George Wallace

Like, when, like, when, like, regime-loyal people or when these, like, Mother Jones types claim that, like, Donald Trump's this big fascist or something, I mean, that's, like, retarded for no other reason.

But, like, some radical right-wing guy, like, if George Wallace had become president or Huey Long had become president, it would not look anything like Germany in 1933 or, like, Italy in 1922.

Like, that's ridiculous.

That's not the way we do things here.

Uh, I mean, I'm not saying morally, I mean, I don't think he was, I think it was kind of a bumpkin.

I don't think he was a great figurehead and I've got my own issues with him, but that certainly is associated with Roy Cohn didn't do him any favors, but, um, but the, for all kinds of reasons, but we'll get into that in our Cold War series, but the, um, But that was basically the American right as it was ossifying.

Huey Long, Robert Taft, Wallace was a resurgence of that.

And, of course, Nixon took on the Wallace Coalition, which became the Reagan Coalition, which became MAGA.

The people that talked to me, there were tears reliving the moments about how much Johnny meant to them and how their life changed.

I mean, George Wallace told me within 24 hours of debuting on Carson, he was opening up for Natalie Cole in like 17,000 seat arena.

I mean, that was the power of Johnny.

These were people, you know, that were down on their luck, that were broke, that had families, and suddenly they have these development deals in sitcom.

In 1960, Hurricane Donna, a dangerous Category 4 storm blamed for 364 deaths, struck the Florida Keys.

In 1963, 20 black students entered Alabama public schools following a standoff between federal authorities and Alabama Governor George C. Wallace.

In 1979, four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives in a 1950 attempted killing of President Harry S. Truman were freed from prison after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter.

In 1987, Pope John Paul II arrived in Miami, where he was welcomed by President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan as he began a 10-day tour of the United States.

Dr. Dan T. Carter, who is no relation to Asa Carter, is a University of South Carolina professor emeritus and renowned Southern historian and acclaimed author.

He wrote a biography of the Alabama governor George Wallace, who became famous for opposing desegregation.

Most recently, Dr. Carter wrote a book called Unmasking the Klansman, just published in April of 2023.

More on that in a minute, though.

It just doesn't add up.

And I haven't even told you the wildest part.

It involves a man by the name of George Wallace, who on January 14, 1963, gave his inaugural speech on the steps of the state capital of Alabama after being elected governor.

Wallace would become the face of opposition to the civil rights movement when he delivered his infamous Segregation Forever speech.

I tend to believe the Bryant version.

I've had George Wallace Jr. tell, tell me before, uh, that, that, [laughs] I mean, you talk to George Wallace Jr. and you thought his father, um, you know, was, was part of the Emancima- Emancipation Proclamation.

[laughs]

But, uh, but, but, but Chuck, you, you know, you know how this goes.

Now, it just could be they go dormant for a decade or two, and, and maybe that's, you know, they, it, they did it once, and they came back, so I, I certainly am not gonna count Alabama out considering the tradition that it has had.

But, but a lot of headwinds.

Um, also appreciated the fact that, you know, the insight that he could give from knowing George Wallace's son or living near Bear Bryant's grandson, [laughs] right? You just don't get that kind of perspective, so you know-

It's-

The gap between them is much narrower than the gap between Jesse Jackson and Al Gore in 1988.

It is much narrower than the gap between George Wallace and George McGovern, who both sought the Democratic nomination in 1972.

One of the, the things that, that, that the burden of, of being old and spending your life reading about politics and history is that you learn that a lot of this isn't new.

And, and this is, you know, one of the, the hard truths about the Democratic Party today is it's both more progressive and more unified than any time in its history, right? That, that is very hard to imagine.