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Albert Brewer

Albert Preston Brewer (October 26, 1928 – January 2, 2017) was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who served as the 47th governor of Alabama from 1968 to 1971. He previously served as the lieutenant governor of Alabama, the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, and as an Alabama state representative representing Morgan County from 1955 to 1967.

Albert Brewer
Brewer in 1967
47th Governor of Alabama
In office
May 7, 1968 – January 18, 1971
LieutenantVacant
Preceded byLurleen Wallace
Succeeded byGeorge Wallace
21st Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
In office
January 16, 1967 – May 7, 1968
GovernorLurleen Wallace
Preceded byJames Allen
Succeeded byJere Beasley
Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives
In office
January 1963 – January 1967
Preceded byRoberts H. Brown
Succeeded byHugh G. Merrill
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives from Morgan County, Seat 1
In office
January 1955 – January 1967
Preceded byNoble Russell
Succeeded byLeslie Doss
Personal details
Born
Albert Preston Brewer

(1928-10-26)October 26, 1928
Bethel Springs, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedJanuary 2, 2017(2017-01-02) (aged 88)
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseMartha Farmer (1950–2006)
EducationUniversity of Alabama (BA, LLB)
Signature

Early life edit

 
Brewer with his wife, Martha Farmer

Albert Preston Brewer was born on October 26, 1928, in Bethel Springs, Tennessee, United States, to Daniel A. Brewer, a farmer, and Clara Albert Brewer.[1] While Albert was a child, the family moved to Decatur so his father could take a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority.[2] Brewer stayed there and attended Lafayette Street School, Decatur Jr. High School, and Decatur High School,[3] until he left for the University of Alabama in 1946 to study history and political science. He earned his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1952 and returned to Decatur to practice law.[2] From 1956 to 1963 he served as Chairman of the Decatur Planning Commission, and in 1963 he was selected as Decatur's “Outstanding Young Man of the Year” and was selected by the Alabama Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of the four “Outstanding Young Men in Alabama.”[3]

Brewer married Martha Helen Farmer in 1950 and had two children, Rebecca Anne and Beverly Allison. He was a Baptist.[3]

Legislative career edit

House of Representatives edit

In 1953, Brewer chaired the "Young Democrats" chapter for Alabama's 8th congressional district.[4] In 1954, the incumbent legislator serving Morgan County in the Alabama House of Representatives announced his retirement. Local community leaders recruited Brewer to run.[2] He won the Democratic primary[5] and, facing no opposition in the general election,[6] was seated the following year. He was reelected in 1958 and 1962.[2]

With the support of Governor-elect George Wallace, he was elected Speaker at the opening of the 1963 legislative session on January 8 without opposition. The speakership also made him ex officio chairman of the House Rules Committee.[7] Under Brewer's leadership, the House was generally supportive of Wallace's goals.[8] During the session, a bill to increase education spending, coupled with new tax increases, was introduced and passed through the legislature.[9] Brewer, wary of Wallace's campaign promises to block tax increases, met with the governor to ask when he would veto the bill and send it back to the legislature. Wallace stated that he did not intend to veto the bill to preserve his campaign pledge, instead saying that he would "just yell nigger" to avoid scrutiny. After this, Brewer began to have doubts about Wallace's merits.[10]

In 1964, Brewer and the future U.S. Senator James B. Allen, then the lieutenant governor, were among the unpledged presidential electors on the Alabama ballot. They lost to the Republican slate committed to Barry M. Goldwater. No electors pledged to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson were permitted on the Alabama ballot. While national Democrats balked over Johnson's exclusion, most supported the unpledged slate, which competed directly with the Republican electors. As The Tuscaloosa News explained, loyalist electors would have offered a clearer choice to voters than did the unpledged slate.[11]

Lieutenant governor edit

In 1966 Brewer considered running for the office of governor, as incumbent Governor George Wallace was constitutionally restricted from seeking another term. The governor's wife, Lurleen Wallace, entered the race and Brewer, convinced a gubernatorial candidacy would be futile, decided to run for the office of lieutenant governor of Alabama. With a coalition of Wallace supporters, organized labor, and urbanites, he overwhelmingly defeated his opponent[2] in the Democratic primary and faced no opposition in the general election. He was sworn in on January 16, 1967.[12] Lurleen Wallace also won and was inaugurated that month.[13] As lieutenant governor, he convinced the legislature to create an Education Study Commission.[14]

In early July 1967 Lurleen Wallace traveled to Texas for cancer treatment. State law stipulated that if the governor was out of state for 21 days, the lieutenant governor officially assumed their responsibilities as acting governor. This went into effect at the beginning of July 24, and Brewer served as acting governor for about 15 hours, meeting with some state officials, signing extradition papers, and appointing 25 honorary colonels, before Wallace was flown back to Alabama.[15][16]

Governor edit

Executive action edit

 
Brewer (center) takes the oath of office after the death of Governor Lurleen Wallace, becoming the 47th Governor of Alabama

Though aware of Lurleen Wallace's affliction with cancer, Brewer was not familiar with the severity of her condition until shortly before she died.[17] Wallace succumbed on May 7, 1968, and, as stipulated in the constitution, Brewer succeeded to the office of governor.[2] Taking the oath before only his family and George Wallace, Brewer remained very guarded about his feelings and views early in his new tenure, and delayed moving into the governor's mansion until Wallace had found a new home for his family.[18] Wallace's erstwhile legal counsel, Cecil Jackson, directed all executive cabinet members to offer their resignations to Brewer to allow him to build a team of his choosing. Brewer ended up retaining most of the cabinet, though he fired the public safety director and the director of the Department of Conservation after they refused to offer their resignations (and after the latter became involved in a physical altercation with another state employee).[19]

