Perry O. Hooper, Sr.
| Perry O. Hooper Sr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 27th Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court | |
|
In office October 20, 1995 – January 15, 2001 |
|
| Preceded by | Ernest C. Hornsby |
| Succeeded by | Roy Moore |
| Circuit Judge, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Montgomery County, Alabama | |
|
In office 1974–1983 |
|
| Probate Judge, Montgomery County, Alabama | |
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In office 1965–1974 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Perry Oliver Hooper April 8, 1925 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | April 24, 2016 (aged 91) Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Marilyn Yost Hooper |
| Children | Perry O. Hooper Jr. and 3 others |
| Parents | Ernest and Mary Lou Perry Hooper |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Lawyer, judge |
| Religion | United Methodist Church |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Marine Corps |
Perry Oliver Hooper Sr. (April 8, 1925 – April 24, 2016), was an American jurist who served as the twenty-seventh Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court from 1995 to 2001. He was the first Republican since Reconstruction to have been elected to his state's highest court.
After service in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, Hooper attended Birmingham Southern College and the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa. With receipt of his Juris Doctor degree from UA, he entered private practice. In 1964, during the Barry Goldwater sweep of Alabama, Hooper was elected probate judge of Montgomery County, the first Republican to have been elected to that position since the 19th century. He continued as the probate judge, handling wills, successions, and estate transactions, until 1974, when was elected Judge of Alabama's 15th Judicial Circuit. In 1983, he returned to private practice.
In 1968, Hooper was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate for the open seat vacated by retiring Democrat Lister Hill. He won the party nomination in a state convention presided over by subsequent State Representative Bert Nettles, a lawyer then from Mobile. In the general election, Hooper received 201,277 votes (24 percent) to 638,774 (76 percent) for the Democratic nominee, former Lieutenant Governor James B. Allen, a conservative whose views were similar to those of Hooper. Still Hooper polled 54,304 more votes in his statewide race than did his party's presidential nominee, Richard M. Nixon. Hooper narrowly held his home county of Montgomery and fared best among upper-income whites, having received two thirds of the vote in higher socio-economic precincts in both Montgomery and Birmingham. Lower-income whites, conversely, supported Allen by a wide margin. In eleven of the state's sixty-seven counties, Hooper failed to reach double digits. Years later, Hooper recalled that many voters "didn't know" that he was in the race: "They only knew that George Wallace was carrying the banner [for President]... People didn't dislike Nixon, they just liked Wallace, who sounded... Republican," Hooper said.
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Wikipedia