Bull Connor
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Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (born July 11, 1897 in Selma , Alabama , † March 10, 1973 in Birmingham , Alabama) was an American politician and administrative officer. He was best known for his strict enforcement of racial segregation and his violent crackdown on peaceful civil rights demonstrators in the early 1960s in Birmingham, Alabama.
Life
Connor initially worked as a telegraph operator, salesman and broadcaster. From 1935 to 1937 he was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives for the Democratic Party . From 1937 to 1953 he held the office of the Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham, a high municipal administrative office at the level directly below the mayor. Thus he had the authority to manage, among other things, the police, fire brigade, schools and health services. In 1953 Connor renounced because of his involvement in a corruption scandal and an alleged extramarital affair, but returned to office in 1957. He was a delegate at a total of five Democratic National Conventions (1948, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968). At the 1948 convention he was one of those delegates from the southern states who left the congregation and founded the Dixiecrats to protest against President Harry S. Truman's inclusive racial policies . In 1950, 1954, and 1962, Connor ran unsuccessfully for candidacy as governor of Alabama.
Although not a member of the Ku Klux Klan himself , Bull Connor covered acts of violence by the Klan as police chief in Birmingham. In 1961 he prevented the police from intervening when members of the clan beat up a group of civil rights activists at a bus stop. He had the urban parks closed because, in his opinion, strict racial segregation of park visitors could not be carried out sufficiently here. Due to such actions and the bad image of the city in the media as a source of racial conflict, Connor lost support even with a large part of the white residents. In 1962, the citizens adopted a new city constitution in a referendum. Accordingly, the offices of the three Commissioners should be abolished and replaced by a nine-member City Council . On April 2, 1963 Connor ran for the office of mayor, but lost to Albert Boutwell . In early May, he used brutal violence against peaceful civil rights demonstrators and arrested around 1,000 people, including Martin Luther King . On May 23rd, Connor had to leave his abolished office.
From 1964 until his death, Bull Connor was chairman of the Alabama Public Service Commission responsible for public utilities in the state . He died of a stroke at the age of 75 .
Trivia
John F. Kennedy said of Bull Connor:
“The civil rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor. He's helped it as much as Abraham Lincoln . "
“The civil rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor. He helped her as much as Abraham Lincoln did . "
literature
- William A. Nunnelley: Bull Connor . University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa 1991, ISBN 0-8173-0495-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roger Bruns: Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography: Bloody Birmingham ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Connor, bull |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Connor, Theophilus Eugene Bull |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 11, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Selma, Alabama |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 10, 1973 |
| Place of death | Birmingham, Alabama |