Fairly soon after taking office, Brewer and his new state finance director, Bob Ingram, uncovered the large extent to which the Wallace administration had favored supporters in conducting state business, including alleged kickbacks for road construction contracts and asking state troopers to funnel stranded motorists to preferred tow truck services. Brewer was personally bothered by these improprieties but, wanting to seek election to his own gubernatorial term in 1970, felt it would be unwise to anger Wallace supporters by publicly exposing and denouncing these practices.[20] As part of their attempt to quietly reform the executive branch, Brewer and Ingram tapped experienced public servants who they viewed as ethical, such as Tom Brassell, who was made assistant finance director.[21] Despite this commitment to reform, he sometimes intervened in hiring and other state business to assist friends and dole out favors. On the whole, politicization in Brewer's administration was more muted than his predecessors', and civil servant morale improved during his tenure.[16]

Unlike his two predecessors, Brewer held weekly press conferences. At one such meeting in June 1968, Brewer called for the establishment of a state motor pool, saying he would create one by executive order and then ask for the legislature to affirm it. The motor pool system, which he hoped would limit inappropriate use of state vehicles for personal purposes, required all vehicles to be checked out and all fuel to be purchased from the state. He also had state insignia prominently affixed to all motor pool vehicles to increase their visibility as government property.[22] All vehicles deemed unnecessary—totaling about 1,000—were requisitioned from various agencies and listed for sale, including the governor's limousine. In the end, the reforms only generated minor cost savings for the government.[23] He also had excess copy machines sold, consolidated the state's computer systems, eliminated 12 senior assistant positions, and dispatched various staff the Wallaces' had loaned to the governor's office back to their agencies of origin to handle their official competencies.[16]

 
Brewer (left) greets Dr. Wernher von Braun; Alabama Senator John Sparkman is at center

George Wallace was critical of some of the reforms, particularly the motor pool, complaining that they reflected a de facto rebuke of his late wife. While originally cautious about besmirching the Wallaces, the complaints annoyed Brewer and led him to abandon his earlier concerns.[24] The governor also initiated an investigation into commissions collections by agents of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board. While the practice had been de jure eliminated by law in 1963 supported by both Wallace and Brewer, many board agents were purportedly collecting commissions on distillery sales without authorization during the Wallaces' tenures. George Wallace denied any knowledge of the impropriety and Brewer affirmed his innocence, but Wallace still criticized Brewer for the publicity the scandal received.[25]

Brewer also took actions in accordance with his own socially conservative views which were popular among most Alabamians. After being informed by his wife that pornographic movies were being displayed in Bessemer, he authorized a series of state raids on theatres. He also initiated crackdowns on alcohol and narcotics abuse.[26] Following a series of influence peddling scandals in the legislature, Brewer issued an executive order creating an ethics commission tasked with drafting a code of ethics for potential adoption by the legislature. Among his suggested points were the prohibition of gifts for officials, a ban on officials working for and receiving compensation from entities they regulated, and establishing conflict of interest disclosure rules. He offered funds from his office budget to support the commission's work.[27]

To promote economic development, Brewer pursued industrial recruitment, traveling to New York to speak with corporate executives and hosting various in-person meetings with company representatives. He created the Alabama Program Development Office to link federal grant applications with local government's development efforts.[28] Following a series of major fish kills on state rivers caused by dumping of chemicals, Brewer encouraged the state to take action against Geigy Chemical Company and create new anti-pollution laws.[29]

Legislative action edit

In legislative and policy disputes, Brewer preferred negotiation and finding common ground rather than public spats or power plays with patronage, as George Wallace had.[30] In anticipation of the first legislative session being convened while he was governor, he decided to focus on improving education, consolidating bureaucratic procedures, trimming unnecessary spending, and improving Alabama's national image.[31] He investigated the state of education in Alabama, and found that overall the system was not improving relative to other states, despite efforts at reform during the Wallace administrations. He informed state education officials that he wanted to alter the state's strategy for responding to federal school desegregation orders; in contrast to Wallace's flagrant hostility and refusals, Brewer would "try to do it in a way that will let us do the most palatable thing for the people, the patrons of our system."[14]

Brewer believed that a school choice policy which permitted integrated schooling options could satisfy the federal government's demands and be accepted by most Alabamians, thus preserving popular support for his goal of improving the public education system. Many school choice proponents in the South had advocated for choice policies to deliberately stall integration and preserve segregated schools, and by that point many federal courts were dissatisfied with such proposals.[32] Several weeks after Brewer communicated to President Lyndon B. Johnson that he would engage the federal government in good faith on school segregation issues, the United States Attorney General sued in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama to replace school choice options.[14] After the court ordered new measures be taken to further integration, Johnson ordered the schools integrate their faculty at a specific ratio and directed that some black schools be closed.[33] The governor responded by engaging in similar rhetoric as segregationist, complaining of bureaucratic interference and social engineering.[34] He also warned that under a more directed desegregation plan, most white parents would simply enroll their children in private schools. Despite this, he pledged to respect any court orders on racial matters.[35] His request that Johnson reconsider his order was rejected.[36]

Meanwhile, the Education Study Commission released a report on education in Alabama which outlined numerous deficiencies including overcrowded schools, inadequate instructional materials, underqualified educators, and uncompetitive pay rates for teachers. The commission recommended that additional funding was needed to improve the situation.[37] In 1969 he called the legislature into special session to consider 30 bills aimed at improving education.[38][39] Despite resistance from some urban legislators who thought the package did more to improve rural areas, the proposals were passed, increasing education spending by $132 million, raising teacher salaries by over 20 percent over two years, making the state and local superintendent positions appointive, granting the Education Study Commission statutory status, and creating the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.[39]

