1963 Birmingham municipal election

Albert Boutwell in 1963

The 1963 Birmingham municipal election was held on March 5, 1963 to elect a mayor and fill nine at-large seats on the newly-approved Birmingham City Council, which replaced the former Birmingham City Commission.

It was the first election held after the City of Birmingham adopted the Mayor-Council Act of 1955 as its form of government. Though all three members of the outgoing City Commission refused to leave office and filed suit to keep their positions, two of them, Bull Connor and J. T. Waggoner, Sr, qualified for the mayoral ballot.

The election was won by Lieutenant Governor of Alabama Albert Boutwell, a moderate who defeated Connor in the April 2 run-off. In the general election, Boutwell won 39% of the vote to Connor's 31%. Tom King polled 26% and Waggoner 4%.

City Council

The Birmingham City Council in 1963: 1st row, L-R: E. C. Overton, Nina Miglionico, M. Edwin Wiggins, George Seibels. 2nd row, L-R: Alan Drennen, Tom Woods, Don Hawkins, John Golden. Not pictured: John Bryan

Seventy-six individuals filed papers of qualification to appear on the ballot. Voters were required to select nine candidates at large. Ballots with more or less than nine marks were ruled invalid. John Bryan, Don Hawkins, George Seibels, and M. E. Wiggins were elected to four year terms. Alan Drennen, John Golden, Nina Miglionico, E. C. Overton and Tom Woods were elected to two-year terms. Wiggins was elected President of the Council.

Candidates

Thirty-four of the 76 candidates qualified from Birmingham's 10th Precinct (East Birmingham). Seventeen qualified from Precinct 21 (downtown Birmingham); 13 from Precinct 9 (West End), 3 from Precinct 42 (North Birmingham) and one from Precinct 52 (Wylam).

Only two of the qualifying candidates, attorney W. L. Williams, Jr and Reverend James Lowell Ware, were African-American.

Eleanor Abercrombie, publisher of Alabama Legal Advisor Boysie Anderson, transit company employee R. R. Andrews, insurance executive N. C. Aspinwall, president of United Security Life Insurance Izas Bahakel, attorney M. L. Boackle, distributing company employee Maxie Boyett, retired Labor Department employee Austin Brock, sales representative John Bryan, retired from Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Ross Callaway, steel worker Robert Carlisle, former banker Guy Carter, businessman Charles E. Clark, attorney Ollice Crain R. G. Crosby, draftsman Warren Crow III, real estate executive Henry Darnell, former police officer H. G. Davis Jr, Lloyd Noland Hospital lab director and pathologist Alan Drennen, insurance agent Taft Epstein, jeweler (Epp's Jewelry Co.) G. V. Eyraud Jr, attorney H. G. Franklin, businessman Robert Gafford, businessman Dan Gaylord, businessman J. C. Gentle, businessman Harry Gilmer, product representative Charles Giorlando, salesman John Golden, attorney Sam Harris, real estate agent W. S. Hart, accountant Don Hawkins, industrial sales George Higginbotham, attorney R. E. Hill, automobile company employee Calvin Holcombe, former Jefferson County Sheriff's Office employee Lee House, superintendent of Hillcrest Golf and Country Club Frank James, attorney Clarence Kelley, attorney

Harold Knight, attorney Edwin Ledford, attorney Frederick Livingston, photographer Gabriel Magdalani, restauranteur Fred Melof, safety engineer Nina Miglionico, attorney W. D. Mullins, businessman W. N. Nielson, industry executive E. C. Overton, optometrist Hubert Page, electrician L. E. Parker, former police sergeant Jack Porterfield, attorney Marvin Prude, businessman Bennett Pruet, metallurgist Robert Redus, real estate agent Norman Robie, railroad worker Raymond Rowell, electronics distributor Charles Sanders, chiropractor George Seibels, businessman Maurine Slaughter, real estate broker James Simpkins Charles L. Smith, merchant Bobby L. Smith, insurance salesman Cecil Songer Jr, elementary school teacher Fred Stone, accountants manager Bruce Thrasher, labor represntative Phillip Tortorici, hardware salesman S. T. Tucker, TCI employee Loy Vaughan, principal of Elyton School James L. Walker, principal of Wylam School M. G. Walker Jr, welding equipment supplier Milton Walker, millwright and former professional baseball player James Ware, minister Trinity Baptist Church Don Watts, auto parts broker Carl Wells, businessman M. E. Wiggins, businessman W. L. Williams Jr, attorney David Wood, retired newspaper executive Tom Woods, merchant

References

• Logue, Mickey (February 18, 1963) "76 in race for council's nine seats" Birmingham News - accessed via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• Solomon, Jon (February 20, 2013) "Jabo Waggoner: State senator hopes he's half the man his dad was as Birmingham commissioner." The Birmingham News