[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 11 (Friday, January 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S394-S395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO FLOYD MANN

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, Floyd H. Mann, who served in the cabinets 
of three Alabama Governors and is credited with saving the life of a 
civil rights activist in Montgomery, died on January 12, 1996 at the 
age of 76.
  A native of Daviston, AL, located in Tallapoosa County, he served in 
the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. As a tail gunner on a B-17 
aircraft, he flew on 27 combat missions, including the first daylight 
raid on Berlin. He received numerous awards for his brave service, 
including the Distinguished Flying Cross.
  Floyd Mann was a rather remarkable person and leader. He served as 
chief of police in Opelika, AL, from 1950 to 1958. He earned praise for 
his rapid clean-up of the town, which had suffered from corruption that 
had spread from nearby Phenix City. The Governor at the time, John 
Patterson, appointed Floyd director of the Alabama Department of Public 
Safety in 1959.
  During his tenure, he made national headlines for his one-man charge 
into a rioting mob that was beating a bus full of civil rights freedom 
riders at a Montgomery bus station in 1961. He was credited as having 
helped save the life of a black Tennessee student and a Birmingham 
newsman during that painful incident. His heroic actions earned him the 
United Press International's Man of the Year in Alabama Award for 1961.
  Later, Floyd served as director of public safety under Gov. Albert 
Brewer and was administrator of the State Alcoholic Beverage Control 
Board during Gov. Fob James' first term in 1982-83. He also worked as 
an assistant to University of Alabama President David Matthews, whom he 
followed to Washington, DC, to work with at the Department of Health, 
Education, and Welfare.
  While at the University of Alabama, he was very active as the head of 
security and was a great public relations person for the school. He 
knew almost all of the alumni personally, and always greeted them with 
a bright smile, firm handshake, and warm conversation.
  I remember being in Tuscaloosa, where the university is located, many 
times and going by the old Stafford Hotel early in the morning where a 
group of local citizens would be gathered for coffee. Floyd would 
always be right at the center of the group. Different people would come 
in and he would stay and meet with the groups. He was well liked and 
deeply respected.
  Floyd Mann was one of those people who never failed to do what was 
right, even if it meant risking his personal safety. He knew the 
meaning of being neighborly, of treating others the way he wanted to be 
treated. He took a considerable degree of pride in his work, and seemed 
genuinely excited about the things he did and about the people around 
him.
  I extend my sincerest condolences to Floyd's wife of 51 years, Grace, 
and 

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their entire family in the wake of this tremendous loss.

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