Publish Date 
Written by Courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives
Representative from Alabama; born in Greensboro, Hale County, Ala., on October 31, 1892; attended the public schools, the Normal College, Livingston, Ala., and Southern University, Greensboro, Ala.; was graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1913, and attended the University of Montpellier, France, in 1919; clerk in probate office in Sumter County, Ala., 1913-1917; during the First World War served overseas as second and first lieutenant in the Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh Infantry; served in the Alabama National Guard as inspector general with rank of major 1922-1924, and as division inspector of the Thirty-first Infantry Division with rank of lieutenant colonel 1924-1940; assistant State examiner of accounts 1919-1930; secretary of state of Alabama 1931-1934; assistant State comptroller in 1935 and 1936; member of the State Democratic executive committee of Alabama 1927-1930; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1949); chairman, Committee on Memorials (Seventy-fifth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1948; appointed by President Harry S Truman as Ambassador to Australia on June 8, 1949, and served until July 31, 1953; died in Washington, D.C., February 17, 1955; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard