the war), Patterson gave his assent. During the 1960 presidential campaign, Patterson was among a handful of Southern governors who backed John F. Kennedy for president. He raised money, collected delegates loyal to Kennedy within the state of Alabama, and led the state's delegation to the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. Patterson informed Kennedy of the Cuban invasion plan, thinking that invading before election day would have benefited Kennedy's Republican opponent, Vice President Richard Nixon. Only a few months into his presidency, Kennedy approved a modified version of the invasion plan, the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Failed election bids Patterson left office in 1963; the Constitution of Alabama did not allow governors to run for immediate reelection. His Democratic opponent from 1958, George Wallace, succeeded him. In 1966 Patterson ran a second time for governor but was defeated by Wallace's wife, Lurleen, who was widely understood to be a surrogate candidate for her husband. In 1970, Patterson unsuccessfully contested the Democratic nomination for the post of Alabama Chief Justice, losing to future U.S. Senator Howell Heflin. Later public life From the late 1970s through the 1980s, Patterson taught American government at Troy State University. During part of this time, George Wallace Jr. was an administrator at the school. During the same period, one-time California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Max Rafferty, headed the education department. In 1984, Governor George Wallace appointed Patterson to the intermediate Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, on which he was re-elected until his retirement from it in 1997. In 2003, Patterson was appointed chief justice of a "Special Supreme Court" that tried the case of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who appealed his removal from office after he had refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse despite orders from a federal court judge to do so. The special court ruled that Moore's removal was legal. A 90-minute documentary on Patterson was completed in 2007 by Alabama filmmaker Robert Clem. Entitled John Patterson: In the Wake of the Assassins, the film features an extended interview with Patterson himself as well as with journalists, historians, and such figures as John Seigenthaler of The Tennessean, an aide to Robert F. Kennedy at the time of the Freedom Rides. Patterson endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Patterson publicly regretted his support of segregated schools. He said that during his era, any suggestion of