Choosing among 14 all-out segregationist candidates for the Democratic nomination for Governor, Alabamans last week gave first place to one with highly acceptable credentials: Attorney General John Patterson, 36, who could boast at one time of having every Negro leader in the state under subpoena.
Boyish-looking John Patterson appeared on the Alabama political scene in 1954 when his father, Albert Patterson, then the reform-minded nominee for attorney general, was shot to death by hoodlums in vice-ridden Phenix City. Young John promptly filed for attorney general in his father's place, won easily, later helped in the drive to clean up Phenix City.
In leading...
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