George C. Wallace

In March, 1965, a violent confrontation between Alabama state troopers and peaceful civil rights marchers horrified the nation. The troops that beat and tear-gassed the demonstrators were under orders from Governor George Wallace to halt the march. <Tab/>Thirty years later, George Wallace would sit next to the podium at a ceremony commemorating the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march, holding the hand of the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. <…

…term as governor with strong support from African-American voters. <Tab/>The four-term governor left an indelible mark on his state. At the time of his death in 1998, a number of state officeholders who had begun their careers as Wallace appointees were still serving; many parts of the state's infrastructure had been built or funded during a Wallace administration; and Wallace's states'-rights rhetoric and resistance to integration continued to shape Alabama's image.