Seth Gordon Persons (February 5, 1902 – May 29, 1965) was an American Democratic

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who was the 43rd

Governor of Alabama A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

from 1951 to 1955. He was born and died in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. The

Dauphin Island Bridge The Dauphin Island Bridge, formally the Gordon Persons Bridge, carries a , two-lane section of Alabama State Route 193 from mainland Mobile County, Alabama across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Dauphin Island. The natural channel followed by ...

south of

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

is formally named for him. The Gordon Persons Building is a six floor, 60,000 square foot state government office building in Montgomery. Persons studied electrical engineering in college, leading to a very successful business running electrical lines in rural Alabama (benefiting from Rural Electrification Administration contracts); in addition to financial gain, he also won considerable popularity. When running for office in 1950, Persons gained notoriety by touring the state in a helicopter (prompting one opponent to dub him "the man from Mars"). He won the Democratic nomination by defeating a crowded field that included former governor

Chauncey Sparks George Chauncey Sparks (October 8, 1884 – November 6, 1968), known as Chauncey Sparks, was an attorney and Democratic American politician who served as the 41st Governor of Alabama from 1943 to 1947. He made improvements to state education of ...

. In office, his notable accomplishments included abolishing flogging in Alabama's prisons, advocating for the establishment of

Alabama Public Television Alabama Public Television (APT) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Alabama. It is operated by the Alabama Educational Television Commission (AETC), an agency of the Alabama state government which ho ...

, and imposing speed limits on state highways. Persons largely accomplished his goal of having four years of "no fighting," maintaining a truce among the various wings of the state Democratic Party. At the end of his term, Persons ordered the National Guard into Phenix City after the assassination of Attorney-General-elect

Albert Patterson Albert Love Patterson (January 27, 1894 – June 18, 1954) was an American politician and attorney in Phenix City, Alabama. He was assassinated outside his law office shortly after he had won the Democratic nomination for Alabama Attorney Gener ...

. After leaving office as governor, Persons never sought statewide public office again, but he made an unsuccessful run for circuit judge late in life. Persons attended

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

for one year. While at Auburn, Persons served as president of a student organization (known as the "Boxcar Reds and Boxcar Blacks") that traveled to away football games.

References

External links

*
Encyclopedia of Alabama biography of PersonsNational Governors Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persons, Gordon 1902 births 1965 deaths Auburn University alumni Governors of Alabama Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama Democratic Party governors of Alabama 20th-century American politicians