Thanks, Christine Ross.

Today TCM aired “The Phenix City Story,” the true story of the assassination of the courageous Albert Patterson in 1954. Mr. Patterson was shot to death after winning the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. He vowed to clean up corruption in his home town of Phenix City, Alabama.

Shot just a few months after the assassination on location in Phenix City, the film shows actual residents and re-enacts the crime in a less grisly fashion.

The prologue contains actual and deeply moving comments by residents of Phenix City.

Their quiet fortitude in the face of widespread corruption is a timely message for our era: