and won the general election handily. The film The Phenix City Story (1955) was based on these events, and actor Richard Kiley portrayed Patterson in that film. Patterson continued to challenge organized crime but became better known for his actions in opposition to civil rights. Following the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered an end to racial segregation in public schools, Patterson coordinated action in half a dozen Southern states against the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. When the NAACP failed to register as an out-of-state organization, he used this technicality to ban it from operating in the state. Historian Dan T. Carter describes this as "a conspiracy to deprive Black southerners of their civil rights." Patterson also instituted legal action to defeat boycotts by Tuskegee blacks against white businesses. Governor of Alabama In 1958, Patterson ran for governor of Alabama on a platform of strong law enforcement and segregation, citing his background in Phenix City and his crime-fighting efforts as attorney general. His segregationalist stand resulted in a campaign endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan. He commented: "If a school is ordered to be integrated, it will be closed down." Patterson won the Democratic primary against future governor George Wallace and other candidates. Patterson became the second-youngest governor in Alabama history and the first to move directly from the post of the attorney general to the governor. During Patterson's tenure, the Alabama legislature increased funding for highways, inland waterways, old age pensions, schools, and mental health facilities. Laws curtailing loan sharking were also passed. During his term as governor, Patterson embarked on a long-running extramarital affair with Tina Sawyer, a woman who would eventually become his third wife. Rumors of the affair spread throughout Montgomery, and Alabamians remarked that his infidelity affected his political career. The affair eventually led to the end of his second marriage. While Patterson was governor, black students who staged a sit-in at Alabama State University were expelled on his instruction, and he defended Alabama's voter registration policies against federal criticism. Role in the Bay of Pigs invasion In 1959, Patterson was approached by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to allow Alabama Air National Guardsmen to help train pilots preparing for an invasion of Fidel Castro's Cuba. Assured that the project had the backing of President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Patterson had served on Eisenhower's staff during