Lurleen Wallace

Lurleen Wallace
Scenic South Card Co. · Public domain · source
Name	Lurleen Wallace
Caption	Lurleen Wallace in 1967
Order	46th
Office	Governor of Alabama
Term start	January 16, 1967
Term end	May 7, 1968
Lieutenant	Albert Brewer
Predecessor	George Wallace
Successor	Albert Brewer
Birth name	Lurleen Brigham Burns
Birth date	September 19, 1926
Birth place	Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Death date	May 7, 1968 (aged 41)
Death place	Montgomery, Alabama
Party	Democratic
Spouse	George Wallace (m. 1943)
Occupation	Businesswoman, politician

Lurleen Wallace. Lurleen Wallace was the 46th Governor of Alabama, serving from 1967 until her death in 1968. She is historically significant as the first woman elected governor of Alabama and as a surrogate for her husband, former Governor George Wallace, during a period of intense national focus on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Her tenure, though brief, represented a continuation of the Wallace family's political dominance and the Alabama Democratic Party's strategy to maintain the state's traditional social order against federal integration efforts.

Early life and marriage

Lurleen Brigham Burns was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and worked at a Kress dime store after graduating from high school. She met George Wallace in 1942, and they married the following year while he was on leave from the United States Army Air Forces. During World War II, she worked at a shipbuilding company in Mobile, Alabama. After the war, she primarily focused on raising their four children while George Wallace began his political career, serving as a state representative, judge, and eventually Governor. Her early life was typical of many Southern women of her generation, centered on family and providing steadfast support for her husband's ambitions in Alabama politics.

Political career and gubernatorial election

Lurleen Wallace's political career was inextricably linked to her husband's. Because the Alabama Constitution at the time prohibited consecutive gubernatorial terms, George Wallace could not run for re-election in 1966. To circumvent this, the Wallace campaign engineered a plan for Lurleen to run as a surrogate candidate, with the understanding that George would remain the de facto power behind the throne. She won the Democratic primary easily, as the party apparatus was firmly under Wallace control. In the 1966 Alabama gubernatorial election, she defeated the Republican candidate, James D. Martin, and write-in candidate Carl Elliott, in a landslide victory. Her campaign platform echoed her husband's emphasis on states' rights, opposition to federal civil rights legislation, and populist economic messages, securing overwhelming support from the state's white electorate.

Governorship and health

Lurleen Wallace was inaugurated on January 16, 1967. Her governorship was largely ceremonial in matters of policy, with her husband and a circle of advisors, including Seymore Trammell, holding significant influence. She did advocate for several initiatives, including increased funding for the state's mental health institutions and Alabama state parks. However, her term was dominated by a personal health crisis. Diagnosed with uterine cancer in 1961, she had undergone a surgery that was believed to be successful. The cancer returned in 1965, but this was concealed from the public during the 1966 campaign. Her health deteriorated rapidly after taking office. She underwent treatments, including cobalt therapy, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and continued to perform limited duties from her hospital bed. Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer assumed more responsibilities as her condition worsened.

Relationship to George Wallace and the Civil Rights Movement

Lurleen Wallace's political identity was a direct extension of her husband's. Her election was a tactical maneuver to preserve George Wallace's political movement and his defiant stance against the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the federal government's enforcement of desegregation. While she did not make the incendiary rhetorical stands her husband was famous for, such as his 1963 stand at the University of Alabama, her administration upheld the policies of massive resistance. Her governorship symbolized the continuity of Alabama's political establishment's commitment to segregationist traditions and state sovereignty arguments. Her tenure coincided with continued legal and social battles over integration in cities like Birmingham and Selma, and her administration's stance provided moral support to those opposing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the work of figures like Martin Luther King Jr.

Death and legacy

Lurleen Wallace died of cancer at the St. Margaret's Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama on May 7, 1968, at the age of 41. She was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer. Her funeral was a major state event, and she was buried at Greenwood Cemetery. Her legacy is multifaceted. She is remembered as a pioneering woman in Southern politics, the first female governor of Alabama, and a figure of personal courage in her battle with illness. Politically, however, her legacy is firmly tied to her role in sustaining the United States|George Wallace's segregationist political machine during a critical period. Her election demonstrated the potency of populist, states' rights appeals in Alabama and the Deep South, a political current|conservative movement that would later influence national politics. Institutions like the Lurleen B. Wallace Community College and the Lurleen B. Wallace are named in her memory, and Lurleen Wallace Dam on Lake Lurleen is a testament to her support for state parks.