Bill Dickinson; Congressman Helped Crack the Solid South

Former U.S. representative Bill Dickinson, who came to office in the election in which Barry Goldwater helped turn Alabama into a two-party state, died March 31. He was 82.

Walter Bamberg, a longtime aide, said Mr. Dickinson died at his home in Montgomery, Ala. He had colon cancer.

Mr. Dickinson, a former judge in city, juvenile and circuit courts in Opelika, Ala., was one of several Democrats recruited to change parties in 1964 and run as Republicans for Congress in a state that had been solidly Democratic for a century.

In an election set against a Deep South backlash to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, the Republican presidential nominee, carried Alabama and helped Republicans claim five of Alabama's eight seats in the U.S. House.

Former U.S. representative Jim Martin of Gadsden, one of the Republicans elected in 1964, said it was a transforming election for Alabama.

"It was the beginning of Alabama changing from a racist, one-party state to a dynamic, two-party state," Martin said Tuesday.

Voters in the state's 2nd Congressional District were accustomed to voting straight Democratic tickets in the general election. Clay Swanzy, Mr. Dickinson's former chief of staff, recalled that Mr. Dickinson had to run ads educating voters about how to split their ballots between Democrats and Republicans.

"First for Bill, and then as you will," the ads said.

Mr. Dickinson was reelected every two years until he decided to retire in 1992 and settle in Montgomery.

Bamberg said Mr. Dickinson loved to travel through his 13-county district in south Alabama, meeting with constituents.

"The secret of his success was he campaigned all the time," Bamberg said.

Mr. Dickinson served on the House Armed Services Committee, where he became the ranking Republican member. He was an ardent defender of military spending during the Vietnam War and protected military bases that were an important part of Alabama's economy.

"I used to tease him and tell him that he never met a weapons system he didn't like," Swanzy said. The reality was that he did oppose some, Swanzy said.

Mr. Dickinson's successor, Republican Rep. Terry Everett, recalled that Mr. Dickinson was President Reagan's point man on the Armed Services Committee.

"As the committee's leading Republican, he gave his support to President Reagan's defense buildup of the 1980s, which helped bring down the Soviet Union," Everett said.

Survivors include Mr. Dickinson's wife, Barbara, and four children, Christopher Dickinson of Seoul, Michael Dickinson of Munich, Tara Dickinson Sherer of Humble, Tex., and William Dickinson Jr. of Montgomery.