At the beginning of the 1969 session, Brewer announced that he would push for new pollution control laws.[40] With industrial groups heavily lobbying the legislature, only a weak bill was passed. More focused on education reform, Brewer decided against pushing for stronger regulations in a matter which would anger corporate interests and, in his view, earn him few additional votes in the 1970 election.[41] More fish kills and serious mercury pollution in 1970 led for Brewer to appeal for federal assistance a commission a water quality survey and, as a lame duck, he briefly considered convening a special session to address inadequate pollution controls before ruling it unfeasible.[42] His efforts during the 1969 session to strengthen consumer credit protections or schedule the legislature for annual sessions (instead of biannual) also failed. Despite this, Brewer's administration was able to obtain funding for a state Medicaid program, a state employee pay hike, new highway safety legislation, two anti-pornography measures, a meat inspection law, and a requirement that all workers contracted by the state for construction be guaranteed standard wages.[43]

1970 gubernatorial campaign edit

 
County results of the 1970 Alabama Democratic gubernatorial primary
Wallace:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%
Brewer:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%

Brewer supported Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign, soliciting donations and delivering speeches on his behalf.[31] Within months of Brewer assuming office, Wallace assured him privately and stated publicly that he would not seek the governor's office in 1970.[44] Around the Thanksgiving holiday in 1968, Wallace confronted Brewer about the alcohol agents scandal, and told Brewer in a meeting at the governor's mansion, "If you keep talking about it, it's going to reflect on me and I may just have to run against you in 1970."[45] Brewer countered, "[Y]ou never have had a better friend than I've been to you and [your wife], and you told me [so] yourself when she died."[45] The two spoke infrequently after the meeting, and Brewer continued with his preparations to be elected as governor in his own right in 1970, and, mindful of the possibility of another Wallace candidacy, took increasingly bolder policy positions and actions.[46]

In that effort, he gained an important ally in U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, who had defeated Wallace in the 1968 presidential election and sought to neutralize Wallace as a potential adversary in 1972.[47] Brewer's 1970 gubernatorial campaign, however, was revolutionary in many respects. Although earlier in his political career he was regarded as a segregationist but not a race-baiter,[48] Brewer refused to engage in racist rhetoric and courted newly registered black voters. He hoped to build a coalition of black people, educated middle-class whites, and working-class whites from northern Alabama, traditionally a more liberal part of the state. He unveiled a platform calling for more funding for education, an ethics commission and a commission to revise Alabama's 1901 state constitution, which had been deliberately framed to disenfranchise black people and poor whites.[49]

Brewer led Wallace in the Democratic primary but failed to win an outright majority. He then faced Wallace in a runoff. Wallace, whose presidential ambitions would have been destroyed with a defeat, ran a very aggressive and dirty campaign using racist rhetoric while proposing few ideas of his own.[50] The Wallace campaign aired TV ads with slogans such as "Do you want the black block electing your governor?" and circulated an ad showing a white girl surrounded by seven black boys, with the slogan "Wake Up Alabama! Blacks vow to take over Alabama."[51] Wallace called Brewer a sissy[52] and promised not to run for president a third time.[53] Wallace narrowly won the Democratic runoff with 51.6 percent of the vote to Brewer's 48.4% and won the general election by a wide margin.[54][55] He was succeeded by Wallace on January 18, 1971, after 987 days in office.[56]

Later life edit

 
Brewer speaking at Montevallo High School in 1976

After leaving office in January 1971, Brewer joined a law firm in Montgomery. He considered challenging Wallace again in the 1974 gubernatorial election, hoping that the salience of racial politics would decline by that point, but decided against it as Wallace's popularity persisted unabated after a 1972 assassination attempt.[57] Instead, Brewer ran for governor again in 1978, but lost the Democratic primary, missing the runoff by almost 2 percentage points.[58] When Wallace ran again in 1982, Brewer endorsed Republican Emory Folmar in the general election.[59] In 1987 he became a professor of law and government at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law.[2] Before his death, he taught a course on Professional Responsibility at the Cumberland School of Law. He was also an active leader with the since 2000.

On January 2, 2017, Brewer died in Jackson Hospital, Montgomery, Alabama, at 88.[60][61]

Legacy edit

Albert P. Brewer High School in eastern Morgan County is named in honor of Brewer. The school opened in 1972.[62]

Historian Gordon E. Harvey wrote, "Brewer did more to improve education in Alabama than most of his predecessors and all but a few of his successors."[63]

Electoral history edit

1954 Alabama House of Representatives, Morgan County Seat 1 Democratic primary[64]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 7,924 63.7%
Democratic Joe S. Elliott 4,523 36.3%
Total votes 12,447 100.00%
1954 Alabama House of Representatives, Morgan County Seat 1[65]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 6,109 100.0%
Total votes 6,109 100.00%
1958 Alabama House of Representatives, Morgan County Seat 1[66]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 4,954 100.0%
Total votes 4,954 100.00%
1962 Alabama House of Representatives, Morgan County Seat 1[67]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 7,514 100.0%
Total votes 7,514 100.00%
1966 Alabama lieutenant gubernatorial Democratic primary[68]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 473,617 66.9%
Democratic Neil Metcalf 125,047 17.7%
Democratic John Tyson Sr. 66,302 9.4%
Democratic John A. Reynolds 43,332 6.1%
Total votes 708,298 100.0
1966 Alabama lieutenant gubernatorial election[69]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 364,473 100.0%
Total votes 364,473 100.00%
1970 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary[70]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Albert Brewer 428,146 42.0%
Democratic George Wallace 416,443 40.8%
Democratic Charles Woods 149,987 14.7%
Democratic Asa Carter 15,441 1.5%
Democratic Jim Folsom 4,123 0.4%
Democratic Coleman Brown 2,836 0.3%
Democratic Ralph Price 2,804 0.3%
Total votes 1,019,780 100.0%
1970 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary runoff[71]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic George Wallace 559,832 51.6%
Democratic Albert Brewer 525,951 48.4%
Total votes 1,085,823 100.0%
1978 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary[72]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Fob James 256,196 28.5%
Democratic Bill Baxley 210,089 23.4%
Democratic Albert Brewer 193,479 21.5%
Democratic Sid McDonald 143,930 16.0%
Democratic Jere Beasley 77,202 8.6%
Democratic K.C. Foster 4,948 0.6%
Democratic Horace Howell 4,730 0.5%
Democratic Jim Folsom 4,632 0.5%
Democratic Bob Muncaster 1,776 0.2%
Democratic Ralph Price 1,396 0.2%
Democratic Charles Woods 700 0.1%
Democratic Fred Sandefer 622 0.1%
Democratic Cornelia Wallace 217 0.0%
Total votes 899,917 100.0%

