Big Jim Folsom
The Two Faces of Populism
Big Jim Folsom: The Two Faces of Populism sees the post-World War II South through the story of Alabama governor James E. “Big Jim” Folsom. Nicknamed ‘Kissin’ Jim’ by the Northern press due to his fondness for women and alcohol, Folsom in 1946 overturned the planter/big business oligarchy who had ruled the state since Reconstruction. Folsom’s effort to continue New Deal politics, unifying the interests of poor whites and blacks, met virulent opposition from the press and the state’s Old Guard. Folsom’s liberalism on race ran into a buzzsaw of racism after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown decision desegregating schools. He lost a third term in 1962 to former protégé George Wallace, a former racial moderate turned fiery defender of Jim Crow.
Original music score by Donald Stark.
“Filmmaker Robert Clem has achieved an evenhanded portrait of this fascinating political figure. . . Highly recommended.”
Library Journal, December 1997
“The belief that history is really the study of biography gains support with this video portrait of Jim Folsom, the twice elected populist governor of Alabama who served the state in the ’40s and ’50s. A perceptive look at a stormy career.”
Video Librarian, Sept-Oct 1997
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