Albert Brewer
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Albert Preston Brewer (born October 26, 1928) is an American politician who was the Governor of Alabama from May, 1968 until January, 1971. He was born in Bethel Springs, Tennessee
Prior to his election as Lt. Governor, he served three terms in the Alabama House of Representatives from Morgan County from 1954-1966. During the last of these terms 1962-1966 Brewer, at age 34 became the Speaker of the House, the youngest person in state history to hold this post. A one-time ally of George Wallace, he ran for lieutenant governor in 1966 when Wallace's wife, Lurleen Wallace was the Democratic nominee for governor in an effort to keep power in the Wallace family because George Wallace was prevented by term limits then in the Alabama state constitution from succeeding himself. When Mrs. Wallace subsequently died in office in May, 1968 and Brewer became governor, he was not interested in allowing Wallace to run the state the way that Mrs. Wallace had. Additionally, George Wallace was in the midst of his quixotic bid for the Presidency as the candidate of his own American Independent Party. Thus, Brewer began to work to be elected as governor in his own right in 1970. In this effort, he gained an important ally in President Richard M. Nixon, who won the 1968 presidential election and who sought to neutralize Wallace as a potential adversary in 1972. Brewer lost the 1970 Democratic nomination for Governor of Alabama to Wallace, however, and the term limits in the 1901 Constitution of Alabama which had made his achieving the governorship temporarily a possibility were repealed.
While lieutenant governor, he was acting governor for a portion of one day while Governor Lurleen Wallace was out of the state for over 20 days for medical treatment. When this constitutional provision became operative, Mrs. Wallace was immediately rushed back into the state.
After years of private law practice, Brewer served as Distinguished Professor of Law and Government at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. He has also been an active leader with the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform since 2000. Template:Start box Template:Succession box Template:End box