1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This week, when we talked about the Camden 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: twenty eight we mentioned that there was a George Wallace 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 1: campaign rally during that trial. Today, George Wallace is better 4 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: known for his time as governor of Alabama, but at 5 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: the time he was running for president. Our episode on 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: George Wallace originally came out on November twenty ninth, twenty sixteen, 7 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: and it is Today's Saturday Classic. Welcome to Stuff You 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 9 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast. I'm Tray CV Wilson, and I'm 10 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: Holly Frye. Over the past few years, Holly, you and 11 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: I have talked about a number of prominent figures and 12 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: moments in the civil rights movement. That is correct. So 13 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: we've talked about people like Rosa Parks and bired Rustin, 14 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: and we've talked about Supreme Court decisions like Brown versus 15 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: Board and Loving versus for Time, organizations like the Brotherhood 16 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: of Sleeping Car Porters. But other than talking sort of 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: obliquely about the laws and practices and social systems that 18 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: have enforced segregation and discrimination in the United States, as 19 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: well as talking about some specific incidents of racist violence 20 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: like the destruction of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 21 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: We've never really talked a lot about the opposition to 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: that movement, So today we are talking about one of 23 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: the most prominent voices against the civil rights movement and 24 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: its objectives, Alabama Governor George Wallace, who spent multiple campaigns 25 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: to both governor and president on an explicitly pro segregation platform. 26 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: In his nineteen sixty three inaugural addresses Governor of Alabama, 27 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: he famously proclaimed segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. So 28 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about violent retaliation against the 29 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: civil rights civil rights movement that happened during his terms 30 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: in office. And we're also going to be talking a 31 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: lot about his first wife, Lurline. He was married other times, 32 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: so we're not really getting into that at all, but 33 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: are going to talk about Lurline, whose own story is 34 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,679 Speaker 1: both tied directly to her husband's political career and includes 35 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: a pretty disturbing account of medical neglect. So George Corley Wallace, 36 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: Junior was born on August twenty fifth of nineteen nineteen 37 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: in southeastern Alabama, where his father was a farmer. His 38 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,239 Speaker 1: political career started very early, at the age of fifteen, 39 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: when he served as a government page at the Alabama 40 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: State Capitol and made up his mind to return one 41 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,239 Speaker 1: day as governor. In his high school years, he was 42 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: also a boxer, winning two state titles in that sport. 43 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: Wallace studied at the University of Alabama, paying his tuition 44 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: by waiting tables and boxing. He graduated in nineteen thirty 45 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: seven and then finished his law degree in nineteen forty two. 46 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: That same year, at the age of twenty four, he 47 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: met Lurline Burns, who was then sixteen, while she was 48 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: working at a five and dime in Tuscaloosa. She had 49 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: graduated from high school early, and she was working there 50 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: to try to save up money to go to nursing school. 51 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 1: George was already very interested in politics, something that didn't 52 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: really interest Lurline at all, but they quickly became inseparable. 53 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: Not long after they met, Wallace was inducted into the 54 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: US Army Air Corps to serve in World War Two. 55 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: He and Lerleine got married on May twenty first of 56 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, while he was on leave after having 57 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: contracted meningitis. They spent their honeymoon in a friend's guest room. 58 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: Although George spent a lot of his time out talking politics. 59 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: While he was still stateside, Leerleine traveled back and forth 60 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: between her parents' home in Alabama and the air bases 61 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: where he was stationed. This included a trip to New Mexico, 62 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: which she made with their five month old daughter, Bobby Joe, 63 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: only to find that George had not arranged housing for 64 00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: them on the base. They wound up needing to stay 65 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: in a converted chicken. Soon a Georgia b stationed in 66 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: the Pacific, where he flew incendiary missions over Japan until 67 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: being medically discharged for severe anxiety in nineteen forty five. 68 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty six, he started actively pursuing a political career. 