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George Corley Wallace

George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was born in Clio, Alabama, on August 25, 1919. He graduated from Barbour County High School in 1937, and earned a law degree in 1942 from the University of Alabama. Wallace served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1945, and was an assistant attorney general from 1946 to 1947. He was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1947, serving until 1953, and served on the bench of the third judicial district from 1953 to 1958.

During the 1958 gubernatorial campaign Wallace spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan, and although he endorsed segregation his centrist views won him the support of the NAACP. In contrast, his opponent John Patterson accepted the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan and made racial issues a major part of his campaign. After this defeat, Wallace determined that in order to be elected governor he would have to change his position on racial issues, and told one of his campaign officials "I was out-niggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be out-niggered again." Dan Carter, his biographer, says Wallace stated: "You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor."

On November 6, 1962, Wallace was elected governor of Alabama, and was sworn into office on January 14, 1963. Running as a segregationist, George Wallace took office in 1963, pledging to maintain a way of life in Alabama. "I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," he said. At the height of the civil rights movement, Wallace defiantly defended state and local laws that sought to keep blacks and whites separated in schools, restaurants and many other public places. He gained worldwide attention when he tried to block two black students from attending the all-white University of Alabama.

The civil rights movement dominated Wallace's first term with tension mounting from the desegregation of the schools in Macon County, and the nationally publicized police dog and fire hose incidents in Birmingham. In 1963 two African-American students became the first to be admitted to an all-white university in the southern U.S. state of Alabama. The move came despite efforts by Alabama's Governor George Wallace to prevent the school's integration, in defiance of federal government orders. The students were accompanied by U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach in a confrontation still referred to by historians as "the stand in the schoolhouse door." Wallace backed down later in the day, and James Hood and Vivian Malone registered for classes.

Wallace attempted to amend the Alabama Constitution, which prohibited governors from succeeding themselves in office. However, his attempt failed, and he left office on January 16, 1967. His wife, Lurleen, ran and was elected governor in November 1966. Wallace served as her special assistant, earning a dollar a year, and making most of the important executive decisions.

After the death of his wife, Wallace ran unsuccessfully, in 1968, as an American Independent Party candidate for president. While Americans have not elected a third party president, there have been some strong attempts: George Wallace won almost 14 percent in 1968. Ross Perot got 19 percent in 1992 and eight percent in 1996.

On November 3, 1970, Wallace was elected to a second term as governor, and in 1972, was running for the Democratic presidential nomination when an assassination attempt left him paralyzed. An amendment to the Alabama Constitution was ratified in 1968, allowing governors to succeed themselves, and in 1974, Wallace was overwhelmingly reelected to a third term as governor. He ran again for the presidency in 1976 following the end of his gubernatorial term, Wallace took a four-year hiatus from politics.

He ran again for governor in 1982, and won the governorship with an unprecedented amount of black voter support. During his last three terms, vital improvements were made in the Alabama Law Enforcement Planning Agency, the Alabama Office of Consumer Protection was started in 1972, health care improved with doubled expenditures, and Wallace sponsored the largest highway expansion program in the state's history. Wallace retired from politics in 1987, and died on September 13, 1998, in Montgomery.