Notes edit

  1. ^ Sandomir, Richard (January 7, 2017). "Albert P. Brewer, a Former Governor of Alabama, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harvey, Gordon (May 12, 2008). "Albert P. Brewer (1968-71)". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Alabama Humanities Alliance. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1967. Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives and History. 1967. p. 36.
  4. ^ "Albert Brewer Runs For House". The Decatur Daily. Vol. 42, no. 282. January 21, 1954. p. 1.
  5. ^ "Sheriff M'Cutcheon Trails in Morgan". Birmingham Post-Herald. May 5, 1954. p. 12.
  6. ^ "Morgan Rejecting Voting Machines". The Decatur Daily. November 3, 1954. pp. 1–2.
  7. ^ "Brewer Officially Speaker". The Decatur Daily. Associated Press. January 8, 1963. p. 1.
  8. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 40.
  9. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 47–48.
  10. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 48–49.
  11. ^ The Tuscaloosa News, reprinted in The Birmingham News, September 5, 1964
  12. ^ "Brewer Predicts 'Very Progressive 4 Years'". Birmingham Post-Herald. January 17, 1967. p. 17.
  13. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 180, 186.
  14. ^ a b c Frederick 2007, p. 243.
  15. ^ Wasson, Don F. (July 26, 1967). "Brewer Serves His Tenure; Turns Out Short, Sweet". The Montgomery Advertiser. p. 2.
  16. ^ a b c Frederick 2007, p. 228.
  17. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 220–221.
  18. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 223.
  19. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 225, 238.
  20. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 224–225.
  21. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 225.
  22. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 227.
  23. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 227–228.
  24. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 228–229.
  25. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 229–230.
  26. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 233–234.
  27. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 234.
  28. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 236.
  29. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 236–238.
  30. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 223–224.
  31. ^ a b Frederick 2007, p. 226.
  32. ^ Harvey 2002, pp. 9, 23.
  33. ^ Harvey 2002, pp. 23–24.
  34. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 244.
  35. ^ Harvey 2002, p. 21.
  36. ^ Harvey 2002, p. 27.
  37. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 245–246.
  38. ^ Harvey 2002, pp. 9–10.
  39. ^ a b Frederick 2007, p. 247.
  40. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 239.
  41. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 239–240.
  42. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 240–241.
  43. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 242.
  44. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 225–226.
  45. ^ a b Frederick 2007, p. 230.
  46. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 230, 233.
  47. ^ Kornacki, Steve (2011-05-09) Rick Santorum and the problem with the "loser" label May 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Salon.com
  48. ^ . November 23, 2008. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  49. ^ Rogers 1994, p. 576.
  50. ^ Warren, 576
  51. ^ Rawls, Phillip, "Book Rates George Wallace's '70 campaign as the nastiest", Decatur Daily, March 5, 2006
  52. ^ Rawls, March 5, 2005
  53. ^ Flowers, 2005
  54. ^ "AL Governor - D Runoff". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  55. ^ "AL Governor". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  56. ^ "Brewer exits right after parade's end". Birmingham Post-Herald. January 19, 1971. p. 7.
  57. ^ Frederick 2007, pp. 269, 335.
  58. ^ "AL Governor - D Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  59. ^ Frederick 2007, p. 385.
  60. ^ Staff (January 2, 2017). . Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  61. ^ Archibald, John (January 2, 2017). "Former Alabama Gov. Albert Brewer has died". AL.com. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  62. ^ "A.P. Brewer High School and Area Vocational School : Brewer History". Brewer High School. Blackboard, Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  63. ^ Harvey 2002, p. 17.
  64. ^ Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1955. Alabama. Department of Archives and History. 1955. p. 560. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  65. ^ Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1955. Alabama Department of Archives and History. 1955. p. 584. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  66. ^ Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1959. Alabama Department of Archives and History. 1959. p. 612. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  67. ^ Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1962. Alabama Department of Archives and History. 1962. p. 776. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  68. ^ "AL Lt. Governor - D Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  69. ^ "AL Lt. Governor". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  70. ^ "AL Governor - D Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  71. ^ "AL Governor - D Runoff". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  72. ^ "AL Governor - D Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved January 2, 2023.

Works cited edit

  • Frederick, Jeff (2007). Stand Up for Alabama: Governor George Wallace. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817315740.
  • Harvey, Gordon E. (2002). A Question of Justice: New South Governors and Education, 1968-1976. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817311575.
  • Rogers, William Warren, ed. (1994). Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817307141.

External links edit

    Party political offices
    Preceded by Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
    1966
    Succeeded by
    Political offices
    Preceded by Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
    January 16, 1967–May 7, 1968
    Succeeded by
    Preceded by Governor of Alabama
    May 7, 1968–January 18, 1971
    Succeeded by

    albert, brewer, albert, preston, brewer, october, 1928, january, 2017, american, lawyer, democratic, party, politician, served, 47th, governor, alabama, from, 1968, 1971, previously, served, lieutenant, governor, alabama, speaker, alabama, house, representativ. Albert Preston Brewer October 26 1928 January 2 2017 was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who served as the 47th governor of Alabama from 1968 to 1971 He previously served as the lieutenant governor of Alabama the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives and as an Alabama state representative representing Morgan County from 1955 to 1967 Albert BrewerBrewer in 196747th Governor of AlabamaIn office May 7 1968 January 18 1971LieutenantVacantPreceded byLurleen WallaceSucceeded byGeorge Wallace21st Lieutenant Governor of AlabamaIn office January 16 1967 May 7 1968GovernorLurleen WallacePreceded byJames AllenSucceeded byJere BeasleySpeaker of the Alabama House of RepresentativesIn office January 1963 January 1967Preceded byRoberts H BrownSucceeded byHugh G MerrillMember of the Alabama House of Representatives from Morgan County Seat 1In office January 1955 January 1967Preceded byNoble RussellSucceeded byLeslie DossPersonal detailsBornAlbert Preston Brewer 1928 10 26 October 26 1928Bethel Springs Tennessee U S DiedJanuary 2 2017 2017 01 02 aged 88 Birmingham Alabama U S Political partyDemocraticSpouseMartha Farmer 1950 2006 EducationUniversity of Alabama BA LLB Signature Contents 1 Early life 2 Legislative career 2 1 House of Representatives 2 2 Lieutenant governor 3 Governor 3 1 Executive action 3 2 Legislative action 3 3 1970 gubernatorial campaign 4 Later life 5 Legacy 6 Electoral history 7 Notes 8 Works cited 9 External linksEarly life edit nbsp Brewer with his wife Martha FarmerAlbert Preston Brewer was born on October 26 1928 in Bethel Springs Tennessee United States to Daniel A Brewer a farmer and Clara Albert Brewer 1 While Albert was a child the family moved to Decatur so his father could take a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority 2 Brewer stayed there and attended Lafayette Street School Decatur Jr High School and Decatur High School 3 until he left for the University of Alabama in 1946 to study history and political science He earned his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1952 and returned to Decatur to practice law 2 From 1956 to 1963 he served as Chairman of the Decatur Planning Commission and in 1963 he was selected as Decatur s Outstanding Young Man of the Year and was selected by the Alabama Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of the four Outstanding Young Men in Alabama 3 Brewer married Martha Helen Farmer in 1950 and had two children Rebecca Anne and Beverly Allison He was a Baptist 3 Legislative career editHouse of Representatives edit In 1953 Brewer chaired the Young Democrats chapter for Alabama s 8th congressional district 4 In 1954 the incumbent legislator serving Morgan County in the Alabama House of Representatives announced his retirement Local community leaders recruited Brewer to run 2 He won the Democratic primary 5 and facing no opposition in the general election 6 was seated the following year He was reelected in 1958 and 1962 2 With the support of Governor elect George Wallace he was elected Speaker at the opening of the 1963 legislative session on January 8 without opposition The speakership also made him ex officio chairman of the House Rules Committee 7 Under Brewer s leadership the House was generally supportive of Wallace s goals 8 During the session a bill to increase education spending coupled with new tax increases was introduced and passed through the legislature 9 Brewer wary of Wallace s campaign promises to block tax increases met with the governor to ask when he would veto the bill and send it back to the legislature Wallace stated that he did not intend to veto the bill to preserve his campaign pledge instead saying that he would just yell nigger to avoid scrutiny After this Brewer began to have doubts about Wallace s merits 10 In 1964 Brewer and the future U S Senator James B Allen then the lieutenant governor were among the unpledged presidential electors on the Alabama ballot They lost to the Republican slate committed to Barry M Goldwater No electors pledged to U S President Lyndon B Johnson were permitted on the Alabama ballot While national Democrats balked over Johnson s exclusion most supported the unpledged slate which competed directly with the Republican electors As The Tuscaloosa News explained loyalist electors would have offered a clearer choice to voters than did the unpledged slate 11 Lieutenant governor edit In 1966 Brewer considered running for the office of governor as incumbent Governor George Wallace was constitutionally restricted from seeking another term The governor s wife Lurleen Wallace entered the race and Brewer convinced a gubernatorial candidacy would be futile decided to run for the office of lieutenant governor of Alabama With a coalition of Wallace supporters organized labor and urbanites he overwhelmingly defeated his opponent 2 in the Democratic primary and faced no opposition in the general election He was sworn in on January 16 1967 12 Lurleen Wallace also won and was inaugurated that month 13 As lieutenant governor he convinced the legislature to create an Education Study Commission 14 In early July 1967 Lurleen Wallace traveled to Texas for cancer treatment State law stipulated that if the governor was out of state for 21 days the lieutenant governor officially assumed their responsibilities as acting governor This went into effect at the beginning of July 24 and Brewer served as acting governor for about 15 hours meeting with some state officials signing extradition papers and appointing 25 honorary colonels before Wallace was flown back to Alabama 15 16 Governor editExecutive action edit nbsp Brewer center takes the oath of office after the death of Governor Lurleen Wallace becoming the 47th Governor of AlabamaThough aware of Lurleen Wallace s affliction with cancer Brewer was not familiar with the severity of her condition until shortly before she died 17 Wallace succumbed on May 7 1968 and as stipulated in the constitution Brewer succeeded to the office of governor 2 Taking the oath before only his family and George Wallace Brewer remained very guarded about his feelings and views