WI: George Wallace becomes Governor in 1958

TinyTartar

Banned
George Wallace, a previously moderate on racial issues, lost the 1958 Alabama election, leading to his ambition getting the better of him and creating a segregationist demagogue. He claimed that "nobody would ever out-nigger him again".

Now, if Wallace is somehow able to win, do you see him straying from his previous positions? Does someone else fill the void in the '60s to be the voice of the South on the national level? Who would it be?

And how would you bring this victory for Wallace about in '58? How would he govern Alabama?
 
Given how intense that issue was, Wallace would be under severe pressure to stray. I can't think of any other Southern governors who could take up a similar national profile. Maybe Paul Johnson, but he's a real stretch. Barnett is a dumbass and Maddox won't come around till later.

Wallace's problem in '58 included Folsom fallout, an intensely polarized electorate where no middle ground was possible for candidates like '58 Wallace or his future nemesis DeGraffenried, and Patterson's institutional + KKK support. Offhand, I can't think of anything from my Dan Carter reading which could lead to those factors changing.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
This would be an interesting TL given Wallace's political savvy.

I don't think that he would get nearly the national following that he did OTL this way, but by painting himself as a populist on economic issues, a southern regionalist who also is moderate on race, he might find himself being a rising star within the Democratic Party and get establishment backing going forward, even if he hated the Democratic Party.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
How do you get Wallace to win in '58 with his moderate positions on race through?

Eliminate Patterson. Have him fall and break his neck, crash his car, be struck by a bolt of lighting. With Patterson out the picture, Wallace is as good as nominated, and then as good as Governor.
 
The right will find someone else. No way in hell will they allow a moderate like Wallace to skate through a primary.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
The right will find someone else. No way in hell will they allow a moderate like Wallace to skate through a primary.

Look, he wasn't some crusading Civil Rights pioneer in '58 that would have provoked backlash. He had in the past been seen as amenable to both black and white concerns, and was not a mouth frothing racist. Alabama had governors before him who were not mouth frothing racists.

Now, '58 was when the issue was really heating up, so it would come up during the primary, but nobody else really had the kind of organization to beat him other than Patterson. He could simply come out in favor of states rights against federal interference, one of the few beliefs of his political career that I believe were consistent and genuine, with a wink and a nod as to what that meant.

He'd govern basically as someone who wasn't going to make stands in schoolhouse doors and would comply with federal orders, but not go about making waves with progressive reforms of his own.

I don't think that he would lose in '58 solely on race. He lost because his opponent had more institutional and financial support. He thought he lost because of race and went full racist as a result. He did get "out-n*****ed", but there is little real indication that he would have beaten Patterson if race was not an issue.
 
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