In 1963, Alabama Governor George C. Walace defied a court order by Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to integrate the University of Alabama. This incident turned the governor into a national celebrity and led to a number of speaking engagements across the country. During one of these engagements, Wallace indicated an interest in entering certain presidential primaries in the North in order to campaign against the pending national civil rights legislation. The Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary was the first of these races. / Since President Lyndon Johnson had the Democratic presidential nomination for the asking, little attention was given to the Wallace candidacy. Governor John Reynolds was selected to run against Wallace as the Democraic favorite-son candidate, and the Republicans chose Representative John Byrnes as their favorite-son candidate. When the votes were cast on April 7, the entire nation was surprised at the large number of votes obtained by Wallace. / Upon examination of the conditions and events prior to and during the presidential primary campaign, the following factors apparently contributed to the surprising showing of Governor Wallace: (1) An open primary system existed in Wisconsin that allowed a large Republican cross-over vote for Wallace; (2) The Republican favorite-son candidate had no opponent; (3) The Democratic party was divided over their favorite-son candidate, one of the most unpopular Governors in the political history of Wisconsin; (4) Wallace's opponents waged a personal defamation campaign based on Wallace's reputation as a racist to which Wallace did not respond; and (5) Some white residents of Wisconsin were afraid of the increasing civil rights demands of the black population. These factors served to gain support and sympathy for the Wallace candidacy and to focus national attention on the Alabama governor as he conducted subsequent campaigns in Maryland and Indiana. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2235. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75137 |
| Contributors | WINDLER, CHARLES WILLIAM, JR., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 216 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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