69 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: He became assistant to the state attorney General, and in 70 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven he was elected to the Alabama State 71 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: Legislature as representative for the first of his two terms. 72 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: During his campaign, Lerlin was the family's sole breadwinner. He 73 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: was elected a judge for the Third Judicial Court in 74 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three, a position that he retained until nineteen 75 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: fifty eight, and this job came with enough income for 76 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: him to buy a home for the family. Up until 77 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: this point, they had been living in a variety of 78 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: rented rooms and garage apartments, and his nickname became Fighting 79 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: Little Judge, both for his toughness from the bench and 80 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: his former time as a boxer while he was in school. 81 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,839 Speaker 1: Over the same time, he and Lerlein had two more children, 82 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: Peggy Sue born in nineteen fifty and George Corley Wallace 83 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,599 Speaker 1: the third known as George Junior, in nineteen fifty one, 84 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: and Lurline was increasingly frustrated by her husband's devotion to politics, 85 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: often to the neglect of his family. At this point 86 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: in his career, people were calling George Wallace quote a 87 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: dangerous liberal. He was part of charismatic Governor Big Jim 88 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: Fulsom's re election campaign in nineteen fifty three. Fulsom was 89 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: also Wallace's mentor, and in later years would be described 90 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: as being way ahead of his time in terms of 91 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: social progress and racial equality. Fulsom's positions during his career 92 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: included things like voting rights for black people, an end 93 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: to prison labor, better schools, funding for roads to make 94 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: it easier for farmers to get their crops to market, 95 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: and more government positions for women. Much of this, of course, 96 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 1: was an uphill battle and ultimately failed. A lot of 97 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: Wallace's policies in the earlier part of his career mostly 98 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: mirrored Fulsom's. During his two terms in the state legislature, 99 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: he drafted legislation to promote vocational schools and attract manufacturing 100 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: jobs to Alabama. In nineteen forty eight, when pro segregation 101 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: Dixiecrats walked out of the Democratic National Convention, both Wallace 102 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: and Fulsom stayed put. While in office in the State 103 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: House of Representatives, Wallace sponsored a bill that taxed alcohol 104 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: to fund trade schools. The Wallace Act, which was signed 105 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one and was half of what became 106 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: known as the Wallace Cater Acts, allowed municipalities to sell 107 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: bonds in order to fund industrial development. This was part 108 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: of an effort to bring jobs to Alabama and diversify 109 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: the state's economy. Critics called the Wallace Cater Acts socialistic. 110 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: Another criticism was that most of the industries that moved 111 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: into Alabama through the act's incentive were low wage, non 112 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,280 Speaker 1: union work that paid lower than the national average. In 113 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight, Wallace embarked in his first campaign to 114 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: be the governor of Alabama. He continued on with the 115 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: kind of populist policies and relatively moderate positions on racial 116 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: equality that he had up until this point. Obviously that 117 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: is not his entire platform, but you know, he was 118 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: sort of continuing similar similarly to what his mentor had 119 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: and Big Jim Folsom had been elected on a similar 120 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: platform in both nineteen forty six and nineteen fifty four. 121 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: But Wallace's opponent in the Democratic primary was Attorney General 122 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: John Patterson. Patterson was running on a pro segregation platform 123 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: supported by the Ku Klux Klan. Wallace, on the other hand, 124 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: had the support of the National Association for the Advancement 125 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: of Colored People or NAACP. The primary went into a runoff, 126 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: with Patterson beating Wallace and then beating the Republican candidate, 127 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: William Longshore by a landslide. When asked what had gone wrong, 128 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: Wallace reportedly told supporters some version of the following quote, 129 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: which uses a slow that we are not going to 130 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: repeat quote. I got out enwarded by John Patterson. This 131 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: is the first and last time I will be out 132 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: inwarded by another candidate. This quote and variations on it 133 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: have been widely reported, but Wallace would later deny ever, 134 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: saying it Apart from shifting his politics on race completely, 135 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: this loss for governor took a toll on Wallace's personal life. Lerline, 136 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: fed up with his absences and rumors of infidelity and 137 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: a deep depression that he went into following the loss, 138 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: took the children to her parents' house and filed for divorce. 139 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: George begged her to come back, and the two eventually reconciled, 140 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: and their last child, Jamie Lee, named after Robert E. Lee, 141 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: was born. In nineteen sixty one, Wallace returned to his 142 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: position in the circuit court, where he turned his attention 143 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: to blocking federal efforts at civil rights. When the US 144 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,079 Speaker 1: Civil Rights Commission requested that he turn over voting records, 145 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: he refused to do it and was threatened with prison 146 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 1: for contempt. He wound up turning the records over by 147 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: handing them over to grand Juries to turn in on 148 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: his behalf so he could say that he had not 149 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 1: personally given the government those records, but he could also 150 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: stay out of jail. In nineteen sixty two, Wallace ran 151 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: for governor again. This time he took a pro segregation 152 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: pro states rights platform, and like John Patterson, got the 153 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: support of the Ku Klux Klan. He won the Democratic 154 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: primary after a runoff, and the Republican Party fielded no 155 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: candidate at all in the election. Even though he was 156 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,200 Speaker 1: running unopposed, he got more than three hundred thousand votes, 157 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: more than any candidate in Alabama history at that time. 158 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: That infamous Segregation Forever inaugural address was co written by 159 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: klansman Asa Carter, who could easily be his own podcast 160 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: subject as he also wrote The Education of Little Tree 161 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: in the rebel outlaw Josie Wales under the pseudonym of 162 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: Forrest Carter. Wallace's first term saw some of the most 163 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: note tentorious incidents of racist violence in the civil rights movement, 164 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: with critics blaming Wallace's rhetoric for stoking the fire and 165 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: we are going to talk about it after a quick 166 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Although there were certainly incidents of racial violence 167 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: before George Wallace took office in Alabama, and that violence 168 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: was not confined just to Alabama, some of the most 169 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: infamous incidents in the United States civil rights movement happened 170 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: there during his first term. On May second, nineteen sixty three, 171 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: children began marching from Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to 172 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,000 Speaker 1: City Hall as part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's 173 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: Children's Crusade. That first day, hundreds were arrested. When even 174 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: more gathered to march on May third, Birmingham Commissioner of 175 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: Public Safety Bull Connor used high pressure fire hoses, police 176 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: dogs and clubs to turn them back. This was televised, 177 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: and although the march itself was controversial because it put 178 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: children in danger, it propelled the movement into the national spotlight. 179 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed just before the 180 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: start of Sunday school on September fifteenth, nineteen sixty three, 181 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 1: killing Addie May Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair, and Carol 182 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: Robertson ages eleven to fourteen. A week before the bombing, 183 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:28,559 Speaker 1: George Wallace had told The New York Times that there 184 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: needed to be quote a few first class funerals, so 185 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: civil rights activists accused him of creating the climate that 186 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: led to the bombing. Doctor Martin Luther King Junior wired 187 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: him to say, quote, the blood of four little children 188 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: is on your hands. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have 189 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: created in Birmingham and Alabama, the atmosphere that has induced 190 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: continued violence and now murder. In nineteen sixty three, two 191 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 1: black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, tried to enroll 192 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 1: in the University of allah Obama at Tuscaloosa, which was 193 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: still segregated, in spite of the fact that nine years 194 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: had passed since the Supreme Court found school segregation unconstitutional 195 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: in Brown versus Board of Education. It was also in 196 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: spite of the attempt of one other black student, Authorine Lucy, 197 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: who attended classes for three days in nineteen fifty six. 198 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: She was suspended quote for her own safety because white 199 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: students were rioting over her admission, including throwing tomatoes and 200 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: eggs at her. She sued the school, which then used 201 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: that lawsuit as grounds to expel her permanently. When Malone 202 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: and Hood tried to enroll, US District Judge Seaborn Lynn 203 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: forbade Wallace from interfering, but Wallace defied that order. Flanked 204 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: by state troopers, he personally blocked the door to Foster Auditorium, 205 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,680 Speaker 1: where they were to register for class, until the National 206 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: Guard arrived later in the day to intervene. This became 207 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: now as the stand in the Schoolhouse door, and it 208 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: was one of the things that prompted President John F. 209 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: Kennedy to push for civil rights legislation. Selma, Alabama, was 210 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: also the scene of ongoing nonviolent civil rights protests during 211 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: this time, which were repeatedly met with arrests and violence 212 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: on the part of law enforcement. Many of these related 213 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: to voting rights. At the time, discriminatory literacy tests, poll 214 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 1: tax poll taxes, and a flat out refusal to register 215 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: black people to vote meant that many black people could not. 216 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: These protests included a series of marches to the Selma 217 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: Courthouse to try to register people to vote, and eventually 218 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,840 Speaker 1: to the Selma to Montgomery March, which was a symbolic 219 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: march to the States Capitol following activist Jimmy Lee Jackson 220 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: being shot and killed by a state trooper during a march. 221 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: Jackson was one of several civil rights activists killed in 222 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: Alabama during Wallace's administration. Wallace had insisted that this march 223 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: would not take place, saying, quote such action will not 224 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: be allowed on the part of any other group of 225 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: citizens or non citizens of the State of Alabama, and 226 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: will not be allowed in this instance the government must 227 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: proceed in an orderly manner, and lawful and law abiding 228 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: citizens must transact to their business with the government. In 229 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,320 Speaker 1: such a manner, there will be no march between Selma, 230 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: Alabama and Montgomery. And I have so instructed the Department 231 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: of Public Safety. On what came to be known as 232 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: Bloody Sunday, on March seventh, nineteen sixty five, several hundred 233 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: marchers to Selma tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. 234 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: Under Wallace's orders to stop the march, State troopers and 235 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: a posse assembled by Dallas County share of Jim Clark 236 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: attacked the marchers and brutally beat them. Wallace would later say, quote, 237 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: it was something that happened that enraged me because I 238 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: didn't intend for it to happen that way. But I 239 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: didn't want them to get beyond that point where there 240 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: was some people that told me there might be some violence. So, 241 00:14:55,640 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: in other words, to prevent the marchers from getting to 242 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: somewhere where people were waiting to hurt them, the police 243 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: hurt them. The Selma to Montgomery march would be turned 244 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: away at the bridge a second time before US District 245 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 1: Judge Frank M. Johnson ordered that the marchers be allowed 246 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: to exercise their constitutional rights. Wallace said that Alabama did 247 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: not have the resources to protect them, and President Lyndon 248 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard and sent military police 249 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: and army troops to act as an escort. These Selma 250 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: to Montgomery marches raised national awareness of voting rights issues 251 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: and contributed directly to President Lyndon Johnson's push for the 252 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five. This act banned 253 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: most of the strategies that had been used to keep 254 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: black people from voting. However, in twenty twelve, the Supreme 255 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: Court struck down one of its provisions, which had required 256 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: states that had previously used discriminatory election laws to get 257 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: federal approval before changing their election laws. As a result, 258 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: several states implemented election laws that the federal government had 259 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: previously denied as discriminatory. So we're going to back up 260 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 1: just a little bit, because in nineteen sixty four, Wallace 261 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 1: had actually made his first run at the White House, 262 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: getting his name on the ballot in three states, and 263 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: he didn't pursue the race aggressively, in part because Republican 264 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: candidate Barry Goldwater publicly denounced the Civil Rights Act of 265 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, which was basically Wallace's whole platform. Propelled 266 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: by Goldwater's ultimate loss in the race, Wallace decided to 267 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: make a bigger effort in nineteen sixty eight, but there 268 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: was a problem. He'd have far more support in doing 269 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,160 Speaker 1: so if he was still governor, but the Alabama constitution 270 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: