JFK with Governor Patterson

John F. Kennedy and Alabama Governor John Patterson are surrounded by supporters at a Kennedy-Johnson rally.

Robert F. and John F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in the Oval office.

C.T. Vivian

On the Kennedys' response to the Freedom Rides

Gov. John Patterson

On the risk he took supporting John Kennedy

The Governor

John Patterson, Governor of Alabama from 1958 to 1963, won election as a staunch segregationist. Patterson discusses his response to the Freedom Rides and his decision to refuse a phone call from President John F. Kennedy when the Freedom Riders encountered mob violence in Birmingham.

Alabama Governor Patterson with Bull Connor

Governor John Patterson shakes hands with a young boy in Montgomery, AL as Bull Connor (right) looks on.

Alabama Injunction Against Freedom Riders

Gov. John Patterson confers with Floyd Mann, Alabama Public Safety Director, in Montgomery, AL. Mann's department distributed an injunction against Freedom Riders to state highway patrolmen with orders to read it aboard interstate buses stopped upon entry to the state.

Gov. John Patterson with Robert Kennedy

Governor John Patterson confers with Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

Gov. John Patterson

On the attempts to delay desegregation efforts

Gov. John Patterson

On voting rights in Jim Crow Alabama

Gov. John Patterson

On sending an undercover officer on the Freedom Rider bus