Albert Brewer
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| Albert Preston Brewer | |
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47th Governor of Alabama
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| In office May 7, 1968 – January 18, 1971 |
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| Lieutenant | None |
| Preceded by | Lurleen Wallace |
| Succeeded by | George Wallace |
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| In office January 16, 1967 – May 7, 1968 |
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| Governor | Lurleen Wallace |
| Preceded by | James B. Allen |
| Succeeded by | Jere Beasley |
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| Born | October 26 1928 Bethel Springs, Tennessee |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Martha Farmer |
| Religion | Baptist |
Albert Preston Brewer (born October 26, 1928) is an American politician who was the governor of Alabama from May, 1968 until January, 1971.
Brewer was born in Bethel Springs, Tennessee. Prior to his election as lieutenant governor, he served three terms in the Alabama House of Representatives from Morgan County from 1954-1966. During the last of these terms 1962-1966 Brewer, at age 34 became the Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, the youngest person in state history to hold this post. Originally an ally of George Corley Wallace, Jr., Brewer ran for lieutenant governor in 1966 when Wallace's wife, Lurleen Burns Wallace was the Democratic nominee for governor.
While lieutenant governor, he was acting governor for a portion of one day while Governor Lurleen Wallace was out of the state for over twenty days for medical treatment. When this constitutional provision became operative, Mrs. Wallace was immediately rushed back into the state.
When Mrs. Wallace subsequently died in office in May 1968 and Brewer became governor, he took over direct management of the state and did not solicit input from George Wallace. Wallace was in the midst of his quixotic bid for the Presidency as the candidate of his own American Independent Party. Thus, Brewer began to work to be elected as governor in his own right in 1970. In this effort, he gained an important ally in President Richard M. Nixon, who won the 1968 presidential election and who sought to neutralize Wallace as a potential adversary in 1972. Brewer's 1970 gubernatorial campaign, however, was revolutionary in many respects. He refused to engage in racist rhetoric and courted newly-registered black voters. He hoped to build a coalition of blacks, educated middle-class whites, and working class whites from northern Alabama (traditionally the most left-leaning part of the state). He unveiled a platform calling for more education funding, an ethics commission and a commission to revise Alabama's 1901 state constitution, which had been deliberately framed to disenfranchise blacks and poor whites.[1]
Brewer led Wallace in the Democratic primary but failed to win an outright majority. He then faced Wallace in a runoff. Wallace, running an unapologetically dirty campaign, made slurs about Brewer and his family[2] and made openly racist appeals to white voters. Wallace narrowly won the Democratic election.[3] He later won the gubernatorial election, over his Republican opponent.
After years of private law practice, Brewer served as Distinguished Professor of Law and Government at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. He currently teaches a course on Professional Responsibility at the Cumberland School of Law. He has also been an active leader with the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform since 2000.
Albert P. Brewer High School in Eastern Morgan County is named in honor of Brewer. The school opened in 1972. Its patriot mascot is named Preston, after Governor Brewer's middle name.
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| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Lurleen Wallace |
Governor of Alabama 1968—1971 |
Succeeded by George Wallace |
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