Albert Boutwell

Albert Burton Boutwell (November 13, 1904 – February 3, 1978) was the 19th lieutenant governor of Alabama. A Democrat, Boutwell served Governor John Malcolm Patterson of the same political party, from 1959 until 1963. Earlier in his political career he served in the state senate, including as senate president, and later as mayor of Birmingham.

Early life and education Boutwell was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1904. Both his grandfathers were Confederate veterans. He graduated from the then-segregated Greenville High School, and then attended the University of Alabama, receiving a Bachelor of Law degree in 1928. While attending university, Boutwell was a member of two fraternities: the Sigma Delta Kappa law fraternity and the Alpha Epsilon Phi honorary Forensic Fraternity. In his final year, Boutwell was also President of the Student Government Association and other groups.

He won statewide office, as lieutenant governor, in 1958.

Considered a moderate by many in Birmingham early in the civil rights movement, Boutwell was elected to the City Commission on April 2, 1963; he was selected as President of the Commission, equivalent to mayor under that system. His election was seen as a rejection of vehement segregationist Eugene "Bull" Connor. Connor attributed his loss by 7,982 votes to a 10,000-strong “Negro bloc vote”; and in fact Fred Shuttlesworth had delayed mass demonstrations of the "Birmingham Campaign" until after the election. Martin Luther King Jr.'s April 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail" mentioned Boutwell; King had been arrested on Good Friday after Boutwell had vowed to arrest, jail and punish anyone who disturbed the public peace and safety. Connor in fact met those demonstrations with police dogs and fire hoses, and the movement's leaders and Birmingham businessmen declared a truce on May 10. Later that year, Boutwell declared that school integration was not in children's interest. He was in office for the forced integration of Birmingham schools by the National Guard and the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, which killed four young girls.

Boutwell was defeated for re-election in 1967. His pupil placement act and its popular (among segregationists) freedom of choice provision were declared unconstitutional by federal courts in 1967.

Personal life In 1934, Boutwell married Helen Balfour. They had a daughter and two sons

Death and legacy Boutwell died in Birmingham. The Municipal Auditorium was renamed in his honor.