early in his new tenure and delayed moving into the governor s mansion until Wallace had found a new home for his family 18 Wallace s erstwhile legal counsel Cecil Jackson directed all executive cabinet members to offer their resignations to Brewer to allow him to build a team of his choosing Brewer ended up retaining most of the cabinet though he fired the public safety director and the director of the Department of Conservation after they refused to offer their resignations and after the latter became involved in a physical altercation with another state employee 19 Fairly soon after taking office Brewer and his new state finance director Bob Ingram uncovered the large extent to which the Wallace administration had favored supporters in conducting state business including alleged kickbacks for road construction contracts and asking state troopers to funnel stranded motorists to preferred tow truck services Brewer was personally bothered by these improprieties but wanting to seek election to his own gubernatorial term in 1970 felt it would be unwise to anger Wallace supporters by publicly exposing and denouncing these practices 20 As part of their attempt to quietly reform the executive branch Brewer and Ingram tapped experienced public servants who they viewed as ethical such as Tom Brassell who was made assistant finance director 21 Despite this commitment to reform he sometimes intervened in hiring and other state business to assist friends and dole out favors On the whole politicization in Brewer s administration was more muted than his predecessors and civil servant morale improved during his tenure 16 Unlike his two predecessors Brewer held weekly press conferences At one such meeting in June 1968 Brewer called for the establishment of a state motor pool saying he would create one by executive order and then ask for the legislature to affirm it The motor pool system which he hoped would limit inappropriate use of state vehicles for personal purposes required all vehicles to be checked out and all fuel to be purchased from the state He also had state insignia prominently affixed to all motor pool vehicles to increase their visibility as government property 22 All vehicles deemed unnecessary totaling about 1 000 were requisitioned from various agencies and listed for sale including the governor s limousine In the end the reforms only generated minor cost savings for the government 23 He also had excess copy machines sold consolidated the state s computer systems eliminated 12 senior assistant positions and dispatched various staff the Wallaces had loaned to the governor s office back to their agencies of origin to handle their official competencies 16 nbsp Brewer left greets Dr Wernher von Braun Alabama Senator John Sparkman is at centerGeorge Wallace was critical of some of the reforms particularly the motor pool complaining that they reflected a de facto rebuke of his late wife While originally cautious about besmirching the Wallaces the complaints annoyed Brewer and led him to abandon his earlier concerns 24 The governor also initiated an investigation into commissions collections by agents of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board While the practice had been de jure eliminated by law in 1963 supported by both Wallace and Brewer many board agents were purportedly collecting commissions on distillery sales without authorization during the Wallaces tenures George Wallace denied any knowledge of the impropriety and Brewer affirmed his innocence but Wallace still criticized Brewer for the publicity the scandal received 25 Brewer also took actions in accordance with his own socially conservative views which were popular among most Alabamians After being informed by his wife that pornographic movies were being displayed in Bessemer he authorized a series of state raids on theatres He also initiated crackdowns on alcohol and narcotics abuse 26 Following a series of influence peddling scandals in the legislature Brewer issued an executive order creating an ethics commission tasked with drafting a code of ethics for potential adoption by the legislature Among his suggested points were the prohibition of gifts for officials a ban on officials working for and receiving compensation from entities they regulated and establishing conflict of interest disclosure rules He offered funds from his office budget to support the commission s work 27 To promote economic development Brewer pursued industrial recruitment traveling to New York to speak with corporate executives and hosting various in person meetings with company representatives He created the Alabama Program Development Office to link federal grant applications with local government s development efforts 28 Following a series of major fish kills on state rivers caused by dumping of chemicals Brewer encouraged the state to take action against Geigy Chemical Company and create new anti pollution laws 29 Legislative action edit In legislative and policy disputes Brewer preferred negotiation and finding common ground rather than public spats or power plays with patronage as George Wallace had 30 In anticipation of the first legislative session being convened while he was governor he decided to focus on improving education consolidating bureaucratic procedures trimming unnecessary spending and improving Alabama s national image 31 He investigated the state of education in Alabama and found that overall the system was not improving relative to other states despite efforts at reform during the Wallace administrations He informed state education officials that he wanted to alter the state s strategy for responding to federal school desegregation orders in contrast to Wallace s flagrant hostility and refusals Brewer would try to do it in a way that will let us do the most palatable thing for the people the patrons of our system 14 Brewer believed that a school choice policy which permitted integrated schooling options could satisfy the federal government s demands and be accepted by most Alabamians thus preserving popular support for his goal of improving the public education system Many school choice proponents in the South had advocated for choice policies to deliberately stall integration and preserve segregated schools and by that point many federal courts were dissatisfied with such proposals 32 Several weeks after Brewer communicated to President Lyndon B Johnson that he would engage the federal government in good faith on school segregation issues the United States Attorney General sued in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama to replace school choice options 14 After the court ordered new measures be taken to further integration Johnson ordered the schools integrate their faculty at a specific