Robert Edward Chambliss (January 14, 1904 – October 29, 1985), also known as ''Dynamite Bob'', was a white supremacist terrorist convicted in 1977 of murder for his role as conspirator in the

16th Street Baptist Church bombing The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter planted 19 sticks of dynam ...

in 1963. A member of the United Klans of America, Chambliss also

firebombed Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary ...

the houses of several black families in Alabama.

Investigation and conviction

A May 13, 1965 memo to

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

(FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover identified Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry,

Herman Frank Cash Herman Frank Cash (July 25, 1918 – February 7, 1994) was a suspected fourth conspirator in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963 along with Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, all of whom received ...

and Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. as suspects in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four young African-American girls. The investigation was originally closed in 1968; no charges were filed. Years later it was found that the FBI had accumulated evidence against the named suspects that had not been revealed to the prosecutors by order of J. Edgar Hoover. Edgar Hoover stopped and shut down the investigation in 1968. The files were used by Alabama

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Bill Baxley to reopen the case in 1971. In 1977 Chambliss was convicted of murder for the bombing and sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment. He died in Lloyd Noland Hospital and Health Center in Birmingham on October 29, 1985, still proclaiming his innocence. He was 81. Chambliss served his sentence in a prison near Montgomery, Alabama.

References

* African-American history * Civil Rights Movement * Birmingham campaign * Mass racial violence in the United States 1904 births 1985 deaths 1963 murders in the United States 20th-century American criminals American people convicted of murder American truck drivers American murderers of children American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment American people who died in prison custody Criminals from Alabama Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Alabama Prisoners who died in Alabama detention People convicted of murder by Alabama History of Birmingham, Alabama People from Birmingham, Alabama American mass murderers Ku Klux Klan members {{civil-rights-movement-stub

Investigation and conviction

References

Further reading

See also