Cooper Green

W. Cooper Green was an American politician who served as President of the Birmingham City Commission (mayor of Birmingham, Alabama), President of the Jefferson County, Alabama County Commission, a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, and postmaster of Birmingham, Alabama. He also served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors.

Early life Green was born in North Birmingham. Green served in the 1931–1933 Alabama State Legislature.

Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Green served as president of the Birmingham City Commission, the equivalent of mayor. He was first elected in a February 1940 special election to serve out the unexpired term of James M. Jones Jr., who had died in office. He assumed office on February 29, 1940. He was elected to a full term in May 1941 without opposition. He was reelected again without opposition in 1945. His final reelection came in 1949,

Green also served in leadership roles of organizations during his mayoralty. From 1949 through 1950, Green served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors. He was elected to the position in March 1949, and was the first mayor from the Southern United States to hold the position in sixteen years. Before this, he had served as Vice President. In 1941, the Alabama Softball Association's board of governors elected Green to serve as the organization's president. Cooper also served as president of the Alabama League of Municipalities during the final three years of his mayoralty.

In February 1953, Green announced that, effective in April, he would his position as president of the city commission in order to serve as vice president of Alabama Power. Before he tendered his surprise resignation in order to enter the private sector, he had been widely speculated as a possible candidate for governor in 1954.

President of the Jefferson County Commission In March 1965, Governor George Wallace appointed Green to serve as the president of the Jefferson County Commission. He was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the death in office of W. D. Kendrick. Green was sworn in on April 1, 1965.

Among other actions, Green advocated for Mercy Hospital, and oversaw an expansion of the county's Juvenile Court.

Cooper retired from the commission in 1975. The month he left office, the Alabama Legislature renamed Mercy Hospital as Cooper Green Mercy Hospital. He was succeeded by Tom Gloor on January 23, 1975.

Personal life and death Green was the father of five children. Green had been sick for several years, suffering from heart ailments and diabetes.