George Wallace

George Wallace
Louis Fabian Bachrach Jr. · Public domain · source
Name	George Wallace
Caption	Wallace in 1968
Order	45th
Office	Governor of Alabama
Term start	January 14, 1963
Term end	January 16, 1967
Lieutenant	James B. Allen
Predecessor	John Malcolm Patterson
Successor	Lurleen Wallace
Order2	49th
Office2	Governor of Alabama
Term start2	January 18, 1971
Term end2	January 15, 1979
Lieutenant2	Jere Beasley
Predecessor2	Albert Brewer
Successor2	Fob James
Office3	Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
Term start3	1947
Term end3	1953
Birth name	George Corley Wallace Jr.
Birth date	25 August 1919
Birth place	Clio, Alabama, U.S.
Death date	13 September 1998
Death place	Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Party	Democratic (until 1968; 1970–1998), American Independent Party (1968–1970)
Spouse	Lurleen Wallace (m. 1943; died 1968), Cornelia Wallace (m. 1971; div. 1978), Lisa Taylor (m. 1981; div. 1987)
Children	4, including George Wallace Jr.
Education	University of Alabama (LLB)
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Serviceyears	1942–1945
Rank	Staff sergeant
Unit	58th Bombardment Wing
Battles	World War II

George Wallace was an American politician who served as the 45th and 49th Governor of Alabama and became a nationally prominent, polarizing figure for his staunch defense of racial segregation in the American South. A four-time candidate for President of the United States, he is best known for his 1963 inaugural declaration of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" and his 1968 third-party presidential campaign that won five states and 46 electoral votes. His political career, marked by populist appeals and a dramatic shift in his later years, profoundly influenced the trajectory of Southern politics and the Republican Party's Southern strategy.

Early life and education

Born in Clio, Alabama, he was the son of George Corley Wallace Sr. and Mozell Smith. He showed an early interest in politics, serving as a page in the Alabama Senate and winning a boxing championship at Barbour County High School. After briefly attending law school, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, serving as a flight engineer on B-29 Superfortress missions with the 58th Bombardment Wing in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Following his military service, he returned to complete his LLB at the University of Alabama, where he befriended future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's son. He entered politics as an assistant state's attorney before being elected in 1946 to the Alabama House of Representatives, where he served as a delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention.

Political career

Initially considered a moderate on racial issues, his defeat in the 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election by John Malcolm Patterson, who was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, convinced him to adopt a hardline segregationist stance. Elected governor in 1962, he gained national infamy in 1963 by physically blocking the door of the Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to prevent the enrollment of Vivian Malone and James Hood, a confrontation with Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard ordered by President John F. Kennedy. His administration also oversaw the violent "Bloody Sunday" confrontation on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, which galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Due to term limits, he engineered the successful 1966 gubernatorial campaign of his wife, Lurleen Wallace.

Presidential campaigns

He first sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1964, challenging President Lyndon B. Johnson in several primaries. His most significant campaign was in 1968 as the nominee of the American Independent Party, running on a platform of states' rights, law and order, and opposition to busing and desegregation. He carried Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, securing 13.5% of the popular vote and fracturing the New Deal coalition. He again contested the 1972 Democratic primaries, campaigning heavily in Maryland and Michigan, until an assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland, left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Later years and death

Returning to Alabama politics, he was re-elected governor in 1974 and, in a dramatic political and personal transformation, publicly renounced his segregationist past and sought reconciliation with the Civil Rights Movement. He appointed a record number of African Americans to state government positions and won significant Black voter support in his final gubernatorial election. After leaving office, he taught at Troy University and made a final, unsuccessful bid for the governorship in 1982. In his later years, he was in constant pain from his paralysis and other ailments, making a public apology for his earlier actions to leaders like John Lewis. He died in Montgomery, Alabama, from septic shock due to a bacterial infection in 1998 and was interred at Greenwood Cemetery.

Legacy and impact

His legacy is complex, viewed as a symbol of Jim Crow resistance and a catalyst for the political realignment of the Solid South. Scholars argue his 1968 campaign demonstrated the potency of a populist, racially charged message that was later incorporated into the Republican Southern strategy under Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. His later-life contrition, including receiving a Martin Luther King Jr. award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, did little to erase the profound social damage of his early career. Historians credit his campaigns with shifting the national political dialogue on issues like welfare, crime, and federal power, themes that continue to resonate in American politics.

Category:Governors of Alabama Category:American Independent Party politicians Category:1998 deaths