1958 Alabama gubernatorial election

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1958 Alabama gubernatorial election
Flag of Alabama.svg
←  1954 November 4, 1958 1962  →
  John Malcolm Patterson.jpg William Longshore.jpg
Nominee John M. Patterson William Longshore
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote234,58330,415
Percentage88.22%11.44%
1958 Alabama gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Patterson:      60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Governor before election

Jim Folsom
Democratic

Elected Governor

John M. Patterson
Democratic

The 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958. Incumbent Democrat Jim Folsom was term limited and could not seek a second consecutive term.

Contents

Democratic Party nomination

At this time Alabama was a de facto one-party state. Because of this, every Democratic Party nominee was considered safe for election. The real contest for governor took place during the primary.

Popular incumbent Governor Jim Folsom, a racial moderate, was barred from running for reelection, as Governors could not succeed themselves at the time. Therefore, the Democratic primary was an open contest.

Candidates

The two front-runners, Patterson and Wallace, held deeply different positions on racial segregation issues. While Patterson, known primarily as crime-fighting attorney general, ran on a very segregationist platform and accepted an official endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan, Wallace, a close ally of Folsom, refused to cooperate with the KKK and was endorsed by the NAACP.

After the election, aide Seymore Trammell recalled Wallace saying, "Seymore, you know why I lost that governor's race? ... I was outniggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outniggered again." [a]

Primary results

Primaries were held on June 3, 1958.

Democratic primary results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic John Malcolm Patterson 196,859 31.82
Democratic George Wallace 162,435 26.26
Democratic Jimmy Faulkner91,51214.79
Democratic A. W. Todd59,2409.58
Democratic Laurie C. Battle38,9556.30
Democratic George C. Hawkins24,3323.93
Democratic C. C. Owen15,2702.47
Democratic Karl Harrison12,4882.02
Democratic Billy Walker7,9631.29
Democratic W. E. Dodd4,7530.77
Democratic John G. Crommelin2,2450.36
Democratic Shearen Elebash1,1770.19
Democratic James Gulatte7980.13
Democratic Shorty Price6550.11
Total votes618,682 100.00

Runoff

Results map of the Democratic primary by county. Patterson: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Wallace: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% >90% 1958 Alabama gubernatorial primary election results map by county.svg
Results map of the Democratic primary by county.
Patterson:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Wallace:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     >90%

Because none of the candidates won a majority, a runoff was held on June 24, 1958, in order to determine which candidate received the nomination.

Democratic primary runoff results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic John Malcolm Patterson 315,353 55.74
Democratic George Wallace250,45144.27
Total votes565,804 100

Republican Party nomination

William Longshore, a former Republican Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 9th district (lost, winning 34.12% votes) won the gubernatorial nomination unopposed.

General election

1958 Alabama gubernatorial election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic John Malcolm Patterson 234,583 88.22 +14.85%
Republican William Longshore30,41511.44−15.19%
Independent William Jackson9030.34N/A
Majority 204,168
Turnout 265,90176.78
Democratic hold

After his defeat, George Wallace, who was a racial moderate, modified his public position in order to gain the white support necessary to win the next election.

Notes

  1. ↑ Carter (1996, p. 2) notes that Wallace later denied a similar quotation that appeared in a 1968 biography by Marshall Frady: "'Well boys,' he said tightly as he snuffed out his cigar, 'no other son-of-a-bitch will ever out-nigger me again.'" [1]

References

  1. ↑ Riechers, Maggie (March–April 2000). "Racism to Redemption: The Path of George Wallace". Humanities. 21 (2). Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
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