Seth Gordon Persons (February 5, 1902 – May 29, 1965) was an American Democratic politician who was the 43rd governor of Alabama from 1951 to 1955. A relative moderate, Persons provided reforms to the state prison system, and limited poll tax reform, while expanding highway spending and creating the state's educational television system. His term was relatively quiet, between the Dixiecrat revolt and the eve of the turbulent civil rights era.
Early life and career
Persons enrolled at Auburn University in 1921. While at Auburn, he served as president of the "Hobo Club" that traveled to away football games dressed as hobos. Persons studied electrical engineering, but left school after one year. Persons would go on to serve on the board of directors for the National Association of Broadcasters from 1935 to 1939, and as the chief radio consultant of the Office of War Information from 1942 to 1943.
In 1935, Persons was appointed by governor Bibb Graves as chairman of the state Rural Electrification Administration. Three years later, he opened his own engineering firm installing electrical lines; in addition to financial gain, he also won considerable popularity. His first official act as governor was to call a meeting of the Auburn University board of trustees to fire football coach Earl Brown and replace him with Shug Jordan.
Unable to run for a second consecutive term, Persons suffered a heart attack in November 1954, days before Folsom's re-election. He never returned to office, and directed his secretary to read his farewell address to the legislature. The Gordon Persons Building is a six floor, 60,000 square foot state government office building in Montgomery that houses the state departments of Education, Revenue, and Human Resources.