[CTRL] Something to Ponder-Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia George Wallace

[Amelia]

Title: Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: George Wallace

I did not live in Alabama for most of Geo Wallace's tenure as governor but I was living here for his fourth (yep, 4th term).  Much of the population did NOT support his segregationist antics and were embarrassed by some of his publicity-seeking stunts. Talk about a need for term limits! I also found it interesting that he was able to carry several states in his bid for the president despite not even being able to complete his campaign because of the assassination attempt, many far from the Deep South with 46 electoral votes.  I have forgotten how many times he was shot, five or seven, but it was an amazing number of times for his to have survived.  But what I am wanting those so into race-baiting and name-calling to think about is what is stated at the end of this very brief and NOT all-inclusive bio.  What I would like people to understand is that it was the African-American population that elected this man to that last term.  This was much to the horror of many whites who thought the State should be more progressive than this and found segregation morally wrong and pragmatically impossible.  Why did the blacks do this?  What were they thinking? When you understand what happened here, and it is a fact that he NEVER could have carried that election without almost total black support, then you will understand a great deal more about racial issues in the Deep South.  It is complex and things are not what they seem. I will offer no explanations here and want each person to come to his own conclusion but I will say that most people do not have much of an understanding in this area. Amelia   | They Would Be President | General Articles | The Presidents | GME Contents | GEORGE WALLACE George Corley Wallace, b. Clio, Ala., Aug. 25, 1919, is a DEMOCRATIC PARTY politician and four-time governor of Alabama. Between 1946 and 1958, Wallace was, successively, assistant state's attorney, a member of the state legislature, and a judge of the Third Judicial Circuit of Alabama. In 1962 he was elected governor after campaigning on a platform of defiant segregation. The following year he attempted to prevent black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama but yielded eventually to the authority of the National Guard. Wallace was ineligible to succeed himself as governor, and his wife, Lurleen, was elected to the post in 1966. In 1968 he won 46 electoral votes as the populist presidential candidate of the newly formed AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PARTY. In 1970 and 1974 he was reelected as governor. On May 15, 1972, while campaigning for the Democratic party's presidential nomination in Laurel, Md., he was shot in an assassination attempt that left him partially paralyzed. In 1982 he brought together a populist coalition of blacks and whites to win a fourth term as governor. He retired in 1987. For Further Reading Burke, Jerald P., With Liberty and Justice for All: The Political Philosophy of George C. Wallace (1976) Carlson, Jody, George C. Wallace and the Politics of Powerlessness (1981) Lesher, Stephan, George Wallace: American Populist (1994) | They Would Be President | General Articles | The Presidents | GME Contents |   | Grolier Interactive Products | Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (Subscribers Only) | Copyright © 2000 Grolier Incorporated. All rights reserved.

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