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Floyd Mann
Floyd Mann (August 20, 1920 - January 12, 1996) was an American law enforcement official, who served as Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between 1959 and 1963. He is best known for his interactions with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May 1961.
Mann was born in Daviston, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, in 1920. After schooling in Davidson and Alexander City, Alabama, Mann joined the United States Army Air Corps, serving as a tail gunner on a B-17, where he flew 27 combat missions including the first daylight raid on Berlin. He received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married Grace Doss of Fort Worth, Texas, on November 25, 1944.
After his military service he served as a security officer at Republic Steel in Gadsden. Afterwards he served as a police officer in Alexander City, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.
From 1950 until 1958, he served as the chief of police of Opelika, where he assisted with the clean-up of gambling and corruption that had spilled over from Phenix City. During this time he developed a close relationship with John Patterson, who later became attorney general and governor. From 1959 until 1963, he served as director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, appointed by Governor Patterson.
Mann was the Director of Public Safety for Alabama in 1961, when the nonviolent Freedom Riders entered the state seeking an end to segregation. As governor Patterson was resisting U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's demands that the Freedom Riders be protected from the Ku Klux Klan and others who were attacking them at their Alabama stops. Patterson was a committed segregationist who called the Freedom Riders "fools" and "agitators" for whom he did not want to "play nursemaid".
Mann offered to protect the riders if he was given the proper resources, with the understanding that the state and city police of Alabama would offer assistance. Kennedy sent a representative to talk to Patterson, who had his entire cabinet attend the meeting. Patterson based his repeated refusal to protect the nonviolent demonstrators from the Klan on his argument that such protection was impossible to provide, and well beyond the capabilities of local or state law enforcement.
Violence in Alabama was organized by Birmingham Police Sergeant Tom Cook (an avid Ku Klux Klan supporter) and police commissioner Bull Connor. The pair made plans to bring the Ride to an end in Alabama. When the bus arrived in Birmingham, it was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klan members, assisted by the police under the orders of Commissioner Connor. As the riders exited the bus, the mob beat them with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the Klansmen attacking the riders was FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for beating; James Peck required more than 50 stitches to the wounds in his head. Peck was taken to Carraway Methodist Medical Center, which refused to treat him; he was later treated at Jefferson Hillman Hospital.
Connor claimed that he had posted no officers at the bus depot because of the holiday; however, it was later discovered that the FBI knew of the planned attack and that the city police stayed away on purpose. Patterson did not apologize, commenting, "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it...You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are, just fools." When asked about Connor, Mann said: "He was in charge, Bull Connor was in charge of the police department in Birmingham at that point in time. He was police commissioner... his comment was that it was just absolutely ridiculous for those people to be in Alabama doing what they were doing".
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Floyd Mann
Floyd Mann (August 20, 1920 - January 12, 1996) was an American law enforcement official, who served as Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between 1959 and 1963. He is best known for his interactions with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May 1961.
Mann was born in Daviston, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, in 1920. After schooling in Davidson and Alexander City, Alabama, Mann joined the United States Army Air Corps, serving as a tail gunner on a B-17, where he flew 27 combat missions including the first daylight raid on Berlin. He received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married Grace Doss of Fort Worth, Texas, on November 25, 1944.
After his military service he served as a security officer at Republic Steel in Gadsden. Afterwards he served as a police officer in Alexander City, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.
From 1950 until 1958, he served as the chief of police of Opelika, where he assisted with the clean-up of gambling and corruption that had spilled over from Phenix City. During this time he developed a close relationship with John Patterson, who later became attorney general and governor. From 1959 until 1963, he served as director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, appointed by Governor Patterson.
Mann was the Director of Public Safety for Alabama in 1961, when the nonviolent Freedom Riders entered the state seeking an end to segregation. As governor Patterson was resisting U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's demands that the Freedom Riders be protected from the Ku Klux Klan and others who were attacking them at their Alabama stops. Patterson was a committed segregationist who called the Freedom Riders "fools" and "agitators" for whom he did not want to "play nursemaid".
Mann offered to protect the riders if he was given the proper resources, with the understanding that the state and city police of Alabama would offer assistance. Kennedy sent a representative to talk to Patterson, who had his entire cabinet attend the meeting. Patterson based his repeated refusal to protect the nonviolent demonstrators from the Klan on his argument that such protection was impossible to provide, and well beyond the capabilities of local or state law enforcement.
Violence in Alabama was organized by Birmingham Police Sergeant Tom Cook (an avid Ku Klux Klan supporter) and police commissioner Bull Connor. The pair made plans to bring the Ride to an end in Alabama. When the bus arrived in Birmingham, it was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klan members, assisted by the police under the orders of Commissioner Connor. As the riders exited the bus, the mob beat them with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the Klansmen attacking the riders was FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for beating; James Peck required more than 50 stitches to the wounds in his head. Peck was taken to Carraway Methodist Medical Center, which refused to treat him; he was later treated at Jefferson Hillman Hospital.
Connor claimed that he had posted no officers at the bus depot because of the holiday; however, it was later discovered that the FBI knew of the planned attack and that the city police stayed away on purpose. Patterson did not apologize, commenting, "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it...You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are, just fools." When asked about Connor, Mann said: "He was in charge, Bull Connor was in charge of the police department in Birmingham at that point in time. He was police commissioner... his comment was that it was just absolutely ridiculous for those people to be in Alabama doing what they were doing".