1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,719 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, host of the new house Stuff 2 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Works Now podcast. Every week, I'll be bringing you three 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: stories from our team about the weird and wondrous developments 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: we've seen in science, technology, and culture. Fresh episodes will 5 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: be out every Monday on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, 6 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: and everywhere else that find podcasts are found. Welcome to 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class from how Stuff Works 8 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tray 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: c Vee Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Over the past 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: few years, Holly, you and I have talked about a 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: number of prominent figures and moments in the civil rights movement. 12 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: That is correct. So we've talked about people like Rosa 13 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 1: Parks and Bird Rustin, and we've talked about Supreme Court 14 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: decisions like Brown versus Board and Loving versus Virginia, organizations 15 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. But other than 16 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: talking sort of obliquely about the laws and practices and 17 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: social systems that have enforced segregation and discrimination in the 18 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: United States, as well as talking about some specific incidents 19 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: of racist violence, like the the destruction of the Greenwood 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We've never really talked about the 21 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: opposition to that movement, So today we are talking about 22 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: one of the most prominent voices against the civil rights 23 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:31,119 Speaker 1: movement and its objectives, Alabama Governor George Wallace, who spent 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: multiple campaigns for both governor and president on an explicitly 25 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: pro segregation platform. In his nineteen sixty three inaugural address 26 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: as governor of Alabama, he famously proclaimed segregation today, segregation tomorrow, 27 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: segregation forever. So we're going to be talking about violent 28 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: retaliation against the civil rights civil rights movement that happened 29 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: during his terms in office. And we're also going to 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: be talking a lot about his first wife, Lorline. He 31 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: was married other times, so we're not really getting into 32 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: that at all, but we all gonna are going to 33 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: talk about Lorelen, whose own story is both tied directly 34 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,519 Speaker 1: to her husband's political career and includes a pretty disturbing 35 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: account of medical neglect. So George Corley Wallace, Jr. Was 36 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: born on August nineteen nineteen in southeastern Alabama, where his 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: father was a farmer. His political career started very early, 38 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: at the age of fifteen, when he served as a 39 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: government page at the Alabama State Capitol and made up 40 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: his mind to return one day as governor. In his 41 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: high school years, he was also a boxer, winning two 42 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: state titles in that sport. Wallace studied at the University 43 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: of Alabama, paying his tuition by waiting tables and boxing. 44 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: He graduated in nineteen thirty seven and then finished his 45 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,959 Speaker 1: law degree in nineteen two. That same year, at the 46 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: age of twenty four, he met Lorlene Burns, who was 47 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: then sixteen, while she was working at a five and 48 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: dime in Tuscaloosa. She had graduated from high school early, 49 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: and she was working there to try to save up 50 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: money to go to nursing school. George was already very 51 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: interested in politics, something that didn't really interest Lorline at all, 52 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: but they quickly became inseparable. Not long after they met, 53 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: Wallace was inducted into the U. S. Army Air Corps 54 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: to serve in World War Two. He and Lorline got 55 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: marrying on May twenty one, ninety three, while he was 56 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: on leave after having contracted meningitis. They spent their honeymoon 57 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: in a friend's guest room. Although although George spent a 58 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: lot of his time out talking politics while he was 59 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: still stateside, Lorline traveled back and forth between her parents 60 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: home in Alabama and the air basis where he was stationed. 61 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: That's included a trip to New Mexico, which she made 62 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: with their five month old daughter, Bobby Joe, only to 63 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: find that George had not arranged housing for them on 64 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: the base. They wound up needing to stay in a 65 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: converted chicken coope. Soon, George would be stationed in the Pacific, 66 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: where he flew incendiary missions over Japan until being medically 67 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: discharged for severe anxiety in nineteen forty five. In nineteen 68 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: forty six, he started actively pursuing a political career. He 69 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: became assistant to the state attorney General, and in nineteen 70 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: forty seven he was elected to the Alabama State Legislature 71 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,679 Speaker 1: as representative for the first of his two terms. During 72 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: his campaign, Lorline was the family's sole breadwinner. He was 73 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: elected a judge for the Third Judicial Court in nineteen 74 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,799 Speaker 1: fifty three, a position