did not allow governors to serve consecutive terms. First, he 271 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: tried to get the state legislature to amend the constitution 272 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,560 Speaker 1: so that he could run again, but that failed, so 273 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 1: instead of admitting defeat, he put his wife ler Lean 274 00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: on the ballot with the intent of basically running things 275 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: from behind the scenes. He would basically still have a 276 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: lot of the perks that came along with being governor 277 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: that he could use as a springboard to run for 278 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 1: president again with his wife actually being the one in office. However, 279 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: leer Ling had cancer during the Cesarean delivery of their daughter, 280 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: Janie Lee in nineteen sixty one. Doctors had found a 281 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:27,120 Speaker 1: suspicious mass in her uterus, and as was common practice 282 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: at the time, the doctors told George but not learn Lean, 283 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,800 Speaker 1: and they left it up to him whether she should 284 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: be informed, and George kept this information from her, saying 285 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: that he didn't want to upset her. So four years later, 286 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty five, when she went to a gynecologist 287 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: because she was having unusual bleeding, she was completely shocked 288 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: to find that she had a malignant tumor. In spite 289 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: of her complete lack of interest in politics, and in 290 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: spite of the fact that she had just undergone a 291 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: hysterectomy and radiation treatments which were described to the public 292 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: as female surgery, Laureline agreed to run as her husband's 293 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: stand in. She ran on a campaign of upholding all 294 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: of her husband's policies and his being her number one assistant. 295 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: In the early days on the campaign trail, she would 296 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:21,160 Speaker 1: start off by giving a brief prepared remarks before introducing 297 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: her husband, who would then basically take it over from there. 298 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: As she gradually became more confident in her speaking skills, 299 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: she did start to campaign on her own, and in 300 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 1: the end she beat ten male candidates, some of them 301 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: former governors, in the primary. She then won the election 302 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 1: by a landslide, becoming the first woman governor elected in 303 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: the Deep South. When her term as governor began. She 304 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 1: and George had offices across the hall from each other, 305 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 1: and staff called them Governor Lerlein and Governor George. She 306 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: did push for some initiatives of her own, including legislation 307 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: related to state parks and to mental health. That latter 308 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: following a tour she made of two state institutions whose 309 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: conditions really horrified her. During her time in office, the 310 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:09,119 Speaker 1: Alabama legislature also ratified an amendment that would allow governors 311 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: to serve consecutive terms, and as promised, she also upheld 312 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: her husband's promise to fight integration. In March of nineteen 313 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: sixty seven, a federal court ordered that Alabama's schools must 314 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: be desegregated in lee versus Macon County Board of Education. 315 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: This followed a lengthy series of maneuverings that George Wallace 316 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: had overseen during his first term as governor to try 317 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 1: to stop integration. This includes delaying the start of school, 318 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,639 Speaker 1: stationing troops at schools to prevent black students from entering, 319 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: and transferring all of the white students out of Tuskegee 320 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: High School after black students were enrolled there. Following the 321 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: court order that came down during Luerline Wallace's time in office. 322 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: She delivered an address that stridently denounced this ruling as 323 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: infringing on the state's rights, vowing to US state troopers 324 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,479 Speaker 1: to prevent integration if necessary. This case then went on 325 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: to the Supreme Court and Wallace versus the United States, 326 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,439 Speaker 1: and the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, at 327 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: which point some progress was actually made in desegregating the schools. Lurline. 328 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:20,359 Speaker 1: Wallace was not able, however, to keep up her duties 329 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:24,119 Speaker 1: as governor for long. In July of nineteen sixty seven, 330 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: doctors found another tumor in her abdomen, followed by numerous 331 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: other tumors the following January. She underwent tests and treatment 332 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: at the MD Anderson Clinic in Houston, Texas. Because there 333 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,400 Speaker 1: wasn't a cancer center in Alabama because she was governor, 334 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,919 Speaker 1: she had to travel back to Alabama during her treatment 335 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: at least once every twenty days. During a lot of 336 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: this time, she was in severe pain and she underwent 337 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,760 Speaker 1: multiple operations. This went on until May of nineteen sixty eight, 338 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: when she returned home to her family to die, and 339 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: she died on May seventh, nineteen sixty eight, at the 340 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: age of forty one, after just six teen months in office. 