James Caldwell Book

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  Magic - No! Miracle - Yes! The Founding and Early Development of the University of South Alabama

  James F. Caldwell

  This document's purpose is to present a thesis in the form of memoirs to account for my involvement in the development of the University of South Alabama. It was made possible by a confluence of several factors including federal legislation to help the nation meet the problems of demobilization of the military forces of the United States, the sweep of historic events having to do with the election of Harry Truman as president of the United States in 1948, the political situation in Alabama that led to the election of George C. Wallace as the governor of the State of Alabama and the skills of Dr. Frederick Palmer Whiddon, who at that time was the director of the Extension Center of the University of Alabama, and who succeeded in forming a Foundation for Public Higher Education.

  The Prologue deals with my credentials for the job of heading the overall development aspects of the university.

  Phases I and II of the document deal with my experiences in interviewing for the development job, and my initial dealings with, at that time, the 32 year old president of the university. These phases also dealt with the existing assets of the university, which enabled it to form only the first college of the university (the College of Arts and Sciences), and the initial construction of the facilities necessary to that college.

  Phase Ill deals with the expansion of the College of Arts and Sciences into a major university of approximately seven thousand students attending five colleges in modem facilities adequate for an enrollment of ten thousand students. There were also ancillary facilities of a convention center and ample student housing.

  Following Phase III there is an anecdotal section, which is designed to give some "spice" to the narration of details, lending some idea of the interplay of personalities involved in this great undertaking.

  The final section of the document is the epilogue, which is an attempt to reveal the sum total of the effect of federal legislation and local and state politics coming into confluence in 1963 and making possible the founding of a new state university through the application of the political leadership of Dr. Frederick Palmer Whiddon, local political leaders and Governor George C. Wallace.