that he retained until nineteen fifty eight, 75 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: and this job came with enough income for him to 76 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: buy a home for the family. Up until this point, 77 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: they had been living in a variety of rented rooms 78 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,239 Speaker 1: and garage apartments. And his nickname became Fighting Little Judge, 79 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: both for his toughness from the bench and his former 80 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: time as a boxer while he was in school. Over 81 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: the same time, he and Lorline had two more children, 82 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: Peggy Sue born in nineteen fifty and George Corley Wallace 83 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: the third known as George Jr. In nineteen fifty one. 84 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: And Lerline was increasingly frustrated by her husband's devotion to politics, 85 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: often to the neglect of his family. At this point 86 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: in his career, people were calling George Wallace quote a 87 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: dangerous liberal. He was part of charismatic Governor Big Jim 88 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: Fulsom's reelection campaign in nineteen fifty three. Folsom was also 89 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: Wallace's mentor and in later years would be described as 90 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: being way ahead of his time in terms of social 91 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: progress and racial equality. Fulsom's positions during his career included 92 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: things like voting rights for black people, an end to 93 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,280 Speaker 1: prison labor, better schools, funding for roads to make it 94 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: easier for farmers to get their crops to market, and 95 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: more government positions for women. Much of this, of course, 96 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: was an uphill battle and ultimately failed. A lot of 97 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: Wallace's policies in the earlier part of his career mostly 98 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: mirrored Folsoms. During his two terms in the state legislature, 99 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: he drafted legislation to promote vocational schools and attract manufacturing 100 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: jobs to Alabama. In ninety eight, when pro segregation Dixiecrats 101 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: walked out of the Democratic National Convention, both Wallace and 102 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: Folsome stayed put. While in office in the State House 103 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: of Representatives, Wallace sponsored a bill that taxed alcohol to 104 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: fund trade schools. The Wallace Act, which was signed in 105 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one and was half of what became known 106 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: as the Wallace Cater Acts, allowed municipalities to sell bonds 107 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: in order to fund industrial development. This was part of 108 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: an effort to bring jobs to Alabama and diversify the 109 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: state's economy. Critics called the Wallace Cater Acts socialistic. Another 110 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: criticism was that most of the industries that moved into 111 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: Alabama through the Acts incentive were low wage, non union 112 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: work that paid lower than the national average. In nineteen 113 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 1: fifty eight, Wallace embarked on his first campaign to be 114 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: the governor of Alabama. He continued on with the kind 115 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: of populist policies and relatively moderate position on racial equality 116 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,039 Speaker 1: that he had up until this point. Obviously that is 117 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: not his entire platform, but you know, he was sort 118 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: of continuing similar uh, similarly to what his mentor had 119 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: and Big Jim Folsom had been elected on a similar 120 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: platform in both ninety six and nineteen fifty four. But 121 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: Wallace's opponent in the Democratic primary was Attorney General John Patterson. 122 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 1: Patterson was running on a pro segregation platform supported by 123 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: the Ku Klux Klan. Wallace, on the other hand, had 124 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: the support of the National Association for the Advancement of 125 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: Colored People or n double a CP. The primary went 126 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: into a runoff, with Patterson beating Wallace and then beating 127 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: the Republican candidate, William Longshore by a landslide. When asked 128 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: what had gone wrong, Wallace reportedly told supporters sub version 129 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: of the following quote, which uses a slur, that we 130 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: are not going to repeat quote I got out and 131 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: worded by John Patterson. This is the first and last 132 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: time I will be out and worded by another candidate. 133 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: This quote and variations on it have been widely reported, 134 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: but Wallace would later deny ever, saying it apart from 135 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: shifting his politics on race completely, this loss for governor 136 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: took a toll on Wallace's personal life. Lorleine, fed up 137 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: with his absences and rumors of infidelity and a deep 138 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: depression that he went into following the loss, took the 139 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: children to her parents house and filed for divorce. George 140 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: begged her to come back, and the two eventually reconciled, 141 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: and their last child, Jamie Lee, named after Robert E. Lee, 142 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 1: was born. In nineteen sixty one, Wallace returned to his 143 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: position in the circuit court, where he turned his attention 144 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: to blocking federal efforts as civil rights. When the U. 145 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: S Civil Rights Commission requested that he turnover voting records, 146 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: he refused to do it and was threatened with prison 147 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: for contempt. He wound