ratio and directed that some black schools be closed 33 The governor responded by engaging in similar rhetoric as segregationist complaining of bureaucratic interference and social engineering 34 He also warned that under a more directed desegregation plan most white parents would simply enroll their children in private schools Despite this he pledged to respect any court orders on racial matters 35 His request that Johnson reconsider his order was rejected 36 Meanwhile the Education Study Commission released a report on education in Alabama which outlined numerous deficiencies including overcrowded schools inadequate instructional materials underqualified educators and uncompetitive pay rates for teachers The commission recommended that additional funding was needed to improve the situation 37 In 1969 he called the legislature into special session to consider 30 bills aimed at improving education 38 39 Despite resistance from some urban legislators who thought the package did more to improve rural areas the proposals were passed increasing education spending by 132 million raising teacher salaries by over 20 percent over two years making the state and local superintendent positions appointive granting the Education Study Commission statutory status and creating the Alabama Commission on Higher Education 39 At the beginning of the 1969 session Brewer announced that he would push for new pollution control laws 40 With industrial groups heavily lobbying the legislature only a weak bill was passed More focused on education reform Brewer decided against pushing for stronger regulations in a matter which would anger corporate interests and in his view earn him few additional votes in the 1970 election 41 More fish kills and serious mercury pollution in 1970 led for Brewer to appeal for federal assistance a commission a water quality survey and as a lame duck he briefly considered convening a special session to address inadequate pollution controls before ruling it unfeasible 42 His efforts during the 1969 session to strengthen consumer credit protections or schedule the legislature for annual sessions instead of biannual also failed Despite this Brewer s administration was able to obtain funding for a state Medicaid program a state employee pay hike new highway safety legislation two anti pornography measures a meat inspection law and a requirement that all workers contracted by the state for construction be guaranteed standard wages 43 1970 gubernatorial campaign edit Main article 1970 Alabama gubernatorial election nbsp County results of the 1970 Alabama Democratic gubernatorial primary Wallace 50 60 60 70 70 80 Brewer 50 60 60 70 70 80 Brewer supported Wallace s 1968 presidential campaign soliciting donations and delivering speeches on his behalf 31 Within months of Brewer assuming office Wallace assured him privately and stated publicly that he would not seek the governor s office in 1970 44 Around the Thanksgiving holiday in 1968 Wallace confronted Brewer about the alcohol agents scandal and told Brewer in a meeting at the governor s mansion If you keep talking about it it s going to reflect on me and I may just have to run against you in 1970 45 Brewer countered Y ou never have had a better friend than I ve been to you and your wife and you told me so yourself when she died 45 The two spoke infrequently after the meeting and Brewer continued with his preparations to be elected as governor in his own right in 1970 and mindful of the possibility of another Wallace candidacy took increasingly bolder policy positions and actions 46 In that effort he gained an important ally in U S President Richard M Nixon who had defeated Wallace in the 1968 presidential election and sought to neutralize Wallace as a potential adversary in 1972 47 Brewer s 1970 gubernatorial campaign however was revolutionary in many respects Although earlier in his political career he was regarded as a segregationist but not a race baiter 48 Brewer refused to engage in racist rhetoric and courted newly registered black voters He hoped to build a coalition of black people educated middle class whites and working class whites from northern Alabama traditionally a more liberal part of the state He unveiled a platform calling for more funding for education an ethics commission and a commission to revise Alabama s 1901 state constitution which had been deliberately framed to disenfranchise black people and poor whites 49 Brewer led Wallace in the Democratic primary but failed to win an outright majority He then faced Wallace in a runoff Wallace whose presidential ambitions would have been destroyed with a defeat ran a very aggressive and dirty campaign using racist rhetoric while proposing few ideas of his own 50 The Wallace campaign aired TV ads with slogans such as Do you want the black block electing your governor and circulated an ad showing a white girl surrounded by seven black boys with the slogan Wake Up Alabama Blacks vow to take over Alabama 51 Wallace called Brewer a sissy 52 and promised not to run for president a third time 53 Wallace narrowly won the Democratic runoff with 51 6 percent of the vote to Brewer s 48 4 and won the general election by a wide margin 54 55 He was succeeded by Wallace on January 18 1971 after 987 days in office 56 Later life edit nbsp Brewer speaking at Montevallo High School in 1976After leaving office in January 1971 Brewer joined a law firm in Montgomery He considered challenging Wallace again in the 1974 gubernatorial election hoping that the salience of racial politics would decline by that point but decided against it as Wallace s popularity persisted unabated after a 1972 assassination attempt 57 Instead Brewer ran for governor again in 1978 but lost the Democratic primary missing the runoff by almost 2 percentage points 58 When Wallace ran again in 1982 Brewer endorsed Republican Emory Folmar in the general election 59 In 1987 he became a professor of law and government at Samford University s Cumberland School of Law 2 Before his death he taught a course on Professional Responsibility at the Cumberland School of Law He was also an active leader with the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform since 2000 On January 2 2017 Brewer died in Jackson Hospital Montgomery Alabama at 88 60 61 Legacy editAlbert P Brewer High School in eastern Morgan County is named in honor of Brewer The school opened in 1972 62 Historian Gordon E Harvey wrote Brewer did more to improve education in Alabama than most of his predecessors and all but a few of his successors 63 Electoral history edit1954 Alabama House of Representatives Morgan County Seat 1 Democratic primary 64 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 7 924 63 7 Democratic Joe S Elliott 4 523 36 3 Total