Gov George Wallace's daughter on President Obama:

[Panich52]

"He inspired me & gave me the courage to step out of the shadow of the schoolhouse door."
- Peggy Wallace Kennedy, Gov George Wallace's daughter, on why she endorsed Barack Obama for president.

She walked across the Pettus Bridge w/ John Lewis.

via Al Jazeera, 3/6/15

[bluestateguy]

1. Remember this story

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/wallace.kennedy.obama/index.html?iref=allsearch

By Peggy Wallace Kennedy
Special to CNN
Wed November 5, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN) -- I heard a car door slam behind me and turned to see an elderly but spry woman heading my way.

cut

I was holding a bouquet of them in my arms when the woman walked up and gave me a crushing hug. "Honey," she said, "you don't know me, but when I saw you standing up here on this hill, I knew that you must be one of the girls and I couldn't help myself but to drive up here and let you know how much me and my whole family loved both of your parents. They were real special people."

I thanked her for her kind words as we stood side by side gazing down at the graves of Govs. George Wallace and Lurleen Wallace.

After a few moments, the woman leaned into me and spoke almost in a conspiratorial whisper. "I never thought I would live to see the day when a black would be running for president. I know your daddy must be rolling over in his grave."

Not having the heart or the energy to respond, I gave her bony arm a slight squeeze, turned and walked away. As I put the remnants of the graveyard spray in the trunk of my car, I assumed that she had not bothered to notice the Barack Obama sticker on my bumper.

more

[BlancheSplanchnik]

3. thanks...hadn't seen this. n/t

[Cha]

5. Mahalo for this story, bluestateguy.. excellent backdrop for the OP..

[mountain grammy]

6. That brought a tear to my eye..

lovely story.

[Hekate]

13. What she has to say about Dubya is stunning -- recommend to read the whole thing, folks

[Iliyah]

2. Love

[Cha]

4. Mahalo Panich

[mountain grammy]

7. Beautiful

[Stellar]

8. forgiveness is a beautiful thing.

n/t

[freshwest]

9. Wallace started out as a good guy, then took a bad path to get power, then returned to the light:

George Wallace



...Back in Montgomery, Wallace obtained a job as assistant attorney general. Just three months later he launched his political career with a bid for a seat in the state legislature. He was elected in 1947 and earned a reputation as a "dangerous liberal" at the capitol. In 1953 Wallace won election to a circuit judgeship that he held for six years. The same year Wallace began managing part of Governor "Big Jim" Folsom's re-election campaign. Folsom, a largely colorblind progressive, was to become Wallace's political mentor. However, times would change, and what had worked for Folsom would fail Wallace.

In 1958 Wallace entered the race for governor. Wallace thought he could remain a "moderate" on segregation and win. His opponent in the Democratic primary, Attorney General John Patterson, promoted segregation and anti-African-American policies and received the support of the Ku Klux Klan, while Wallace received the endorsement of the NAACP. Patterson defeated Wallace in a landslide...

Thanks to the passage of an Alabama Constitutional amendment, Wallace was re-elected to the governorship in 1974. During these consecutive administrations Wallace made a record educational appropriation; doubled health-care spending; increased old age pensions, unemployment compensation and workmen's compensation; and, as he had in his first term, worked to attract capital investment to the state.

In the years after the assassination attempt, Wallace's attitude toward racial issues underwent a dramatic change. The man who had once vowed "segregation forever" asked forgiveness of many people with whom he had clashed. Wallace was elected in 1982 to his last term as governor with strong support from African-American voters...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/peopleevents/pande05.html

[Algernon Moncrieff]

11. Many people forget/don't realize that Wallace saw the light after the shooting

Thanks for posting

[freshwest]

17. I learned that some years ago. I read that some of his caretakers were black and he was humbled.

'Segregation Forever': A Fiery Pledge Forgiven, But Not Forgotten

January 10, 2013


Wallace in 1975, three years after he was paralyzed in an assassination attempt. In his later years, Wallace reached out to civil rights activists and black churches to ask forgiveness. Peter Cade/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Peter Cade/Getty Images

..."He said, 'Mr. Lewis, I'm sorry.' And I said, 'Well, governor, I accept your apology.' "

Poe was also able to reach the same conclusion. "Being the type of person I am, out of my heart and soul, I can forgive George Wallace. Yes. Heaven's sakes, I forgive him," Poe says. "But forget? No. Never."

Even today, Lewis says he often reflects on the governor's speech.

"Does it hurt me? No," Lewis says. "In the end, I think George Wallace was one of the signs on this long journey towards the creation of a better America, toward the creation of a more perfect union. It was just one of the stumbling blocks along the way."

