George Wallace

George Wallace
Official portrait, 1962
45th Governor of Alabama
In office January 17, 1983 – January 19, 1987
Lieutenant	Bill Baxley
Preceded by	Fob James
Succeeded by	H. Guy Hunt
In office January 18, 1971 – January 15, 1979[a]
Lieutenant	Jere Beasley
Preceded by	Albert Brewer
Succeeded by	Fob James
In office January 14, 1963 – January 16, 1967
Lieutenant	James Allen
Preceded by	John Patterson
Succeeded by	Lurleen Wallace
First Gentleman of Alabama
In role January 16, 1967 – May 7, 1968
Governor	Lurleen Wallace
Preceded by	Lurleen Wallace (as First Lady)
Succeeded by	Martha Farmer Brewer (as First Lady)
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives from Barbour County
In office January 3, 1946 – January 3, 1955
Personal details
Born	George Corley Wallace Jr. (1919-08-25)August 25, 1919 Clio, Alabama, U.S.
Died	September 13, 1998(1998-09-13) (aged 79) Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Resting place	Greenwood Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Other political affiliations	American Independent (1968)
Spouses	Lurleen Burns ​ ​ (m. 1943; died 1968)​ Cornelia Ellis Snively ​ ​ (m. 1971; div. 1978)​ Lisa Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 1987)​
Children	4
Education	University of Alabama (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1942–1945
Rank	Staff sergeant
Unit	United States Army Air Forces
Battles/wars	World War II
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George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963-1967; 1971-1979; 1983-1987), and the longest-serving governor from the Democratic Party. Wallace is remembered for his staunch segregationist and populist views although in the late 1970s he moderated his views on race, renouncing his support for segregation. During Wallace's tenure as governor of Alabama, he promoted "industrial development, low taxes, and trade schools." Wallace unsuccessfully sought the United States presidency as a Democrat three times, and once with the American Independent Party, in which he carried five states in the 1968 election. Wallace opposed desegregation and supported the policies of "Jim Crow" during the Civil Rights Movement, declaring in his infamous 1963 inaugural address that he stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever."

Born in Clio, Alabama, Wallace attended the University of Alabama School of Law, and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. After the war, he won election to the Alabama House of Representatives, and served as a state judge. Wallace first sought the Democratic nomination in the 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election. Initially a moderate on racial issues, Wallace adopted a hard-line segregationist stance after losing the 1958 nomination. Wallace ran for governor again in 1962, and won the race. Seeking to stop the racial integration of the University of Alabama, Wallace earned national notoriety by standing in front of the entrance of the University of Alabama, blocking the path of black students. Wallace left office when his first term expired in 1967 due to term limits. His wife, Lurleen, won the next election and succeeded him, with him as the de facto governor. Wallace's period of influence ended when Lurleen died of cancer in May 1968; her doctor informed Wallace of the cancer's diagnosis in 1961, but he had not told her.

Wallace challenged sitting president Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 Democratic presidential primaries, but Johnson prevailed in the race. In the 1968 presidential election, Wallace ran a third-party campaign in an attempt to force a contingent election in the United States House of Representatives, thereby enhancing the political clout of segregationist Southern leaders. Wallace won five Southern states but failed to force a contingent election. As of the 2024 election,^[update] he remains the most recent third-party candidate to receive pledged electoral college votes from any state.

Wallace won election to the governorship again in 1970, and ran in the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, having moderated his stance on segregation. His campaign effectively ended when he was shot in Maryland by Arthur Bremer, and Wallace remained paralyzed below the waist for the rest of his life. Wallace won re-election as governor in 1974, and he once again unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1976 Democratic presidential primaries. In the late 1970s, Wallace announced that he became a born-again Christian, and moderated his views on race, renouncing his past support for segregation. Wallace left office in 1979, but re-entered politics and won election to a fourth, and final, term as governor in 1982. Wallace's 5,848 days in office as governor is the third-longest in the history of any state, and including his 478 days as de facto governor during his Lurleen Wallace's term gives him a total tenure of 6,326 days in charge of Alabama.
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