341 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: Her body lay in state in an open casket, something 342 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: that her husband ordered in defiance of her wishes, at 343 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,239 Speaker 1: the Capitol Rotunda. This is the first time anyone had 344 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: laid in state there since the eighteen eighty nine death 345 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: of Jefferson Davis, who had been president of the Confederate 346 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,439 Speaker 1: States of America. Her death was met with a huge 347 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: outpouring of public grief, with public schools, state offices, and 348 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: some businesses closing the day of the funeral, and more 349 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: than twenty five thousand people going to the capital to 350 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:33,879 Speaker 1: pay their respects. And we're going to next get into 351 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: Wallace's later career, but first we're going to pause for 352 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: a moment and have a word from one of our sponsors. 353 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: After ler Leine Wallace's death in nineteen sixty eight, she 354 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: was succeeded by the Lieutenant Governor, Albert Brewer, who raised 355 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: funds for a cancer center at the University of Alabama 356 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,239 Speaker 1: in her memory. And that same year, as he had 357 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: been planning to do, George Wallace ran for president again 358 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,639 Speaker 1: under the American Independent Party. Wallace got onto the ballot 359 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: in every state, and he won five of them. Earning 360 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: more than ten percent of the popular vote, although he 361 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: dropped some of his most explicit racist language, his campaign 362 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,199 Speaker 1: decried the influence of things like liberals, communists, and the 363 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: interference of the federal government, leaning on more coded language 364 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 1: to reach out to white voters who were unhappy with 365 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: the progress of integration and increasing civil rights for black people. 366 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: He ran for governor again in nineteen seventy, using much 367 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: of the same anti integration platform that had won him 368 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,240 Speaker 1: the election in nineteen sixty two, and at times the 369 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy campaign was even more explicit, but once he 370 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: was actually in office, he softened his rhetoric. Following the 371 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: passage of the Voting Rights Act and the long work 372 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: of the Civil rights movement, many of Alabama's black population, 373 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,400 Speaker 1: who made up more than a quarter of the state's population, 374 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 1: were now registered to vote. Whilas realized that he would 375 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,400 Speaker 1: undermine his efforts if he continued to explicitly attack such 376 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 1: a large group of the state's voters. In nineteen seventy two, 377 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: Whillas once again ran for president, this time as a 378 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: Democrat and once again primarily reaching out to disaffected white voters, 379 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 1: decrying forced bussing to integrate schools and welfare loafing and 380 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 1: advocating quote a return to law and order in an 381 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 1: end to foreign aid programs, especially to communist countries. After 382 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: winning the state of Florida, his campaign looked like it 383 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: was set to be a lot more successful than he 384 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,439 Speaker 1: had been in nineteen sixty eight. But then, while he 385 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: was campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, he was shot by Arthur 386 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,400 Speaker 1: Bremer while working the crowd at a rally. Bremer had 387 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:53,400 Speaker 1: previously planned to assassinate Richard Nixon, but had ultimately never 388 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: opened fire. While still recuperating, Wallace won the primaries in 389 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: Maryland in Michigan as well well. However, this injury left 390 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: Wallace paralyzed from the waist down, and since he was 391 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: hospitalized for months, he was unable to continue his campaign. 392 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: He would go on to maintain that he would have 393 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,439 Speaker 1: won that presidency had he not been shot. Although his 394 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,920 Speaker 1: injury put him out of the presidential race, he ran 395 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: for Alabama governor again in nineteen seventy four, since that 396 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,920 Speaker 1: amendment to the state constitution that had come through during 397 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: Lerlin Wallace's administration once again allowed him to do so. 398 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 1: He won for his third term and his second consecutive term, 399 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: and he once again spent part of his term as governor. 