John Malcolm Patterson (September 27, 1921 – June 4, 2021) was an American politician. Despite having never stood for public office before, he served one term as Attorney General of Alabama from 1955 to 1959, and, at age 37, served one term as the 44th Governor of Alabama from 1959 to 1963. His turbulent tenure as governor was roiled by numerous civil rights protests and a long-running extramarital affair with Tina Sawyer, a mother-of-two who would eventually become his third wife. Patterson sought and ran with the support of the Ku Klux Klan when he won the governorship of Alabama in 1958. As governor, he was staunchly pro-segregation. He expressed regret for this position later in life. Patterson came to wider attention in the mid-1950s when he and his father Albert (who was murdered in 1954) fought against criminal organizations who controlled the town of Phenix City, Alabama. In 2003, Patterson was the presiding judge over former Chief Justice Roy Moore's appeal against his removal from the Alabama Supreme Court. Early life and career Patterson was born in Goldville in Tallapoosa County in east central Alabama. He was the son of Agnes Louise (née Benson) and Albert Patterson, both schoolteachers. His father later became an attorney. At age 17, on March 27, 1940, he joined the United States Army for World War II and served in the North African, Sicilian, Italian, Southern France, German campaigns, and served on Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff. In 1945, he left the Army at the rank of major, and earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alabama School of Law at Tuscaloosa. He was recalled to active duty in the Army from 1951 to 1953 during the Korean War and stationed in Europe. After his military service, he joined his father Albert Patterson's law practice. Attorney General of Alabama In 1954, Patterson's father ran for state attorney general in the state's Democratic primary on a platform promising to eliminate crime in the mob-controlled town of Phenix City, where he lived and across the state. At the time, Alabama was a de facto one-party state dominated by the Democrats, and the Democratic nominee was all but assured of election. Albert Patterson was fatally shot in Phenix City by an unknown assailant on June 18, 1954, less than two weeks after winning the Democratic nomination. As expected, John Patterson replaced his father on the ballot