GEORGE WALLACE, SPEECH at SERB HALL (26 March 1976)
Voices of Democracy 11 (2016): 44-70 Hogan 44 GEORGE WALLACE, SPEECH AT SERB HALL (26 March 1976) J. Michael Hogan The Pennsylvania State University Abstract This essay seeks to account for the persuasive appeal of George C. Wallace’s campaign rally addresses. The firebrand southern governor and perennial presidential candidate drew a large national following in the late 1960s and early 1970s with speeches that defied all the rules and norms of presidential politics. Yet they invoked passionate commitment within an especially disaffected segment of the American electorate. Utilizing survey date, this essay challenges the conventional portrait of Wallace and the Wallacites, demonstrating that Wallace’s appeal was rooted not so much in conservative politics as in feelings of political alienation, persecution, and pessimism. Accounting for the Wallace phenomenon in terms of a classic, Hofferian theory of social protest, the essay concludes by reflecting on the parallels between Wallace and Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential election. Keywords: George C. Wallace, presidential campaigns, campaign rallies, political disaffection, true believers. In 1964, George Wallace became a national figure when he launched his first campaign for the presidency with little money, no campaign organization, and an impressive array of critics and adversaries in the media, the churches, the labor movement, and the political mainstream.1 Surprising almost everybody, he showed remarkable strength in northern Democratic primaries and focused attention on his favorite target: the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1968, Wallace faced the same barriers and more. His decision to run as a third-party candidate added the challenge of a political system rigged to favor the two major-party candidates.2 Despite those obstacles, Wallace tallied 10 million votes—the most popular votes ever for a third party candidate in U.S.
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