Oral History Interview with George A. LeMaistre, April 29, 1985. Interview A-0358. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
George LeMaistre entered the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa in 1930, shortly after the stock market crash of 1929. Three years later, he tried to set up a practice in a tough economic environment and soon found himself teaching law, then joining naval intelligence. He worked out of Louisiana as part of a relatively disorganized defense effort until the end of the war, when he returned to teaching in Tuscaloosa. He continued to teach law even as he moved into a banking career, eventually becoming the chairman of the F.D.I.C. LeMaistre died in 1994.
In this interview, LeMaistre recalls his experiences in World War II, including the Navy's efforts to combat extensive torpedo submarine activity in the Gulf of Mexico. He describes some of the personal relationships and minutiae of Alabama politics, including the roles of politicos like Foots Clement, Senators Lister Hill and John Sparkman, and Governors Bibb Graves and Frank Dixon, among others. He dwells on the career of George Wallace, describing the gubernatorial primary loss that convinced Wallace to use racist appeals and Wallace's efforts to exploit the integration struggle for political gain. LeMaistre also considers at length the role of race and civil rights in Alabama politics and describes integration at the University of Alabama.
LeMaistre believes that racism remained beneath the surface in Alabama until the mid-1960s. Until then, southern politicians dragged their feet on civil rights, but rarely exploited racial antagonisms to win votes, or spoke openly about opposing legislation for racial reasons. Of course, by the mid-1960s, as the civil rights movement was escalating, Alabama was experiencing spasms of deadly violence. LeMaistre positions himself as an observer, only inserting himself into the story when he describes his contributions to efforts to craft a nonviolent integration strategy in Alabama. This interview offers a detailed and thorough account of the story of race and politics in that state in the civil rights era.
Excerpts
Losing savings following the stock market crash of 1929
Poorly organized naval defense in New Orleans
WWII submarine attacks near New Orleans
Using human intelligence to combat submarine attacks in the Gulf of Mexico
Brutal weather in the North Atlantic during WWII
V-E Day in New Orleans
Alabama politicians strategize at the Spanish Inn
Alabama politicians benefit from the New Deal
University of Alabama School of Law did not turn on alumnus Hugo Black after Brown
Alabamans support the New Deal until it becomes synonymous with civil rights
The Scottsboro case
Alabama politicians benefit from the New Deal
Evaluating Alabama governor Frank Dixon
Foots Clement urges southerners to stick with the Democratic Party
White southern politicians avoid, rather than push back against, civil rights
Racism remains a dormant political issue in the South until the 1960s
Evaluating Truman's 1948 presidential candidacy
Civil rights divide the Democratic Party in the South
Southern Democrats migrate to Eisenhower's Republican Party in the early 1950s
Evaluating Alabama Governors Folsom and Persons
Moderation slowly gives way to riots in integrating Alabama
Alabamans resent being told what to do more than desegration itself
Various politicians react to the integration issue
Violence increases as whites and blacks clash in the early 1960s
George Wallace exploits opposition to integration
Race remains a minor issue in a 1962 senatorial contest
Maneuvering through the desegregation of the University of Alabama
Most white Alabamans are not vicious racists
Growing black radicalism in the mid-1960s
An imposing civil rights figure cows a potential lynching party
George Wallace moves away from race-baiting in 1970
Learn More
Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Resources for Educators
Changes in Southern Politics Learning Object
Subjects
Alabama--Politics and government
Democratic Party (Ala.)
Civil rights--Alabama
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