Bill Baxley
| Bill Baxley | |
|---|---|
| 24th Lieutenant Governor of Alabama | |
| In office January 17, 1983 – January 19, 1987 |
|
| Governor | George Wallace |
| Preceded by | George McMillan |
| Succeeded by | Jim Folsom, Jr. |
| 41st Attorney General of Alabama | |
| In office 1971–1979 |
|
| Preceded by | MacDonald Gallion |
| Succeeded by | Charles Graddick |
| District Attorney Houston County | |
| In office 1969–1971 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 27, 1941 Dothan, Houston County, Alabama, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Lucy Baxley (2) Marie Prat Baxley |
| Children | Five children |
| Residence | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Religion | United Methodist |
William Joseph Baxley, II (born June 27, 1941), is an American Democratic politician and attorney originally from Dothan, Alabama.
In 1964, Baxley graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa. He served two terms from 1971 to 1979 as Attorney General of Alabama. At the age of twenty-eight, he was at that time the youngest person in U.S. history to hold a state attorney generalship. From 1983 to 1987, he served a single term as the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Alabama. During his time in politics, Baxley aggressively prosecuted industrial polluters, strip miners, and corrupt elected officials. He appointed the state's first African American assistant attorney general, Myron Thompson, who later became a U.S. District Judge.
Baxley incurred the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan when he reopened the case of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. In a letter, the Klan threatened him, compared him to John F. Kennedy, and made him an "honorary nigger," but Baxley responded, on official state letterhead: "My response to your letter of February 19, 1976, is—kiss my ass."[1][2][3]
Church Bombing Case
As attorney general, Baxley was made famous for his most prestigious case against the Ku Klux Klan, his 1977 prosecution of Robert Chambliss for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in September 1963.
"We know who did it," Alabama Attorney General Baxley said Wednesday as he confirmed that he has reopened the investigation of a church bombing that killed four young black girls in Birmingham in 1963. Baxley said in an interview with Birmingham radio station that the list of suspects had been narrowed down, but he declined to predict if or when arrests would be made. He said premature published reports about the investigation might have hurt. "There are some people in Jefferson County who ought to be pretty nervous right now," Baxley said in an earlier telephone interview. The Sunday, Sept. 15, 1963, dynamite blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church occurred during the time of racial demonstrations led by the late Martin Luther King. Twenty-three other people in the church were hurt and debris was scattered for blocks. Baxley later confirmed that he had talked to [undercover FBI agent Gary] Rowe,[4] and he was cooperative, "But we were working on this thing long before that. We had a lot of stuff already. Rowe was just another person we interviewed." He said Rowe didn't give him a list of names as such, "but nine is too many."
Baxley succeeded in convicting Chambliss with minimal evidence (as the FBI refused to relinquish tapes necessary to the case). The victory eased the minds of the parents of Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair.
Runs for Governor
In 1978, Baxley, then the sitting Attorney General, ran to succeed the term-limited George Wallace as governor of Alabama. Baxley lost the Democratic primary to political newcomer Fob James, who went on to defeat Republican nominee Guy Hunt of Cullman. Baxley's campaign leaned heavily on the fact that James been a Republican and returned to the Democratic Party to make his gubernatorial race. Baxley was endorsed by University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant, who did not want to see James, a graduate of archrival Auburn University, in the governor's mansion.
Guy Hunt and questions of Democratic party loyalty both reappeared in another Baxley campaign eight years later. In 1986, the Democratic primary for the gubernatorial race saw then Attorney General Charles Graddick of Mobile in a runoff with Baxley, then the lieutenant governor. Graddick won by a few thousand votes, but Baxley appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled Graddick had violated primary regulations by encouraging Republicans to “cross over” and vote as Democrats. The court told the Democratic Party to hold another election or to select Baxley as the nominee. The party hence confirmed Baxley as its candidate.
Accustomed to a one-party state in which the open primary for the Democratic nomination was considered tantamount to election, many Alabama voters took out their frustrations by voting against Baxley and for Guy Hunt, the GOP nominee. Hunt won the election by a large margin, giving Alabama its first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
Current life
Baxley has five children: Louis, Robert, Richard, Evelyn, and Johnson. He is currently married to Marie (Prat) Baxley. His former wife, Lucy Baxley, was the Lieutenant Governor from 2003 to 2007. Baxley was a strong supporter of his ex-wife's campaign, giving political advice to her and contributed and raised over $250,000. Since 1962, Baxley has served in the Alabama Army National Guard, beginning as an enlisted clerk and rising through the ranks to retire as a colonel on May 29, 2001 (though he turned down the position of General), JAG Corps.
In 1979, Baxley founded the firm known today as Baxley, Dillard,[5]McKnight & James in Birmingham, where he is presently an attorney. He primarily represents large business corporations, yet continues to represent individuals of modest means. Those efforts have earned him the distinction of being selected as a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.[citation needed]
Baxley appeared in the Spike Lee documentary Four Little Girls.
References
- ↑ http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/11/kiss-my-ass.html (image of Baxley's letter)
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- ↑ http://www.baxleydillard.com/attorneys.html
External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Lieutenant Governor of Alabama 1983–1987 |
Succeeded by Jim Folsom, Jr. |
