Alabama
Gov. Albert Preston Brewer
- May 7, 1968 - January 18, 1971
- Democratic
- October 26, 1928
- January 2, 2017
- Tennessee
- University of Alabama
- Married Martha Farmer; two children
- Succeeded
About
ALBERT P. BREWER was born in Bethel Springs, Tennessee, on October 26, 1928. He graduated from University of Alabama in 1952. Brewer’s previous public offices included: chairman, Decatur City Planning Commission, 1956-63; Member of Alabama State House of Representatives, 1955-66; Speaker of the House 1963-66; and Lieutenant Governor, 1967-1968. He became governor in May 1968 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Governor Lurleen B. Wallace. As governor, Brewer did nothing to change the states’ rights philosophy and programs set into motion by the Wallaces. He worked quietly, however, to achieve many much needed reforms and programs. During his administration appropriations for public schools received the largest increase in state history and funding from the state to local school systems was equalized. The Alabama Commission on Higher Education and the Education Study Commission were created. A racial moderate, Brewer managed to guide the state through the application of the desegregation orders in a manner that strengthened the state’s confidence and improved its public perception. As a result Governor Brewer was recognized as an effective leader by national organizations. He served on the Executive Committee of the National Governors’ Conference and chaired the Appalachian Regional Commission, a body composed of the governors of 13 Appalachian states. He also chaired the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Authority. While he chaired the Authority, it received its first construction funding from Congress. After failing to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1970, Brewer returned to his private law practice in Montgomery until 1979 and then practiced law in Decatur until the late 1980s. He ran for governor again unsuccessfully in 1978.