up turning the records over by 148 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: handing them over to grand Juries to turn in on 149 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: his behalf so he could say that he had not 150 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: personally given the government those records, but he could also 151 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: stay out of jail. In nineteen sixty two, Wallace ran 152 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,959 Speaker 1: for governor again. This time he took a pro segregation, 153 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: pro states rights platform, and, like John Patterson, got the 154 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: support of the ku Klux Klan. He won the Democratic 155 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: primary after a runoff, and the Republican Party fielded no 156 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: candidate at all in the election. Even though he was 157 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: running unopposed, he got more than three hundred thousand votes, 158 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: more than any candidate in Alabama history at that time. 159 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 1: That infamous Segregation Forever inaugural address was co written by 160 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: klansman Asa Carter, who could easily be his own podcast subject, 161 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 1: as he also wrote The Education of Little Tree in 162 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 1: the rebel outlaw Josie Wales under the pseudonym of Forest Carter. 163 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: Wallace's first term saw some of the most notorious incidents 164 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 1: of racist violence in the civil rights movement, with critics 165 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: blaming Wallace's rhetoric for stoking the fire. 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Go to stamps dot 188 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: com and before you do anything else, click on that 189 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,079 Speaker 1: microphone that you see at the top of the homepage 190 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: and type in the words stuff that's stamps dot com 191 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: and enter stuff. Although there were certainly incidents of racial 192 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: violence before George Wallace took office in Alabama, and that 193 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: violence was not confined just to Alabama, some of the 194 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: most infamous incidents in the United States civil rights movement 195 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: happened there during his first term. On May two, ninety three, 196 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: children began marching from Birmingham sixteenth Street Baptist Church to 197 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: City Hall as part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conferences 198 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: Children's Crusade. That first day, hundreds were arrested. When even 199 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: more gathered to march on May three, Birmingham Commissioner of 200 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: Public Safety Bull Connor used high pressure fire hoses, police 201 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: dogs and clubs to turn them back. This was televised, 202 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: and although the march itself was controversial because it put 203 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,719 Speaker 1: children in danger, it propelled the movement into the national spotlight. 204 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,559 Speaker 1: The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed just before the 205 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: start of Sunday school on September fifteenth, nineteen sixty three, 206 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: killing Addie May Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair, and Carol 207 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: Robertson ages eleven to fourteen. A week before the bombing, 208 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 1: George Wallace had told The New York Times that there 209 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: needed to be quote a few first class funerals, so 210 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: civil rights activists accused him of creating the climate that 211 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: led to the bombing. Dr Martin Luther King Junior wired 212 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: him to say, quote, the blood of four little children 213 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 1: is on your hands. You're irresponsible and misguided actions have 214 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:50,239 Speaker 1: created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced 215 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: continued violence and now murder. In nineteen sixty three, two 216 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, tried to enroll 217 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,199 Speaker 1: in the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, which was still segregated, 218 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that nine years had passed 219 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: since the Supreme Court found school segregation unconstitutional in Brown 220 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: versus Board of Education. It was also in spite of 221 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: the attempt of one other black student, Authoring Lucy, who 222 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: attended classes for three days in nineteen fifty six. She 223 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: was suspended quote for her own safety because white students 224 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: were rioting over her admission, including throwing tomatoes and eggs 225 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: at her she threw. She sued the school, which then 226 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: used that lawsuit as grounds to expel her permanently. When 227 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,559 Speaker 1: Malone and Hood tried to enroll u S, District Judge 228 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: Seaborne Lynn forbade Wallace from interfering, but Wallace defied that order. 229 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: Flanked by state troopers, he personally blocked the door to 230 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,199 Speaker 1: Foster Auditorium, where they were to register for class, until 231 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: the National Guard arrived later in the day to intervene 232 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: became known as the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, and 233 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: it was one of the things that prompted President John F. 234 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: Kennedy to push for civil rights legislation. Selma, Alabama, was 235 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: also the scene of ongoing non violent civil rights protests 236 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: during this time, which were repeatedly met with arrests and 237 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: violence on the part of the law enforcement. Many of 238 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: these related to voting rights. At the time, discriminatory literacy tests, 239 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: poll tax poll taxes, and a flat out refusal to 240 