400 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: Again running for president in nineteen seventy six. He won 401 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,200 Speaker 1: the states of Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi in the primary, 402 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: ultimately losing the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter, who he 403 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: endorsed after dropping out of the race, and numerous biographers 404 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: describe him as being a lot more interested in campaigning 405 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: than in governing. It sure sounds that way. He spends 406 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: a lot of of his time as governor on the 407 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 1: presidential campaign trail. It's true story. So after his gunshot injury, 408 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,439 Speaker 1: and in light of the changing racial politics of the 409 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,359 Speaker 1: United States in his later life, George Wallace started reaching 410 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: out to the black community and trying to make amends. 411 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,439 Speaker 1: Historians and biographers really disagree on whether this attempt was 412 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: motivated by a genuine change in views or whether it 413 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,640 Speaker 1: was political savvy and a desire not to be remembered 414 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 1: on the wrong side of history. He began to insist 415 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: that his hard line segregationist stance was based on the 416 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,959 Speaker 1: Constitution and a misreading of the Bible, not on white supremacy. 417 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,639 Speaker 1: This does not, however, quite sync with some of the 418 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: quotes that are attributed to him, such as quote the 419 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,120 Speaker 1: colored are fine in their place, but they're just like children, 420 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: and it's not something that's going to change. It's written 421 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: in stone. He also met with several of the still 422 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: living civil rights leaders who he had actively worked against, 423 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: including the Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, 424 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 1: and Representative Lewis. Lewis had been seriously beaten on Bloody 425 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 1: Sunday during the first Selma to Montgomery March. While presenting 426 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: her with the Lurelin B. Wallace Award for Courage, he 427 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: also praised Vivian Vivian Malone for her quote, strength, grace, 428 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 1: and above all courage during the stand in the schoolhouse door. 429 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: In the words of Selma attorney J. L. Chesnutt, quoted 430 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: in the PBS American Experience production George Wallace Set in 431 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 1: the Woods on Fire, which came out in two thousand, quote, 432 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,120 Speaker 1: I have no problem for giving George Wallace. I will 433 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,719 Speaker 1: not forget George Wallace because we must deal with the 434 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 1: reality of Wallace. How is it that a demagogue insulting 435 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: twenty million black people daily on the television can rise 436 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: to the heights that Wallace did forgive, yes, forget never. 437 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 1: George Wallace was elected to his last term as governor 438 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two in a campaign that actively sought 439 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: and received votes from the black community. His win made 440 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,479 Speaker 1: him the only person in Alabama history to serve for four terms, 441 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: and we took office in nineteen eighty three. He made 442 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: it a point to appoint black officials to government positions. 443 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: He also became a born again Christian that year. He 444 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:15,879 Speaker 1: retired from that last term in January of nineteen eighty seven, 445 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,840 Speaker 1: and he died on September thirteenth of nineteen ninety eight 446 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: in Montgomery, Alabama. Regardless of whether Wallace's shifts in racial 447 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: ideology were genuine or just politically expedient, his methods of 448 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: campaigning and his shifting platforms have really had a long 449 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: list lasting influence on American politics. Dan T. Carter, in 450 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: a paper published in the Journal of Southern History in 451 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, writes Wallace more than any other political 452 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,320 Speaker 1: figure of the nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies, since 453 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: the frustrations, the rage of many American voters made commonplace 454 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,919 Speaker 1: a new level of political incibility and intemperate rhetoric and 455 00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: focused that anger upon a convenient set of scapegoats. I 456 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,719 Speaker 1: was in nineteen ninety six, so that is George Wallace. 457 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: Someone asked us on Yeah, somebody asked us on Twitter 458 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 1: one time if we would do a podcast on Bull Connor, 459 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: who was the person who turned the fire hoses on 460 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:19,880 Speaker 1: the Children's Crusade during their march. Uh. I'm just gonna say, 461 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,680 Speaker 1: after having done this one, I'm not that's gonna be 462 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 1: way down the leaklist because it's hard. Yeah. Thanks so 463 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd like 464 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: to send us a note, our email addresses History Podcast 465 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to the 466 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 1: show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 467 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.