Vol. 2, No. 1 (January, 1992), pp. 1-3
BULL CONNOR by William A. Nunnelly. Tuscaloosa: The University of
Alabama Press, 1991. 225pp.
Reviewed by Jolanta Juszkiewicz, Pretrial Services Resource
Center, Washington, D.C.
In the early 1960s, two segregated cities in the deep south were
the targets of civil rights demonstrations orchestrated by Martin
Luther King, Jr. The tactics used by the demonstrators were
similar; the responses of the top-ranking law enforcement
officials in the two cities were disparate. Laurie Pritchett,
Chief of Police of Albany, Georgia, avoided conflict. In his
capacity as Commissioner of Public Safety for Birmingham,
Alabama, Eugene "Bull" Connor ordered police dogs and
water hoses to be used to control crowds. One of these men became
the subject of a biography, the other a footnote in the
biography.
"The movement was really about getting publicity for
injustice" (p.164) noted Andrew Young, a lieutenant of
King's. The Albany campaign was uneventful. In its wake, King
directed the energies of the civil rights movement to Project C,
for "confrontation." In Bull Connor, the civil rights
movement found "the perfect adversary," to coin the
author's term. There was no more vivid a picture of the injustice
of segregation as "the confrontation between grim-faced,
helmeted policemen and their dogs, and black children chanting
freedom songs and hymns." (p.163) For a seven-day period in
May 1963, the nation was exposed to these and similar pictures
(some of which appear in the book). Reports of the incidents in
Birmingham moved President John F. Kennedy to remark that
"the civil rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor.
He's helped it as much as Abraham Lincoln." (p. 164)
A biography of a man and the times in which he lived stirs
readers' sensibilities more than the antiseptic and analytic
accounts provided by a textbook or treatise. A biography exposes
the emotions of its subject and the people in his life as well as
the facts and under-currents of the times. A biography presents a
closer and in-depth look at a subject, who for better or worse on
a large or small scale, influenced the course of history.
Pritchett, for the sake of expedience, temporarily acquiesced
allowing the demonstrators to protest without incident. Connor's
stubborn refusal to give way to the civil rights movement
actually thrust the movement much needed revitalization. And the
rest, as the saying goes, is a matter of history. Thus, Bull
Connor, a man of humble roots and limited ambitions, determined
to perpetuate the status quo even if that meant resorting to
strong-arm tactics, became the subject of a biography. Connor and
Birmingham played Goliath -- representing the last bastion of
entrenched segregationist feeling -- to the civil rights
movement's David.
The climactic seven-days in May 1963 can only be understood in
terms of the political environment existing in Birmingham and
Connor as a product of that environment. This biography is not a
psychological discourse of Bull Connor. Rather, it examines his
career as a public servant that spanned nearly three decades. In
the best tradition of political science scholars, the biography
deals with local politics, the relationship between financial and
political interests, the battle between local and federal
political entities, and the south's desperate struggle to
maintain a way of life that was becoming anachronistic.
Segregation was still the law of the land as far as the citizens
of Birmingham, Alabama, were concerned despite Supreme Court
decisions to the contrary. In his inaugural remarks in 1957, upon
winning the post of Commissioner of Public Safety after a
four-year hiatus from politics, Connor said: "These laws
[segregation] are still constitutional and I promise you that
until they are removed from the ordinance books of Birmingham and
the statute books of Alabama, they will be enforced in Birmingham
to the utmost of my ability and by all lawful means." (p.
61)
Connor's popularity, as demonstrated by his six victories in city
commission races, came from white voters -- workers and corporate
leaders alike. His reputation among the rank-and-file was that of
an honest, albeit colorful man who maintained "his
willingness to keep blacks `in their place'" (p. 181) and
his membership in the telegrapher's union. He was one of them,
born into a working class family and whose career prior to his
public service was that of telegrapher and radio sports
announcer.
Connor had the backing of the local corporate elite in spite of
his declarations of being free of outside influence. Connor
helped the industrial elite by "controlling
strikes...silencing radicals.... Connor was exactly what
companies that controlled Birmingham were looking for...."
He was counted on to keep the status quo. Connor "stayed on
the good side of the business leaders... [and was] always
receptive to corporate suggestions." His preaching about
economy in government and no new taxes reflected the influence of
Birmingham's industrial and financial interests, who "always
insisted in cheap government with only bare essential
services." (p. 182)
According to Nunnelly, Connor's very success at reading the
electorate was probably responsible for his ultimate downfall.
Nunnelly concludes that "Connor learned the art of politics
well, so well that he stayed too long in office. Thus during an
era that increasingly called for compromise in race relations, he
stubbornly played the hard line, resisting integration until the
bitter end." (p. 185)
Nunnelly traces Connor's life and career, highlighting the people
and events that most influenced these. The first chapter,
entitled "City of Fear" portrays Birmingham as the last
bastion of segregation, a blue-collar city ridden with
racially-motivated violence, and a city in which two strong and
opposing forces confronted each other in full view of the nation.
Connor represented the force that wielded water hoses and police
dogs; the other force was represented by Martin Luther King and a
movement struggling to bring to light the plight of blacks.
The succeeding chapters track Connor's career, starting as a man
determined to clean Birmingham of gambling and corruption,
through three decades of change that Connor refused to accept.
First, bombings of blacks who dared "cross the line" --
whether in the area of housing, recreation, lunch counters,
schools -- remained unresolved even after years of investigation.
Then the dilatory police response to protect Freedom Riders
resulted in setting buses on fire, and injury to numerous Freedom
Riders, some from the fires, and others from mob attacks. In
defiance of a court order to integrate recreational facilities,
Connor closed the city park. And finally in May 1963, Connor's
confrontational reaction to the civil rights marchers, left an
indelible impression on the nation and assured Connor's place in
history, albeit not a favorable one.
This is a book worth reading. It is of the same genre as GIDEON'S
TRUMPET for presenting a close and personal look at the people
behind the news. It is ironic that a man, whose personal and
professional goal was to maintain the status quo, was
instrumental in attracting attention to a movement that brought
irrevocable changes to Birmingham, the South, and indeed, the
whole country. Bull Connor provided the conduit for the civil
rights movement to dramatize the effects of segregation. To enact
the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act, the public and
political leaders had to witness blatantly racially motivated
aggression; peaceful demonstrations and protests against
discrimination were not persuasive enough.
Copyright 1992