He entered politics as a
Democrat in 1934 winning a seat in the
Alabama House of Representatives and maintained that party affiliation throughout his career. As a legislator, he voted for extending the
poll tax, which served as a barrier to voter registration by blacks, and against an anti-sedition bill intended to stifle union activity.
Willie Mays remembered listening to him call games: "Pretty good announcer, too, although I think he used to get too excited."
Commissioner of Public Safety (1936–1954, 1957–1963) In 1936, Connor was elected to the office of commissioner of Public Safety of Birmingham, beginning the first of two stretches that spanned a total of 26 years. His first stretch ended in 1952, but he was re-elected in 1956, and was sworn in on November 4, 1957, where he served until 1963. At a meeting of the
Southern Conference for Human Welfare in 1938,
Eleanor Roosevelt refused Connor's directions to follow local segregation laws by sitting in the black section of a Birmingham auditorium. In 1938, Connor ran as a candidate for
Governor of Alabama. He announced he would be campaigning on a platform of "protecting employment practices,
law enforcement, segregation and other problems that have been historically classified as
states' rights by the Democratic party". In 1948, Connor's officers arrested the
U.S. Senator from
Idaho,
Glen H. Taylor. Taylor was the running mate of
Progressive Party presidential candidate
Henry Wallace, former Democratic
vice president (1941 to 1945) with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Taylor, who had attempted to speak to the
Southern Negro Youth Congress, was arrested for violating Birmingham's racial segregation laws. Connor's effort to enforce the law was caused by the group's reported
communist philosophy, with Connor noting at the time, "There's not enough room in town for Bull and the Commies." During the
1948 Democratic National Convention, Connor led the Alabama delegation in a walkout when the national party included a civil rights plank in its platform. Connor's second run for governor failed in 1954. He was the center of controversy that year by pushing through a city ordinance in Birmingham that outlawed "communism."
Civil rights era Before returning to office in 1956, Connor quickly resumed his brutal approach to dealing with perceived threats to the social order. His forces raided a meeting which was being held at the house of African-American activist Reverend
Fred Shuttlesworth, where three
Montgomery ministers were in attendance. He feared that the
Montgomery bus boycott, which was underway, would spread to Birmingham, in an effort to integrate city buses. He had the ministers arrested on charges of
vagrancy, which meant that they were not allowed to pay bail, nor were they allowed to receive any visitors during the first three days of their incarceration. A federal investigation followed, but Connor refused to cooperate. In 1960, Connor was elected
Democratic National Committeeman for
Alabama, soon after filing a civil lawsuit against
The New York Times for $1.5 million. He objected to what he claimed was their insinuation that he had promoted racial hatred. He dropped his claim for damages to $400,000; the case dragged on for six years until Connor lost a $40,000 judgment on appeal.
Freedom Riders In the spring of 1961, integrated teams of civil rights activists mounted what they called "Freedom Rides" to highlight the illegal imposition of racial segregation on interstate buses, whose operations came under federal law and the constitution. They had teams ride
Greyhound and
Trailways buses traveling through southern capitals, with the final stop intended as
New Orleans. The teams encountered increasing hostility and violence as they made their way deeper into the South. On May 2, 1961, Connor had won a landslide election for his sixth term as Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham. As Commissioner, he had administrative authority over the police and fire departments, schools, public health service, and libraries, all of which were segregated by state law. After a stop in
Anniston, Alabama, the Greyhound bus of the Freedom Riders was attacked. They were offered no police protection. After they left town, they were forced to stop by a violent mob that firebombed and burned the bus, but no activists were fatally hurt. A new Greyhound bus was placed into service and departed for Birmingham. The activists on the earlier Trailways bus had been accosted by
Ku Klux Klan members who boarded the bus in
Atlanta and beat up the activists, pushing them all to the back of the bus. The Freedom Riders arrived in Birmingham on May 14, 1961. As the Trailways bus reached the terminal in Birmingham, a large mob of Klansmen and news reporters was waiting for them. The Riders were viciously attacked soon after they disembarked from the bus and attempted to gain service at the whites-only lunch counter. Some were taken to the loading dock area, away from reporters, but some reporters were also beaten with metal bars, pipes, and bats and one's camera was destroyed. After 15 minutes, the police finally arrived, but by then most Klansmen had left. Connor intentionally let the Klansmen beat the Riders for 15 minutes with no police intervention. He publicly blamed the violence on many factors, saying that "No policemen were in sight as the buses arrived, because they were visiting their mothers on Mother's Day". He insisted that the violence came from out-of-town meddlers and that police had rushed to the scene "as quickly as possible." In 1962, Connor ordered the closing of 60 Birmingham parks rather than follow a federal court order to desegregate public facilities. In November 1962, in response to the extremely negative perception of the city—it was derisively nicknamed "
Bombingham" by outsiders for the numerous attacks on the homes and churches of black civil rights activists—Birmingham voters changed the city's form of government. Rather than an at-large election of three commissioners, who had specific oversight of certain city departments, there would be a mayor-council form of government. Members of the city council were to be elected from nine single-member districts. Blacks were still largely disenfranchised. For instance, in 1961 when the president of the city's
Chamber of Commerce was visiting Japan, he saw a newspaper photo of a bus engulfed in flames, which occurred during the
Freedom Rides. Bull Connor had arranged for opponents to have time to attack civil rights activists when their bus reached Birmingham. Endorsed by Governor
George C. Wallace, Connor attempted to run for mayor, but lost on April 2, 1963. Connor and his fellow commissioners filed suit to block the change in power, Connor ended his 23-year tenure in the post. Citing a general law, he had argued that the change could not take effect until the October 1 following the date of the election, but the Supreme Court of Alabama held that the general law was preempted by a special law applicable to only the City of Birmingham.
Birmingham campaign Local civil rights activists had been unable to negotiate much change with the city or business leaders, in their efforts to gain integration of facilities and hiring of blacks by local businesses. They invited Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. and his team to help mount a more concerted campaign. The day after the April election, Dr. King and local civil rights leaders began "
Project 'C'" (for "confrontation") against the Birmingham business community. They used economic boycotts and demonstrations to seek integration of stores and job opportunities. Throughout April 1963, King led smaller demonstrations, which resulted in his arrest along with many others. King wanted to have massive arrests to highlight the brutal police tactics used by Connor and his subordinates. (By extension, the campaign was intended to demonstrate the general suppression by other Southern police officials as well). After King was arrested and jailed, he wrote his
Letter from Birmingham Jail, which became noted as a moral argument for civil rights activism. The goal of the campaign was to gain mass arrests of non-violent protesters and overwhelm the judicial and penal systems. It would also demonstrate to national media and local residents the strong desire of African Americans to exercise their constitutional rights as citizens.
Children's Crusade In the final phase of Project C, the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference's
James Bevel introduced a controversial new tactic of using young people in the demonstrations. Most adults were working for bosses who openly threatened their jobs with termination for participating in the demonstrations. On May 2, 1963, the first youths and students walked out of the
16th Street Baptist Church and attempted to march to Birmingham's City Hall to talk to the Mayor. By the end of the day, 959 children, ranging from ages 6–18, had been arrested. The next day, even more students joined the marches, against whom Connor ordered the use of fire hoses and attack dogs. This did not stop the demonstrators, but generated bad publicity for Connor through the news media. The use of fire hoses continued and by May 7, Connor and the police department had detained more than 3,000 demonstrators. == Later life and death ==