The man from Alabama-A revamped President Wallace TL

What is this?

A President Wallace TL

Didn't you already make one?

Didn't like it, so I thought I could revamp it

Huh, Cool

Thanks
 
When 1958 came, the Governor of Alabama, called “Big Jim” Folsom was a popular governor. Over the last four years, from 1954-1958, Alabamians everywhere felt pride in their state. However, under the Alabama state constitution, Governor Folsom was prohibited from seeking a second term.

The race for the Governor’s Mansion in began when Third Judicial Circuit Judge George C. Wallace announced his run in March of 1958. Many other candidates would soon join in, but the one that really kept Wallace up at night was State Attorney General John M. Patterson.

Patterson and Wallace held different views on Racial Segregation. Wallace, a Racial Moderate like Folsom, refused to cooperate with the Ku Klux Klan and was even endorsed by the NAACP. Patterson, however, ran on a segregationist platform and was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.

Patterson held a close lead against the moderate Wallace. Throughout the entire race Governor Folsom kept his mouth shut, while personally supporting Wallace. However, two weeks before the primary, a close aide to Governor Folsom outed him to The Birmingham News, the race changed significantly, with Wallace in the lead. And a Patterson comeback was made harder by the fact that Folsom never really denied supporting Wallace

On June 3rd, 1958, Alabamians casted their ballots for the 1st Round of the Democratic Primary

George C. Wallace-30.74%
John M. Patterson-29.50%
Others-39.76%

As expected, nobody got 50%. So, the 2nd round of the Democratic primary, now with only Wallace and Patterson and others began 3 weeks later

George C. Wallace-50.02%
John M. Patterson-49.98%

Since winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to victory, George Wallace won in a landslide against the Republican candidate, William Longshore. Longshore only got 8.77%.
 
Governor Wallace inherited a prosperous Alabama from Governor Folsom. And like Governor Folsom, he was a popular governor. However, the Ku Klux Klan, not content with having four more years of having a racial moderate. They thought if, more moderates were put into Montgomery every four years, it would spark the end of an institution which has existed for nearly a century.

They weren’t going to let Wallace, whom they called a “Puppet for Yankees and Niggers”, change anything about Alabama. The White Citizen’s council and the KKK gained membership. Governor Wallace was worried at the increasing strength of both these groups, and thought that they might make his Governorship into a living hell and make him get nothing done.

However, when an African-American church was bombed in Birmingham, the KKK began to lose members. However, segregationists were still in the Alabama Government, giving Wallace little power to pass some of his legislation.

The issue of Segregation was taken off the table for a little while after President Eisenhower died of a stroke on December 27th, 1959. Leading to President Nixon

The issue of segregation was bought back on the table when, on May 4th, 1961, the Freedom Riders movement began. When Boynton v Virginia ruled Bus segregation unconstitutional, the Southern States didn’t care and the government did absolutely nothing to enforce it. The Freedom riders began as a movement to challenge the status quo by putting Whites & Blacks in the same bus.

The ride started in Alabama. Birmingham, to be exact. Police Commissioner Bull Connor and Police Sergeant Tom Cook organized violence against the Freedom riders, with the help of the Klan.

As more violence, beatings, and even bus burnings continued against the Freedom Riders in Alabama Governor Wallace gave a speech, which put the blame on the failure of Law Enforcement in Alabama, which gave him a lot more enemies.

When a mob began at Ralph Abernathy’s 1st Baptist Church, which was honoring the Freedom riders, Governor Wallace dispatched the National Guard. The mob dispersed.

When more Freedom Riders from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) arrived in Montgomery, the Nixon administration arranged a deal with the governors of Alabama and Mississippi. The governors agreed that state police and the National Guard would protect the Riders from mob violence. In return, the federal government would not intervene to stop local police from arresting Freedom Riders for violating segregation ordinances when the buses arrived at the depots (However, this only occurred in Mississippi, as Wallace had no problem with the Federal Government intervening to stop local police from arresting Freedom Riders).[1]

On May 24th, the Freedom Riders left for Mississippi. “Finally” said Governor Wallace, “It’s their problem now”

While Civil rights played a large role in Wallace’s administration, Wallace managed to put forward some legislation which helped Schools and labor unions.

