On January 6, 1948 – 77 years ago today – Alabama voters rejected a “Self-Starter Amendment” to the Alabama Constitution that would have allowed the Legislature to call itself into special session with a three-fifths vote of its membership.
Passed in the Legislature by “Big Mule” lawmakers shortly after he was sworn into office, the amendment was an attempt to limit the authority and power of Gov. James E. “Big Jim” Folsom, who was elected on a populist platform that prioritized poor and disenfranchised citizens.
During the referendum election, friends warned Folsom, a widower who carried the nickname “Kissin’ Jim” because of deep appreciation for the fairer sex, that his legislative opponents were planning to push the amendment to ratification by trapping him with a prostitute and publicly discrediting him.
During his next stump speech, which was in Washington County, Big Jim told the crowd:
A circuit judge warned me, “They’re going to trap you with a pretty woman. They’re going to trap you just as sure as heck.”
I thought for a moment and said, “Well, Judge, do you mean they’ll use one of the best looking gals that ever walked the streets of Montgomery?”
He said, “Yes, sir, Governor, they’re going to send off to New York for her and put her in fine clothes and a fine automobile. They’re going to have you meet her, and she’s going to lure you in.”
I said, “Judge, you mean she’s going to be built like this with curves up and down and every whichaway?”
He said, “That’s right.”
I said, “Judge, you need to go back and tell those fellas that if they set that kind of trap, and, more importantly, if they bait it with that kind of bait, they’re going to catch Ol’ Big Jim every time.”
Only 16 of Alabama’s 67 countries voted to ratify the “Self-Starter Amendment.” Shown here is an advertisement run by Folsom’s political opponents who were backing the amendment’s passage.
