Albert J. Lingo (January 22, 1910 – August 19, 1969) was appointed in 1963 by Alabama Gov.
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...
to head the
Alabama Highway Patrol, which he led until 1965 during turbulent years marked by marches and
demonstrations that characterized the
Civil Rights Movement in the
U.S. South.
Career
According to historian
Dan T. Carter, Lingo had limited experience in law enforcement, but "had a reputation indispensable for Wallace .... He was known as 'hell on niggers' and a man who seemed to relish confrontation." His anger was not limited to Blacks and "his own recruits learned to stay out of his path; he was a dangerously unstable man ...."
Lingo was reportedly a member of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
and was widely seen as a Klan-sympathizer.
Lingo was described by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' editorial page editor
Howell Raines as "an addled racist" who derailed the state of Alabama's investigation into the
16th Street Baptist Church bombing due to either incompetence or in order to protect
Robert Chambliss.
Lingo played a central role in Wallace's attempt to thwart racial peace during the
Birmingham campaign
The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts ...
. When white business leaders in Birmingham and civil rights leaders announced a desegregation accord on May 7, 1963, Lingo almost immediately ordered state troopers to cease their work with municipal officers to keep the peace on city streets, despite law enforcement intelligence that there was a plan to dynamite the hotel where the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
was staying. After the motel and the home of King's brother were bombed on May 12, 1963, authorities and civil rights leaders at first struggled to control conflict in the streets. As order was on the verge of being restored, Lingo, under the orders of Wallace, returned to the city with state troopers and about 100 civilians armed with hunting rifles who had been mustered by Wallace from Selma. Lingo ignored the pleas of Birmingham police chief Jamie Moore to leave the city, instead setting his subordinates loose in the city in what federal officials concluded was a deliberate effort by Wallace to provoke incidents that the race-baiting governor, who in his January 1963 inauguration had promised
"segregation forever," could use to justify further repression. Ultimately, King and other civil rights leaders were able to calm the streets through their own efforts.
Also in May 1963, Lingo led troopers in confronting civil rights marchers who were protesting the murder of William L. Moore, who was killed while protesting segregation. The troopers used an electric cattle prod on the protesters.
Lingo is also linked to the racist violence that accompanied the
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized by Nonviolence, nonvi ...
. He led troopers who beat protesters on the
Edmund Pettus Bridge
The Edmund Pettus Bridge carries U.S. Route 80 Business (Selma, Alabama), U.S. Route 80 Business (US 80 Bus.) across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama, United States. Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Pettus, a former Confeder ...
in Selma on March 7, 1965, in what would become known as Bloody Sunday. He later claimed that he had "argued for two days" in favor of allowing the march, but was overruled "by my superior," presumably Wallace. "I was made the scapegoat," he said.
He ran an intelligence operation that used police power to compile dossiers on civil rights workers. The operation was used to intimidate, blackmail or otherwise discredit several Black applicants who would have desegregated the University of Alabama, but failed when investigators, acting on the orders of Wallace, could find nothing useful in the history or family backgrounds of
Vivian Malone
Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (July 15, 1942 – October 13, 2005) was the first black student to graduate from the University of Alabama, in 1965. She and James Hood were the first black students able to enroll at the university since Autherine ...
and
James Hood.
He resigned as director effective October 1, 1965, and later ran for election to be
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
of
Jefferson County, Alabama
Jefferson County is the List of counties in Alabama, most populous county in the U.S. state of Alabama, located in the central portion of the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 674,721. Its county seat i ...
, but was defeated.
Lingo died of heart disease at age 59 on August 17, 1969.
["Ex-Trooper Chief, Lingo, Dies at 59", ''Birmingham Post-Herald'', August 18, 1969, and "Ex-state official--Heart ailment fatal to Lingo", ''The Birmingham News'', August 18, 1969, p. 24.]
References
External links
Albert Lingo's FBI filehosted at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingo, Albert
1910 births
1969 deaths
Law enforcement officials from Alabama
State cabinet secretaries of Alabama
People from Clayton, Alabama
20th-century American politicians
Selma to Montgomery marches
American state police officers
American police chiefs
American segregationists