George Corley Wallace Jr.

George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was a Democrat American politician who served as tbe 45th Governor of Alabama for four terms. He survived an assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer in 1972 while running for tbe U.S. Presidency, this assassination attempt paralyzed him below tbe waist for life. he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and populist views. Wallace opposed desegregation and supported tbe policies of "Jim Crow" during tbe Civil Rights Movement, declaring in his 1963 inaugural address that he stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever". Wallace attended tbe University of Alabama School of Law, and served in United States Army Air Corps during World War II. After tbe war, he won election to tbe Alabama House of Representatives, and served as a state judge. Wallace first sought tbe Democratic nomination in tbe 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election. Wallace challenged sitting president Lyndon B. Johnson in tbe 1964 Democratic presidential primaries, but Johnson prevailed in tbe race. He remains tbe third longest serving governor in U.S. History. In a 1963 letter to a social studies teacher, Wallace stated tbey were inclined to criminality – especially "atrocious acts ... such as rape, assault and murder" – because of a high incidence of venereal disease. Desegregation, he wrote, would lead to "intermarriage ... and eventually our race will deterierate to that of tbe mongrel complexity."