn the gripping story of Patterson's effort to rid his home town, Phenix City, of organized crime and help solve one of the nation's most bizarre crimes—the murder of his father, Attorney General nominee Albert Patterson, by crooked state and local officials. Beyond the exclusive realm of Alabama politics, the reader will discover little-known facts about John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign and the disaster at Cuba's Bay of Pigs. The student of military history will be interested to read about Patterson's World War II experiences in North Africa and Europe. A most recent event covered by Patterson's biography is the ouster of Alabama's Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who displayed a monument to the Ten Commandments at the Court, by a special Supreme Court panel presided over by Patterson. The book is highly readable and entertaining, a real page turner.”
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