After the 1958 election, educational leaders approached Wallace. Schools were in physical disrepair and suffered from poor curricula and teaching qualifications throughout the state. Many school districts had lost or were about to lose their accreditation and important university programs faced loss of accreditation because of inadequate facilities and equipment. The "salvation" plan devised by Wallace was presented to a special session of the legislature. It called for a $75 million bond issue for construction with two-thirds of the money going to K-12 and one-third to higher education. Wallace also developed a review mechanism to ensure that construction projects receiving the monies reflected the priority needs of each school system. Another set of measures sought to raise revenues for general operations through $42 million in new taxes.[2]

Governor Wallace also put some populist legislation into law, such as Old-Age pensions and farm aid

Wallace, like many before him, was barred from seeking a second consecutive term. Wallace tapped an ally, Alabama state senator Albert Brewer, to run in the primary. Bull Connor, on the other hand, thinks he can win as the segregationist candidate, and as expected, there are multiple other candidates as well.

[1]=abridged from Wikipedia, but modified slightly

[2]=abridged from the Encyclopedia of Alabama’s page on John Patterson, but modified slightly
 
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I love what you're doing here. It's certainly going to be interesting to see a Wallace almost entirely focused on populism instead of racism- hell, he'll have some black support in Alabama for not working with the clan (v.s segregationists, at least). Now will this become a one-time thing that works for Wallace, or will the Democrats in general manage to hang onto the South by playing up Populism while not focusing on racial issues?
 
I love what you're doing here. It's certainly going to be interesting to see a Wallace almost entirely focused on populism instead of racism- hell, he'll have some black support in Alabama for not working with the clan (v.s segregationists, at least). Now will this become a one-time thing that works for Wallace, or will the Democrats in general manage to hang onto the South by playing up Populism while not focusing on racial issues?

It worked with Folsom, It's working with Wallace. And with the Democrats drifting to civil rights, I don't think they're even thinking about looking back
 
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. The Republican Party nominated incumbent President Richard Nixon, while the Democratic Party nominated Earle C. Clements, U.S. Senator from Kentucky. The incumbent President, Republican Richard M. Nixon, was eligible for re-election as he had only been president for a year. This was the first presidential election in which voters in Alaska and Hawaii were able to participate, as both had become states in 1959.[1]

The Republican Party’s nomination process went by easily, as incumbent President Nixon cruised through the primaries. The convention was in dedication to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nixon won 1,330 delegates, while one delegate voted for Goldwater. At his convention speech, Goldwater called for Conservatives to “take back” the GOP. Richard Nixon chose Governor John Reed of Maine as his Running mate

The Democrats had a rockier primary. Senate Majority Whip Earle Clements entered the race. But some of his senate colleagues wanted to be president as well. Senator Humphrey of Minnesota and Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts were the few serious contenders.[2] The Wisconsin Primary was a victory for Humphrey, while West Virginia was a victory for Clements. These lose with lead Kennedy to drop out of the race and endorsed Clements. Clements would soon take Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Illinois and Indiana. Humphrey would win the other primaries. Michael DiSalle would win Ohio as a favorite son candidate. At the convention, Ohio’s delegation would support Clements due to wheeling and dealing. John F. Kennedy became Clements’s running mate

The election was a tight race, but it wasn’t until the debates that the polls would begin to show a winner. The Clements-Nixon debates, the first of its kind, showed Senator Clements, who contracted the flu two days before the debate, sweating and being noticeably uncomfortable, while Nixon was calm, rested, and didn’t have the flu. Following the debates, the election would be a modest Nixon lead

Clements’s support for civil rights caused many Southerners trying to revive the Dixiecrat banner, but no candidate would stand up. In the end, faithless electors casted their votes for three different candidates: Senator Talmadge of Georgia, Congressman Jarman from Oklahoma and Governor Faubus of Arkansas

1960.png


Richard M. Nixon/John Reed (Republican), 307 Electoral votes, 34,966,901 Popular votes (50.8%)
Earle C. Clements/John F. Kennedy (Democratic), 211 Electoral votes, 33,383,753 Popular votes (48.5%)
Herman Talmadge/Harry F. Byrd (Unpledged), 16 Electoral votes, 206,497 Popular votes (0.3%)
Orval Faubus/Strom Thurmond (Unpledged), 2 Electoral votes
John Jarman/Barry Goldwater (Unpledged), 1 Electoral vote



1=abridged from Wikipedia, modified slightly

2=Senator Johnson of Texas declined to run, along with Wayne Morse
 

Thothian

Banned
I find that a common theme on this board is " how can we make George Wallace not be a total dick". The various ways that are put forward are always entertaining.
 
The election was a tight race, but it wasn’t until the debates that the polls would begin to show a winner. The Clements-Nixon debates, the first of its kind, showed Senator Clements, who contracted the flu two days before the debate, sweating and being noticeably uncomfortable, while Nixon was calm, rested, and didn’t have the flu. Following the debates, the election would be a modest Nixon lead
Interesting reversal.
 
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