T
One Man's Road from Alabama to Dallas, 1954-1963
In 1954 Johnnie Frank Griffin witnessed the violent death of
Attorney General-elect Albert Patterson, of Alabama. Six months
later he told a grand jury what he knew. The next day he was
stabbed. Though his wounds seemed slight, that night he died in
a hospital built from the profits of crime. Nine years later,
less than an hour after the assassination of John F. Kennedy,
Johnnie Frank’s son, Frank Griffin, saw Lee Harvey Oswald
fleeing the scene of the murder of a Dallas police officer.
Between these two events Frank grew up in one of the strangest
decades in American history. His story touches that of one of
the era’s best known governors, John Patterson of Alabama. It
intersects with mob bosses and CIA operations. There's even room
for country music and barroom brawls. This story shows how Frank
Griffin's life was truly Touched By Fire.
© Copyright 2012. Frank Griffin. All rights reserved.