AHC: Make George Wallace president

Obviously in hindsight not a good guy, and would have been a poor choice for president particularly at that time. However, what would it have taken to see Wallace in the White House? What kinds of policies would he have implemented, and how would the Civil Rights Movement changed? How would the Democratic and Republican parties changed?

I am not an expert in any sense of the word in that era, so looking for some insight here.

Thanks!
 
Obviously in hindsight not a good guy, and would have been a poor choice for president particularly at that time. However, what would it have taken to see Wallace in the White House? What kinds of policies would he have implemented, and how would the Civil Rights Movement changed? How would the Democratic and Republican parties changed?

I am not an expert in any sense of the word in that era, so looking for some insight here.

Thanks!

have him win the governor's chair somehow in 1958 when he ran on a much more moderate platform when it came to racial politics, it becomes easier after that I would assume.
 
Might be easiest to get him as a VP and then ascend to the White House.

Or, how about a scenario where McCarthy successfully primaries LBJ and Johnson refuses to endorse. Nixon pivots to the center instead of embracing the southern strategy seeing the chance for a landslide, but enabling Wallace to do better in the south. McCarthy flounders due to supporters’ radicalism and Wallace seems poised for runner up to Nixon’s landslide.

And then Nixon is caught sabotaging the Vietnam peace talks, discrediting him. Wallace and McCarthy both hammer him did this and the ultimate result is Wallace ends up winning the presidency by a slim margin.
 
have him win the governor's chair somehow in 1958 when he ran on a much more moderate platform when it came to racial politics, it becomes easier after that I would assume.
I actually had a timeline in early planning about this where Wallace is chosen as Kennedy's running mate instead of Johnson in 1960, and then becomes President in his own right after the Kennedy Assassination. The specific PoD was that Albert Patterson isn't assassinated, thus creating butterflies where his son John Patterson isn't in a position to run against and beat Wallace in the 1958 Alabama Democratic primary.
 
Wallace could remain being a moderate on the issue of race and not fall into the segregationist crowd. Without that millstone of a worldview, he wouldn't be as controversial and might actually get the '68 Democratic nomination(or at least be a strong runner for it)
 
Regarding 1976...

I actually think that Reagan winning the Republican nomination, under the right circumstances, could help facilitate Wallace’s victory during the Democratic primary season rather than hindering it. It sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out. You are right that the two candidates often drew support from the same set of voters, especially in the South, but that does not tell the whole story.

See, during the early stretch of primaries, Reagan was sort of floundering. Ford had won New Hampshire, which was arguably a bit of an upset, and then crushed his opponent in several more contests. The Gipper’s campaign was only saved by the Jesse Helms machine in North Carolina, which helped deliver that state and allow Reagan to remain competitive up until the convention... and which also depended, in part, on mobilizing diehard Wallace supporters to vote in the Republican primary. So, the Wallace factor took some time to fully get behind Reagan.

But imagine that, for whatever reason, Reagan absolutely crushes Ford in New Hampshire, forcing the president out of contention in the early running. With Reagan’s nomination all but assured, turnout is much lower during the Republican primary season. What are the knock-on effects of this? Well, it frees up many Wallace supporters to actually vote for Wallace in the Democratic primaries. In fact, the impact might be almost instantaneous. Look at the Democratic primary in Massachusetts - Wallace came within striking distance of winning that contest. One would not need to shift that many voters to his column (perhaps unaffiliated but culturally conservative blue collar voters) to give him the victory. Sure, Wallace would not win that many more delegates, but it would surely be a result that generates much media attention and build him momentum. That, plus the Wallace voters in Southern states who would have no need to strategically back Reagan, could help make him knock out Carter early on and become one of the frontrunners. Now, it is admittedly something of a leap from “one of the frontrunners” to “Democratic presidential nominee”, but the scenario positions Wallace to be a serious contender.
 
Nixon wins in 1960.

He supports the civil rights movement (not out of principle, but because his paranoia works in our favor and he takes Dixiecrat resistance as a challenge to his authority and therefore a personal insult). He signs liberal domestic legislation - OTL Nixon signed the EPA and OSHA into law and Medicare passed the Senate 88-12. So there are butterflies but not as many as you might suspect at first glance.

However, there's also nothing to butterfly the Watts riots. Griswold was 7-2 and the Pill was invented before the POD so the sexual revolution still happens. Vietnam still escalates, and Nixon either got us into a controversial war or lost South Vietnam to the Commies.

With the same, or largely similar, social environment and the black vote split more evenly (and thus less influential among Democrats), Wallace captures the nomination and beats Lodge.
 
Nixon wins in 1960.

He supports the civil rights movement (not out of principle, but because his paranoia works in our favor and he takes Dixiecrat resistance as a challenge to his authority and therefore a personal insult). He signs liberal domestic legislation - OTL Nixon signed the EPA and OSHA into law and Medicare passed the Senate 88-12. So there are butterflies but not as many as you might suspect at first glance.

However, there's also nothing to butterfly the Watts riots. Griswold was 7-2 and the Pill was invented before the POD so the sexual revolution still happens. Vietnam still escalates, and Nixon either got us into a controversial war or lost South Vietnam to the Commies.

With the same, or largely similar, social environment and the black vote split more evenly (and thus less influential among Democrats), Wallace captures the nomination and beats Lodge.

Nixons platform in 1960 and personal behavior including friendships with MLK and Robinson strongly suggests he would be far more pro-civil rights than Kennedy was.
 
Nixon wins in 1960. HHH's cancer hits early, leading to a dying HHH giving Connally the nomination in 1968. Connally's VP, Robert Kennedy has to resign due to being busted wiretapping the 1972 GOP campaign HQ. Wallace narrowly picked, then gets the white house in april 1975 once Connally gets impeached over a federal milk price scandal*.

Wallace's time in office is mostly remembered for ongoing energy supply problems, and he loses to Reagan in '76. Reagan's one term is outside of the scope of OP's request since they asked about Wallace.

* He did one in Texas OTL, as POTUS? Well, yeah
 
Pre-1958 Wallace was considered one of the least racist judges in the south. There were some quotations in which he was the only judge to refer to black lawyers as sir, for example. He was even endorsed by the NAACP. But he lost to a KKK backed candidate in the Democratic Primary. Avoid that and Wallace could fill in Jimmy Carter's niche (southern democrat post-civil rights who wasn't bad on the issue) or perhaps be chosen by Kennedy to be VP in 64 if JFK opts to drop Johnson from the ticket.


Alternatively, have him still be shot in 72 but not get put in a wheelchair. He gets just as much sympathy but still has the dynamism to campaign. He does better in a few states marginally, wins the popular vote, and wins New Mexico. He proceeds to cut a deal with Shirley Chisholm to form a ticket - she was the first person to visit him in the hospital OTL. Or maybe he gets nominated in 1976.
 
Pre-1958 Wallace was considered one of the least racist judges in the south. There were some quotations in which he was the only judge to refer to black lawyers as sir, for example.

J L Chestnut's "Black in Selma" mentions that. Wallace required judges in his courtroom to address Chestnut as Mr. Chestnut.
 
He was Nixon with better looks but without Nixon's probable aspergers or morals. I really don't see an RFK presidency not having at minimum watergate level shenanigans, maybe even Watergate itself since an incumbent dem party would likely meet somewhere else, leaving open the possibility of the RNC meeting at watergate.
 
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