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: register black people to vote meant that many black people 241 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: could not These protests included a series of marches to 242 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: the Selma Courthouse to try to register people to vote, 243 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: and eventually to the Selma to Montgomery March, which was 244 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: a symbolic march to the state's capitol following activist Jimmy 245 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: Lee Jackson being shot and killed by a state trooper 246 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: during a march. Jackson was one of several civil rights 247 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: activists killed in Alabama during Wallace's administration. Wallace had insisted 248 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: that this march would not take place, saying quote such 249 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: action will not be allowed on the part of any 250 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: other group of citizens or non citizens of the state 251 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: of Alabama and will not be allowed in this instance. 252 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: The government must proceed in an orderly manner, and lawful 253 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 1: and law abiding citizens must transact their business with the 254 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:16,640 Speaker 1: government in such a manner. There will be no march 255 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: between Selma, Alabama, and Montgomery, and I have so instructed 256 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: the Department of Public Safety. On what came to be 257 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: known as Bloody Sunday, on March seven, several hundred marchers 258 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: to Selma tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Under 259 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: Wallace's orders to stop the march. State troopers and a 260 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: posse assembled by Dallas County share of Jim Clark attacked 261 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: the marchers and brutally beat them. Wallace would later say, quote, 262 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: it was something that happened that enraged me because I 263 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,840 Speaker 1: didn't intend for it to happen that way. But I 264 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: didn't want them to get beyond that point where there 265 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: was some people that told me there might be some violence. So, 266 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: in other words, to prevent the marchers from getting to 267 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: somewhere where people were waiting to hurt them, the police 268 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: hurt them. The Selma to Montgomery march would be turned 269 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: away at the bridge a second time before US District 270 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: Judge Frank M. Johnson ordered that the marchers be allowed 271 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: to exercise their constitutional rights. Wallace said that Alabama did 272 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: not have the resources to protect them, and President Lyndon 273 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard and sent military police 274 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 1: and army troops to act as an escort. These Selma 275 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: to Montgomery marches raised national awareness of voting rights issues 276 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: and contributed directly to President Lyndon Johnson's push for the 277 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five. This act banned 278 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: most of the strategies that had been used to keep 279 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: black people from voting. However, in the Supreme Court struck 280 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: down one of its provisions, which had required states that 281 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:57,239 Speaker 1: had previously used discriminatory election laws to get federal approval 282 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: before changing their election laws. As a result, several states 283 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: implemented election laws that the federal government had previously denied 284 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: as discriminatory. So we're going to back up just a 285 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: little bit, because in nineteen sixty four, Wallace had actually 286 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,199 Speaker 1: made his first run at the White House, getting his 287 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 1: name on the ballot in three states, and he didn't 288 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,160 Speaker 1: pursue the race aggressively, in part because Republican candidate Barry 289 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 1: Goldwater publicly denounced the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four, 290 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: which was basically Wallace's whole platform. Propelled by Goldwater's ultimate 291 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: loss in the race, Wallace decided to make a bigger 292 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: effort in nineteen sixty eight, but there was a problem. 293 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,719 Speaker 1: He'd have far more support in doing so if he 294 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: was still governor, but the Alabama constitution did not allow 295 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: governors to serve consecutive terms. First, he tried to get 296 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: the state legislature to amend the constitution so that he 297 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: could run again, but that failed, so instead of admitting defeat, 298 00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: he put his wife, or Lean, on the ballot with 299 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: the intent of basically running things from behind the scenes. 300 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,960 Speaker 1: He would basically still have a lot of the perks 301 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,199 Speaker 1: that came along with being governor that he could use 302 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: as a springboard to run for president again with his 303 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: wife actually being the one in office. However, learn Linging 304 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: had cancer during the Cesarean delivery of their daughter, Jamie Lee. 305 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: In one doctors had found a suspicious mass in her uterus, 306 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: and as was common practice at the time, the doctors 307 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: told George but not learn Lean, and they left it 308 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 1: up to him whether she should be informed, and George 309 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: kept this information from her, saying that he didn't want 310 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: to upset her. So four years later in ninety five, 311 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: when she went to a gynecologist because she was having 312 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: unusual