In his later years, Wallace reached out to civil rights activists and appeared in black churches to ask forgiveness. In his last election as governor of Alabama, in 1982, he won with more than 90 percent of the black vote. Wallace died in September 1998...

http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169080969/segregation-forever-a-fiery-pledge-forgiven-but-not-forgotten

He caused death with his rush to power. I was with a local anti-war coalition that chartered a bus to go to Washington, D.C. and as the bus came around a curve in Alabama, there was a huge billboard of him running for President.

We gasped - literally - in a state of collective horror. He was to us, the symbol of American Evil that the Vietnam War also embodied. I am not of the caliber of John Lewis, nor of Obama. I don't forgive him for what he did, but I wasn't the one called out by his hideous speech. He was one of the symbols of a national nightmare to liberals like me...

So much cleansing needs to be done.

[freshwest]

18. True! The thought of him still makes my skin crawl. But that's just me.

[Drunken Irishman]

16. Yes. Wallace is an enigma.

He began his career as a progressive and, at worst, a moderate on racial issues. But he saw that was basically a dead end in terms of political advancement in Alabama, so, he sold his beliefs out to get ahead. I don't know if that makes him a good man, but I don't believe he bought much of the hate he spewed - to a point.

Unfortunately, as time went on, the hate consumed him and I think, eventually, he started buying it. There was just too much passion in his words during the late 60s and early 70s for me to believe it was still an act.

Then, after he was shot, and he had a coming to Jesus, everything mellowed out and he rejected his bigoted ways.

But I don't see him as much a progressive anymore. At least, not after his second coming. In 1996, he endorsed Dole over Clinton.

[erronis]

19. I think most politicians are opportunists and will seek votes where they need to.

However, as you say so well, having achieved power they lose track of how they sold out their own principles to get this power.

Dole over Clinton - that's a difficult one to call. Both of these guys also had to "buy" into the machinery to get elected. I think Bob Dole was a much more decent person than he has been given credit for. And I think Bill Clinton has as many faults as most of us. True, life-long progressives probably don't really exist.

[Hekate]

10. There is hope for this country yet

Thank you

[Music Man]

12. Wonderful! I had missed this too.

It's always fascinated me that George Wallace came to regret his racist policies (at least publicly). He recanted his belief in segregation, sought the support of Civil Rights leaders, and made a record number of African-American appointments to his cabinet. In fact, during his comeback in the '80s, his re-election was partly due to strong African-American support.

In a different way, it reminds me of another prominent example of a complete turnaround in ideology, that of Max Eastman. Eastman was a liberal, pro-socialist activist from Greenwich Village who came to denounce socialism and communism, going so far as to support Joseph McCarthy's witch hunts and serve as editor of the "National Review." So interesting!

[Frances]

14. Wallace was a complicated man

I read that a black lawyer said Wallace was the only judge who ever called him sir in a courtroom (that was before Wallace was a state official)

I hated how Wallace could stir up a racist crowd. I was in a crowd of people who heard him say that if one of those pointy headed liberals lay down in front of his car, he would run over the person. The crowd cheered. Not a comfortable feeling for me.

But Wallace was much better for the average person in Alabama than the Republican governors. Before I left Alabama, I taught at one of the community colleges that Wallace established. And I remember Wallace giving money to the colleges, especially Troy.

[gordianot]

20. These later life conversions fascinate me.

Byrd, Wallace really stand out both for the better from segregationist to a very different view later in life. Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren both former Goldwater supporters are current examples, Warren made her conversion within the last two decades. Barry Goldwater himself took a very different tack on Social issues later in life.

Then there are the conversions like a former friend that ridiculed the far right and went from supporting Shirley Chisholm in his youth to expressing admiration for Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann as a cranky geezer. Andy Williams went from singing at Robert Kennedy's funeral to an extreme right wing Republican denouncing Obama as a Communist. Overall it appears to me the right wing conversions prevail.

I figured out I was a liberal at age 13 and have not deviated.

[Drunken Irishman]

15. Here's a speech she gave introducing Michelle during a 2012 campaign rally.

"Good afternoon.

It is truly a privilege to be here with my fellow Alabamians, gathered here today to welcome America's First Lady to our state. Mrs. Obama, Alabama Democrats remain committed to the President’s vision for moving America forward as he continues to build a nation where "justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

In June of 1963, the governor of Alabama traveled to Tuscaloosa and stood in the schoolhouse door to promote the politics of segregation and discrimination. Today, his daughter stands in Birmingham, in a much different Alabama, to welcome as an honored guest our First Lady, a woman of grace, courage and strength.

Mrs. Obama, as a child who grew up in the Governor’s mansion, I cannot fully express what it has meant to me to watch you and your husband set such a positive example for America’s parents. The clear devotion you and he both share for your two beautiful daughters is the single best example of true American family values.

http://aldemocrats.org/blog/peggy_wallace_kennedys_speech_introducing_michelle_obama