votes 12 447 100 00 1954 Alabama House of Representatives Morgan County Seat 1 65 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 6 109 100 0 Total votes 6 109 100 00 1958 Alabama House of Representatives Morgan County Seat 1 66 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 4 954 100 0 Total votes 4 954 100 00 1962 Alabama House of Representatives Morgan County Seat 1 67 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 7 514 100 0 Total votes 7 514 100 00 1966 Alabama lieutenant gubernatorial Democratic primary 68 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 473 617 66 9 Democratic Neil Metcalf 125 047 17 7 Democratic John Tyson Sr 66 302 9 4 Democratic John A Reynolds 43 332 6 1 Total votes 708 298 100 01966 Alabama lieutenant gubernatorial election 69 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 364 473 100 0 Total votes 364 473 100 00 1970 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary 70 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Albert Brewer 428 146 42 0 Democratic George Wallace 416 443 40 8 Democratic Charles Woods 149 987 14 7 Democratic Asa Carter 15 441 1 5 Democratic Jim Folsom 4 123 0 4 Democratic Coleman Brown 2 836 0 3 Democratic Ralph Price 2 804 0 3 Total votes 1 019 780 100 0 1970 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary runoff 71 Party Candidate Votes Democratic George Wallace 559 832 51 6 Democratic Albert Brewer 525 951 48 4 Total votes 1 085 823 100 0 1978 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary 72 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Fob James 256 196 28 5 Democratic Bill Baxley 210 089 23 4 Democratic Albert Brewer 193 479 21 5 Democratic Sid McDonald 143 930 16 0 Democratic Jere Beasley 77 202 8 6 Democratic K C Foster 4 948 0 6 Democratic Horace Howell 4 730 0 5 Democratic Jim Folsom 4 632 0 5 Democratic Bob Muncaster 1 776 0 2 Democratic Ralph Price 1 396 0 2 Democratic Charles Woods 700 0 1 Democratic Fred Sandefer 622 0 1 Democratic Cornelia Wallace 217 0 0 Total votes 899 917 100 0 Notes edit Sandomir Richard January 7 2017 Albert P Brewer a Former Governor of Alabama Dies at 88 The New York Times Retrieved September 10 2022 a b c d e f g Harvey Gordon May 12 2008 Albert P Brewer 1968 71 Encyclopedia of Alabama Alabama Humanities Alliance Retrieved September 10 2022 a b c Alabama Official and Statistical Register 1967 Alabama Alabama Department of Archives and History 1967 p 36 Albert Brewer Runs For House The Decatur Daily Vol 42 no 282 January 21 1954 p 1 Sheriff M Cutcheon Trails in Morgan Birmingham Post Herald May 5 1954 p 12 Morgan Rejecting Voting Machines The Decatur Daily November 3 1954 pp 1 2 Brewer Officially Speaker The Decatur Daily Associated Press January 8 1963 p 1 Frederick 2007 p 40 Frederick 2007 pp 47 48 Frederick 2007 pp 48 49 The Tuscaloosa News reprinted in The Birmingham News September 5 1964 Brewer Predicts Very Progressive 4 Years Birmingham Post Herald January 17 1967 p 17 Frederick 2007 pp 180 186 a b c Frederick 2007 p 243 Wasson Don F July 26 1967 Brewer Serves His Tenure Turns Out Short Sweet The Montgomery Advertiser p 2 a b c Frederick 2007 p 228 Frederick 2007 pp 220 221 Frederick 2007 p 223 Frederick 2007 pp 225 238 Frederick 2007 pp 224 225 Frederick 2007 p 225 Frederick 2007 p 227 Frederick 2007 pp 227 228 Frederick 2007 pp 228 229 Frederick 2007 pp 229 230 Frederick 2007 pp 233 234 Frederick 2007 p 234 Frederick 2007 p 236 Frederick 2007 pp 236 238 Frederick 2007 pp 223 224 a b Frederick 2007 p 226 Harvey 2002 pp 9 23 Harvey 2002 pp 23 24 Frederick 2007 p 244 Harvey 2002 p 21 Harvey 2002 p 27 Frederick 2007 pp 245 246 Harvey 2002 pp 9 10 a b Frederick 2007 p 247 Frederick 2007 p 239 Frederick 2007 pp 239 240 Frederick 2007 pp 240 241 Frederick 2007 p 242 Frederick 2007 pp 225 226 a b Frederick 2007 p 230 Frederick 2007 pp 230 233 Kornacki Steve 2011 05 09 Rick Santorum and the problem with the loser label Archived May 11 2011 at the Wayback Machine Salon com The Pains of Loyalty TIME November 23 2008 Archived from the original on November 23 2008 Retrieved April 15 2023 Rogers 1994 p 576 Warren 576 1 Rawls Phillip Book Rates George Wallace s 70 campaign as the nastiest Decatur Daily March 5 2006 Rawls March 5 2005 Flowers 2005 AL Governor D Runoff OurCampaigns Retrieved January 3 2023 AL Governor OurCampaigns Retrieved January 3 2023 Brewer exits right after parade s end Birmingham Post Herald January 19 1971 p 7 Frederick 2007 pp 269 335 AL Governor D Primary OurCampaigns Retrieved January 2 2023 Frederick 2007 p 385 Staff January 2 2017 Albert Brewer Alabama s 47th governor dies at age 88 Archived from the original on January 3 2017 Retrieved January 3 2017 Archibald John January 2 2017 Former Alabama Gov Albert Brewer has died AL com Retrieved January 3 2017 A P Brewer High School and Area Vocational School Brewer History Brewer High School Blackboard Inc Retrieved September 10 2022 Harvey 2002 p 17 Alabama Official and Statistical Register 1955 Alabama Department of Archives and History 1955 p 560 Retrieved January 2 2023 Alabama Official and Statistical Register 1955 Alabama Department of Archives and History 1955 p 584 Retrieved January 2 2023 Alabama Official and Statistical Register 1959 Alabama Department of Archives and History 1959 p 612 Retrieved January 2 2023 Alabama Official and Statistical Register 1962 Alabama Department of Archives and History 1962 p 776 Retrieved January 2 2023 AL Lt Governor D Primary OurCampaigns Retrieved January 2 2023 AL Lt Governor OurCampaigns Retrieved January 2 2023 AL Governor D Primary OurCampaigns Retrieved January 2 2023 AL Governor D Runoff OurCampaigns Retrieved January 2 2023 AL Governor D Primary OurCampaigns Retrieved January 2 2023 Works cited editFrederick Jeff 2007 Stand Up for Alabama Governor George Wallace Tuscaloosa University of Alabama Press ISBN 9780817315740 Harvey Gordon E 2002 A Question of Justice New South Governors and Education 1968 1976 Tuscaloosa The University of Alabama Press ISBN 9780817311575 Rogers William Warren ed 1994 Alabama The History of a Deep South State Tuscaloosa University of Alabama Press ISBN 9780817307141 External links editAlbert Brewer s biography from Cumberland School of Law websiteParty political officesPreceded byJames Allen Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama1966 Succeeded byJere BeasleyPolitical officesPreceded byJames Allen Lieutenant Governor of AlabamaJanuary 16 1967 May 7 1968 Succeeded byJere BeasleyPreceded byLurleen Wallace Governor of AlabamaMay 7 1968 January 18 1971 Succeeded byGeorge Wallace Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Albert Brewer amp oldid 1193294551, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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