bleeding, she was completely shocked to find that she 313 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: had a malignant tumor. In spite of her complete lack 314 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: of interest in politics and the in spite of the 315 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: fact that she had just undergone hysterectomy and radiation treatments, 316 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 1: which were described to the public as female surgery, Lorline 317 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 1: agreed to run as her husband's stand in. She ran 318 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: on a campaign of upholding all of her husband's policies 319 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: and his being her number one assistant, and the early 320 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: days on the campaign trail, she would start off by 321 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,959 Speaker 1: giving a brief prepared remarks before introducing her husband, who 322 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: would then basically take it over from there. As she 323 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: gradually became more confident in her her speaking skills, she 324 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,679 Speaker 1: did start to campaign on her own, and in the 325 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: end she beat ten male candidates, some of them former governors, 326 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: in the primary. She then won the election by a landslide, 327 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,879 Speaker 1: becoming the first woman governor elected in the Deep South. 328 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: When her term as governor began, she and George had 329 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: offices across the hall from each other, and staff called 330 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: them Governor ler Lean and Governor George. She did push 331 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,359 Speaker 1: for some initiatives of her own, including legislation related to 332 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 1: state parks and to mental health that ladder following a 333 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: were she made of two state institutions whose conditions really 334 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,920 Speaker 1: horrified her. During her time in office, the Alabama legislature 335 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: also ratified an amendment that would allow governors to serve 336 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 1: consecutive terms, and as promised, she also upheld her husband's 337 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 1: promise to fight integration. In March of nineteen sixty seven, 338 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: a federal court ordered that Alabama's schools must be desegregated 339 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 1: in leave versus Macon County Board of Education. This followed 340 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,440 Speaker 1: a lengthy series of maneuverings that George Wallace had overseen 341 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: during his first term as governor to try to stop integration. 342 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: This includes delaying the start of school, stationing troops at 343 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: schools to prevent black students from entering, and transferring all 344 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: of the white students out of Tuskegee High School after 345 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: black students were enrolled there. Following the court order that 346 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,399 Speaker 1: came down during Lorline Wallace's time in office, she delivered 347 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: an address that stridently denounced this ruling as infringing on 348 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: the state's rights, vowing to use state troopers to prevent 349 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 1: integration if necessary. This case then went on to the 350 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: Supreme Court in Wallace versus the United States, and the 351 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, at which point 352 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:18,200 Speaker 1: some progress was actually made in desegregating the schools. Lorle 353 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: and Wallace was not able, however, to keep up her 354 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: duties as governor for long. In July of nineteen sixty seven, 355 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: doctors found another tumor in her abdomen, followed by numerous 356 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: other tumors the following January. She underwent tests and treatment 357 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,880 Speaker 1: at the MD Anderson Clinic in Houston, Texas because there 358 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 1: wasn't a cancer center in Alabama because she was governor, 359 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: she had to travel back to Alabama during her treatment 360 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: at least once every twenty days. During a lot of 361 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: those time, she was in severe pain, and she underwent 362 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: multiple operations. This went on until May of nineteen sixty eight, 363 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,479 Speaker 1: when she returned home to her family to die, and 364 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: she died on May seventh, nineteen sixty eight, at the 365 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: age of forty one, after just sixteen months in office. 366 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: Her body lay in state in an open casket, something 367 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,159 Speaker 1: that her husband ordered in defiance of her wishes at 368 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: the Capitol Rotunda. This is the first time anyone had 369 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: lain in state there since the nine death of Jefferson Davis, 370 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: who had been President of the Confederate States of America. 371 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: Her death was met with a huge outpouring of public grief, 372 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: with public schools, state offices, and some businesses closing the 373 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: day of the funeral, and more than twenty five thousand 374 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: people going to the Capital to pay their respects. And 375 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: we're gonna next get into Wallace's later career, but first 376 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: we're gonna pause for a moment and have a word 377 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: from one of our sponsors. 