Steve Flowers: Career politicians, good or bad?
In recent years, candidates for political office have lambasted, run against, and proclaimed that they were not career politicians. Every television ad for someone who has never held office has proudly stated that they are not career politicians. That all sounds good, but is it really good? In my lifetime, the word politician has become synonymous with someone sinister and untrustworthy. In fact, politics has become something that the brightest and best people have come to avoid. That was not the case when I was a boy growing up in Alabama. The most outstanding young men in the state chose to go into public service. Having roots in the state was important towards success for the men who rose to public office. The great Alabama storyteller Katherine Tucker Windham would say, “Alabama is a big front porch.” Boys would grow up with aspirations of being governor, United States senator, or congressman. People in their hometowns would identify young men who were talented and groom them to be future governors or congressmen. A study of Alabama political history will reveal that Alabama has done pretty well over the years in the halls of the United States Congress by electing homegrown boys to be their Representatives in Washington. These gentlemen of bygone years were born, trained, and ready to be the most powerful, erudite, and respected men in Washington. Their paths were laid out to be career politicians. A look back to 60 years ago in Alabama politics reveals that we had the greatest statesmen in our state’s history representing us in Congress. They all amazingly took the same path. Their career path to Congress was textbook. They grew up in their hometown, went to The University of Alabama, continued and went to The University of Alabama School of Law, came back home and practiced law for a short time. They then went to Congress and started building seniority and power in Washington. In 1963, 60 years ago, we had the greatest tandem in history as our two U.S. Senators, Lister Hill and John Sparkman. Senator Hill grew up in Montgomery, graduated from The University of Alabama and then The University of Alabama School of Law. He served the old second district in Congress for a decade and then was elected to the Senate, where he served 30 years. Senator John Sparkman was born in rural Morgan County, graduated from The University of Alabama and then The University of Alabama School of Law. He practiced law for a few years in Huntsville before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served 32 years. The man who took Sparkman’s Tennessee Valley Congressional Seat in 1946 was the great Bob Jones. Congressman Jones was from Scottsboro and was one of the state’s greatest congressmen and a savior for the Tennessee Valley. He was a graduate of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama School of Law. Carl Elliott was in that 1963 class. He was a giant in Washington. Congressman Elliott was born in Red Bay but practiced law in Jasper and called Walker County home. He was a graduate of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama School of Law. George Andrews was a great Congressman for the old Third District. He served a decade with extreme effectiveness and distinction. Ft. Rucker would not be the mainstay of the Wiregrass if it were not for George Andrews. He was a graduate of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law. He was born and raised in the third district. Congressman George Grant served the old second district with distinction for 28 years. He followed Lister Hill in this seat. He was born and raised in the district and practiced law in Troy before going to Congress. He was a product of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama School of Law. Albert Rains represented the Gadsden area for decades in Congress. He was a power. He was successful in business and banking concurrently with his Congressional career. He graduated from The University of Alabama School of Law. George Huddleston Jr. represented the Birmingham area with distinction during this era. He had a law degree from The University of Alabama and was a prominent lawyer before going to Congress. The great Black Belt Congressman, Armistead Selden, was a freshman in that 1963 group. He was a graduate of Sewanee and The University of Alabama School of Law. These men, who made up the Congressional delegation representing us in Washington in 1963, will be remembered in the annals of Alabama history as some of Alabama’s greatest and most powerful public servants. Their game plan was to be a public servant. Therefore, you might say they were pretty good career politicians. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. Steve served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Steve Flowers: Governor John Patterson’s first lesson
Governor John Patterson, who passed away earlier this year at 99, shared a funny story that occurred during the opening days of his administration. He entered the Governor’s office in January 1959 as the clean government, strict law enforcement governor. He followed Big Jim Folsom’s second administration, which had been less than perfect when it came to favoritism, nepotism, and corruption. Patterson was determined to run a clean ship. On his first day as governor, he called his cabinet in for a pep talk and told them to run their departments aboveboard and free of any semblance of favoritism. He dismissed them and told them to get to work running the state. He turned to his new public safety director, Floyd Mann, and asked him to stay behind. Floyd Mann was a well-respected man in Alabama politics. He had been chief of police in Opelika prior to Patterson appointing him head of the highway patrol. Mann and Patterson were lifelong friends. They had grown up and gone to school together in Tallapoosa County. Patterson looked at his friend and said, “Floyd, under no circumstances are we going to fix any tickets during my administration. Do you understand?” Mann went on his way to his first day as public safety director and supervisor of the highway patrol. That was about 11:00 a.m. About 2:30 in the afternoon, the new governor got a message that he had had a call from senior U.S. Senator Lister Hill. Within 30 minutes, he had a message that Senator John Sparkman had called as well as Congressmen George Andrews and Frank Boykin. He assumed that all our distinguished congressional delegates were calling to wish him well on his first day as governor. When he called these four very powerful Washington solons back, he learned that an equally powerful congressman from Missouri had been detained and indeed arrested in south Alabama. The congressman had been vacationing in Florida with his family and driving back to Missouri when he was caught speeding in Conecuh County. At that time, an out-of-state driver could not sign his own bond in Alabama, so the good congressman had been detained for more than three hours with his family waiting to locate a justice of the peace. The congressman was upset, to say the least. Hill and Sparkman were somewhat tactful with the new governor. They simply suggested that the speeder was a powerful and important member of Congress and that it would be helpful to them if Patterson could help their colleague get back on his way home to Missouri. Frank Boykin was more direct. He informed Patterson that this congressman chaired the committee that oversaw all the appropriations for waterways. He further explained that he and Senators Hill and Sparkman had been working diligently for years to get funding for the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the project was pending in this congressman’s committee at this time. Governor Patterson called Colonel Mann and said, “Floyd can you come over here a minute?” When Mann arrived in the governor’s office, Patterson told his buddy, “You know, Floyd, when I told you this morning not to fix any tickets? Well, we’ve had a change in policy.” The no-ticket-fixing policy of the Patterson Administration lasted four hours. Mann dispatched a trooper to not only release the congressman but to give him a trooper escort out of the state. Governor Patterson learned a lesson from that experience – never say never. He also should be given some credit for obtaining funding for the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. A similar story was told to me by former congressman, Governor Kay Ivey’s Chief of Staff and recently crowned Chancellor of the University of South Alabama, Jo Bonner. He was a new congressman from Mobile-Baldwin. The district has had some illustrious congressmen, including Frank Boykin, Jack Edwards, Sonny Callahan, and Jo Bonner. Edwards, Callahan, and Bonner were all good friends, and they were headed to the famous annual Frank Boykin gathering in Washington County. It fell to the new congressman, Bonner, to drive. As they were heading back to Mobile, Bonner noticed a blue light in the rearview mirror. Callahan had already told Bonner he was driving too fast. A deputy sheriff pulled them over and looked in the window, and before he asked for Bonner’s driver’s license, he saw Sonny in the backseat and asked, “Sir, aren’t you Congressman Callahan?” Then looked next to Callahan and asked, “Aren’t you Congressman Edwards?” Callahan and Edwards assured the deputy that he was correct. Then they proceeded to tell the deputy that the driver and third member of this trio was a congressman and a new one and that the deputy should give him a ticket. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
