Senator Glen Taylor Arrested in Civil Rights Protest
Senator Glen Taylor (D–Idaho) was arrested on this day in Birmingham, Alabama, for attempting to hold a racially integrated campaign rally. He was then the candidate for Vice President on the Progressive Party ticket with presidential candidate Henry Wallace.
Taylor is possibly the only sitting member of the Senate ever arrested for a protest activity, and most likely the only person arrested while a candidate for president or vice-president to have been arrested.
After being arrested, Taylor was held in jail in the custody of Sheriff “Bull” Connor, who became internationally infamous for his brutal actions against civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham (see May 3, 1963).
Learn more about Taylor: F. Ross Peterson, Prophet Without Honor: Glen H. Taylor and the Fight for American Liberalism (1974)
And more: John C. Culver and John Hyde. American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace (2002)
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here