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After Luline Wallace's death 404 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: in nine she was succeeded by the Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer, 405 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: who raised funds for a cancer Center at the University 406 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: of Alabama and her memory, and that same year, as 407 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: he had been planning to do, George Wallace ran for 408 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 1: president again under the American Independent Party. Wallace got onto 409 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: the ballot in every state, and he won five of them, 410 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 1: earning more than ten percent of the popular vote, Although 411 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: he dropped some of his most explicit racist language, his 412 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:48,000 Speaker 1: campaign decried the influence of things like liberals, communists, and 413 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,479 Speaker 1: the interference of the federal government, leaning on more coded 414 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,440 Speaker 1: language to reach out to white voters who were unhappy 415 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: with the progress of integration and increasing civil rights for 416 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: black people. He ran governor again in nineteen seventy, using 417 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: much of the same anti integration platform that had won 418 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 1: him the election in nineteen sixty two, and at times 419 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy campaign was even more explicit, but once 420 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 1: he was actually in office, he softened his rhetoric. Following 421 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the long 422 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: work of the Civil rights movement, many of Alabama's black population, 423 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,360 Speaker 1: who made up more than a quarter of the states population, 424 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: were now registered to vote. Whilist realized that he would 425 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: undermine his efforts if he continued to explicitly attack such 426 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:36,120 Speaker 1: a large group of the states voters. In nineteen seventy two, 427 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: Whilas once again ran for president, this time as a 428 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:44,360 Speaker 1: Democrat and once again primarily reaching out to disaffected white voters, 429 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: decrying forced bussing to integrate schools and welfare loafing, and 430 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,120 Speaker 1: advocating quote a return to law and order in an 431 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: end to foreign aid programs, especially to communist countries. After 432 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: winning the state of Florida, his camp pain looked like 433 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: it was set to be a lot more successful than 434 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 1: he had been in nineteen sixty eight. But then, while 435 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: he was campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, he was shot by 436 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,160 Speaker 1: Arthur Bremer while working the crowd at a rally. Bremer 437 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: had previously planned to assassinate Richard Nixon, but had ultimately 438 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: never opened fire. While still recuperating, Wallace won the primaries 439 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: in Maryland and Michigan as well. However, this injury left 440 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: Wallace paralyzed from the waist down, and since he was 441 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: hospitalized for months, he was unable to continue his campaign. 442 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: He would go on to maintain that he would have 443 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,439 Speaker 1: won that presidency had he not been shot. Although his 444 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: injury put him out of the presidential race, he ran 445 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: for Alabama governor again in nineteen seventy four, since that 446 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,880 Speaker 1: amendment to the state constitution that had come through during 447 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: Lorline Wallace's administration once again allowed him to do so. 448 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: He won for his third term and his second consecutive term, 449 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,120 Speaker 1: and he once again spent part of his term as governor. 450 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: Again run for president in nineteen seventy six. He won 451 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: the states of Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi in the primary, 452 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,639 Speaker 1: ultimately losing the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter, who he 453 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: endorsed after dropping out of the race, and numerous biographers 454 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: describe him as being a lot more interested in campaigning 455 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: than in governing. It sure sounds that way. He spends 456 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 1: a lot of his time as governor on the presidential 457 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: campaign trail. It's true story. So after his gunshot injury, 458 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: and in light of the changing racial politics of the 459 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: United States in his later life, George Wallace started reaching 460 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,440 Speaker 1: out to the black community and trying to make amends. 461 00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: Historians and biographers really disagree on whether this attempt was 462 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: motivated by a genuine change in views or whether it 463 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: was political savvy and a desire not to be remembered 464 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: on the wrong side of history. He began to insist 465 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: that his hard line segregationist stance was based on the 466 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: Constitution and a misreading of the Bible, not on white supremacy. 467 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: This does, not, however, quite sink with some of the 468 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: quotes that are attributed to him, such as quote the 469 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: colored are fine in their place, but they're just like children, 470 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: and it's not something that's going to change. It's written 471 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: in stone. He also met with several of the still 472 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: living civil rights leaders who he had actively worked against, 473 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,919 Speaker 1: including the Reverend Ralph the Abernathy, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, 474 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: and Representative John Lewis. Lewis had been seriously beaten on 475 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 1: Bloody Sunday during the first Selma to Montgomery March. While 476 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: presenting her with the Lurline B. Wallace Award for Courage, 477 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: he also praised Vivian Vivian Malone for her quote, strength, grace, 478 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: and above all courage during the stand in the schoolhouse door. 479 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: In the words of Selma attorney J. L. Chestnut, quoted 480 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: in the PBS American Experience production George Wallace set in 481 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: the Woods on Fire, which came out in two thousand, quote, 482 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: I have no problem for giving George Wallace. I will 483 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 1: not forget George Wallace because we must deal with the 484 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: reality of Wallace. How is it that a demagogue insulting 485 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: twenty million black people daily on the television can rise 486 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: to the heights that Wallace did? Forgive? Yes, forget never. 