WI: Republican George Wallace in the 60's?

In our OTL Wallace ran for the Democratic nomination in 64. However he endorsed Goldwater and the GOP in 64 due to Barry's opposition to the CRA and VRA. The only reason Wallace didn't switch was because Strom Thurmond did and he didn't want to play second fiddle to him. But what if he did switch to the GOP. Would their be any differences? Might he challenge for the Republican nomination? I don't think he could beat Nixon, but he disrupts the convention and his name maybe hurts the GOP everywhere except the South and some of the West. What are your thoughts?
 
I think he could deny Nixon the nomination in 1968, and get it after a possibly disastrous convention. I can see him beating Humphrey, too...
 
I think he could deny Nixon the nomination in 1968, and get it after a possibly disastrous convention. I can see him beating Humphrey, too...

I thought so, but it seems to ASB. I mean I could see a lot of GOP members oppose his nomination. However i'll admit it isn't impossible.
 
Wallace could switch but I don't think he would win a GOP presidential nomination. He would also have to change his views. I'm also sceptical that big Republican donors would get behind a man they see as a demagoguish hick, not necessarily in that order.
 
If Wallace didn't talk about segregation, he'd probably have been a much more successful politician nationally. But he was a populist from the South, and that's what the Southerners wanted to hear.
 
If Wallace didn't talk about segregation, he'd probably have been a much more successful politician nationally. But he was a populist from the South, and that's what the Southerners wanted to hear.

Segregation is what made Wallace's political career. If he hadn't switched to hardcore segregationism after his '58 loss to John Patterson his political career would've been finished.
 
Segregation is what made Wallace's political career. If he hadn't switched to hardcore segregationism after his '58 loss to John Patterson his political career would've been finished.

I wasn't suggesting Wallace simply never get into segregation - just that perhaps during his national presidential campaign he runs behind a different issue. I'm pretty sure as far as the nation was concerned, Wallace was running solely under the segregationist banner.
 
I wasn't suggesting Wallace simply never get into segregation - just that perhaps during his national presidential campaign he runs behind a different issue. I'm pretty sure as far as the nation was concerned, Wallace was running solely under the segregationist banner.

True, which is the problem. Wallace would have to change his views from bog-standard New Deal populism and very quickly to carve out some sort of niche. Dunno how that would work out. Plus Wallace was always more interested in campaigning than governing, certainly at that stage of his career.
 
Wallace could switch but I don't think he would win a GOP presidential nomination. He would also have to change his views. I'm also sceptical that big Republican donors would get behind a man they see as a demagoguish hick, not necessarily in that order.

I agree. Wallace could only win if he had big money backers, or if he got enough working class white delegates from outside the south to win. He'd get close if southerners switch as well, but who knows
 
In the wake of Goldwater, even were he not tarnished with the cloak of being until relatively recently a Democrat, his positions do not translate well with any faction of the Republican Party. Conservatives would despise him for his support of the Great Society, Liberals would despise him for his support of Segregation. His appeal just isn't there the same way as it is for socially conservative, but fiscally liberal Democrats.

On the same note I've read Politics of Rage and American Populist, and while there is mention of him trying to get on the ticket with Goldwater, I don't remember him actually entertaining the idea of becoming a Republican simply for the sake of it; more like something he floated and then never gave any further thought.
 
The biggest problem with Wallace becoming a Republican is that he just wasn't that conservative, at least in the sense at the time. He'd certainly have a lot in common with the 2010 version of the Tea Party (don't raid Medicare to pay for Obamacare, no bureaucrats deciding on how much healthcare grandma gets, debt reduction), but not so much with Bill Buckley or even Barry Goldwater. He was a populist and would have had a very hard time making inroads with the Republican business community.
 
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