487 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: George Wallace was elected to his last term as governor 488 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two in a campaign that actively sought 489 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: and received votes from the black community. His win made 490 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: him the only person in Alabama history to serve for 491 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: four terms, and we took office in nineteen eighty three. 492 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: He made it a point to appoint black officials to 493 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: government positions. He also became a born again Christian that year. 494 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,280 Speaker 1: He retired from that last term in January of nineteen 495 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: eighty seven, and he died on September thirteenth of nine 496 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: in Montgomery, Alabama. Regardless of whether Wallace's shifts in racial 497 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: ideology were genuine or just politically expedient, his methods of 498 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: campaigning and his shifting platforms have really had a long 499 00:29:55,240 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: list lasting influence on American politics. Dan T. Carter, a 500 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: paper published in the Journal of Southern History in writes Wallace, 501 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: more than any other political figure of the nineteen sixties 502 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: and early nineteen seventies since the frustrations the rage of 503 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: many American voters made commonplace a new level of political 504 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,360 Speaker 1: incivility and intemperate rhetoric, and focused that anger upon a 505 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: convenient set of scapegoats that was in So that is 506 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: George Wallace. Someone asked us, Yeah, somebody asked us on 507 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: Twitter one time if we would do a podcast on 508 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: Bull Connor, who was the person who turned the fire 509 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: hoses on the children's crusade during their march. Uh. I'm 510 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: just gonna say, after having done this one, I'm not 511 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: that that's gonna be way down the list because it's hard. Yeah. Yeah, 512 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: how's your listener mail this time around? Also difficult? It's 513 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: not a lighter note. Uh. Justine says, Hello, ladies, I 514 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,680 Speaker 1: just got this podcast a year ago and diligently and 515 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: a bit obsessively worked my way through the archives and 516 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: I'm now caught up. I was so excited to hear 517 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: you discussed the Toledo War on one of your recent episodes. 518 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: I am from Slash currently live in the lovely state 519 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 1: of Michigan. I'm very glad. I'm just getting around to 520 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: sending an email because I heard your Lake correction today. Also, 521 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: you referenced the mitten. This is a big deal here 522 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: in Michigan. It's how we show people where we live. 523 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: My dear husband, who was from Minnesota, was so confused 524 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: on the first day at the University of Michigan when 525 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: someone held up their right hand and pointed to a 526 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,320 Speaker 1: spot on their palm in response to the question where 527 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: are you from. In addition to my excitement over the 528 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 1: Michigan references, I also wanted to chime in on the 529 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,040 Speaker 1: football discussion. My husband and I are graduates of the 530 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,680 Speaker 1: University of Michigan and the rivalry is huge. We refer 531 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: to that game as the game, and tensions on campus 532 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 1: run high during that weekend, which is quickly approaching Go Blue. 533 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: And then she also throws out some suggestions for Michigan 534 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: related history. Thank you how much, Justine. So this made 535 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: me giggle because I really thought the whole mitten thing 536 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: was something I made up. Um. We also got a 537 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,360 Speaker 1: few notes from folks who were like, by your thumb 538 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 1: is not like Eerie, It's like Huron, like in this analogy, 539 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: like Huron would be way up by the joint and 540 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: like the end of your thumb not found by your 541 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: wrist where we're talking about drawing a straight line. So 542 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: I was not meant to be a map accurate representation 543 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: of the Lower Peninsula. Uh So, anyway, it tickles me 544 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: that the thing I was so proud of myself for 545 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: coming up with is an analogy, is the thing that 546 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: people actually say in the real world. Thank you, Justine. 547 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 548 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:49,959 Speaker 1: or any other podcast or at history podcast at how 549 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,720 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com. We're also on Facebook at Facebook dot 550 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: com slash miss in history, and on Twitter at miss 551 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: in History or tumbler as miss in history dot tumble 552 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: dot com, or on Pinterest at pitchest dot com slash 553 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,600 Speaker 1: miss and histor. 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