George C. Wallace Oral History Interview –JFK #1, 5/25/1967 Administrative Information Creator: George C. Wallace Interviewer: John Stewart Date of Interview: May 25, 1967 Place of Interview: Montgomery, Alabama Length: 17 pp. Biographical Note Wallace, George C.; Governor of Alabama, (1963-1967). Wallace discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] Administration, his thoughts regarding JFK on a personal level, and his opinion on federal jurisdiction. He addresses civil rights, the integration of schools, and voting, among other issues. Access Restrictions No restrictions. Usage Restrictions According to the deed of gift signed November 4, 1969, copyright of these materials has been assigned to the United States Government. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish. 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Transcript of Oral History Interview These electronic documents were created from transcripts available in the research room of the John F. Kennedy Library. The transcripts were scanned using optical character recognition and the resulting text files were proofread against the original transcripts. Some formatting changes were made. Page numbers are noted where they would have occurred at the bottoms of the pages of the original transcripts. If researchers have any concerns about accuracy, they are encouraged to visit the library and consult the transcripts and the interview recordings. Suggested Citation George C. Wallace, recorded interview by John Stewart, May 25, 1967, (page number), John F. Kennedy Oral History Program. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE Gift of Personal Statement By George C . Wallace to the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library In accordance with Sec. 507 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (44 u.s.c. 397) and regulations issued thereunder (41 CFR 101- 10), I, George C . Wall ace, hereinafter referred to as the donor, hereby give, donate, and convey to the United States of America for eventual deposit in the proposed John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, and for administration therein by the aut horities thereof, a tape and transcript of a personal statement approved by me and prepared for the purpose of deposit in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library . The gift of this material is made subject to the following terms and conditions: 1. Title to the material transferred hereunder will pass to the United States as of the date of the delivery of this materi al into the physical custody of the Archivist of the United States. 2. It is the donor's wish to make the material donated to the United States of America by the terms of the instrument available for research in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library. At the same time, it is his wish to guard against the possibility of i ts contents being used to embarrass, damage, injure, or harass anyone. Therefore, in pursuance of this objective, and in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 507 (f) (3) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (44 U.S .C. 397) this material shall not, during the donor's lifetime be available for examination by anyone except persons who have received my express written authorization to examine it. This restriction shall apply to and include employees and officers of the General Services Administration (including the National Archives and Records Service and ~he John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library) engaged in performing normal archival work processes . -2- 3 . Title to all literary property rights will pass to the Unit ed St ates as of the date of the delivery of this material into the physical custody of the Archivist of the United States . 4 . A revision of this stipu lation governing access to the material for research may be entered into between the donor and t he Archivist of the United States, or his desig nee, if it appears desirable. 5 . The material donated to the United States pursuant to t he f oregoing shall be kept i ntact permanently in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library . Signed Date Accepted A chivist of the United States Date / J ((_M-b,,...,,1-c.,, ?i /~v <r George C. Wallace Table of Contents Page Topic 1 Democratic National Convention, Alabama delegation, 1956 1 John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] run for vice-president, 1956 2 Wallace’s thoughts on JFK’s run for president, 1960 3 Democratic National Convention, Alabama delegation, 1960 4 Wallace’s campaign for governor, 1962 4, 11, 16 JFK’s Administration 6 Civil rights 8, 14 Integration of schools 12 Voting rights Oral History I nte rview with GEORGE WALLACE May 25 , 1967 Montgomery, Al abama By John Stewar t For the John F. Kennedy Librar y STEWART : We r e you at the 1 956 Convention, a nd i f so, what were your reactions, if you recall, to the race that Senator Kennedy made for the vic e - presidential nominati on? WALLACE : I was a delegate in the 1 956 Convention and, as you probably recall, the majori ty of t he Alabama delegati o n voted for Senator Kennedy for the v ice pres i dential nominati on, as I believe all the state s of the South d i d with the exception of Tennessee and maybe a few votes in Florida and a few in Alabama that supported [Estes] Kefauver. I v oted on the f irst ballot for another candidate, and along wi th others we changed to Senator Kennedy because most of the Southern delegation did support him against t h e lat e Se nator Kefauver. I h ad t he p l easure o f meeting h i m on the mezzanine floor o f the La Salle Hotel by prearrangement because he had asked me to carry one o f his sisters t o the Alabama delegation to s peak in his behalf. He had to speak to a nother del egation at the same time our delegation was caucusing o r me eting . Mrs. [Eunice Kennedy] Shriver , I believe, wa s the sister of the then Senator Kennedy that I carried t o the Alabama delegati o n and presented. We did support the l ate Preside nt Kennedy in the Convention, that i s, the Alabama delegation did . - 2- - ~ STEWART: Do you recall if most of this support, and parti cularly your support of him, was more a pr o- Kennedy or an anti- Kefauver thing? WALLACE : Well , f r ankly, mos t of the support in the Southern delegations , although I cannot speak for the Southern delegati ons , was maybe against Senator Kefauver. However, Senator Kennedy's record and his association with members of the Congress from the South had been ver y pleasant, and he had many friends among the Southern members of the House and of the Senate . There was some pro­ Kennedy support . I think a lot of it was anti- Kefauver , but they had a high regard for Senator Kennedy also . STEWART : After the Convention, of course, he began to become a fairly active candidate for the nomi­ nati on in 1 960 . In 1959, t hen Governor [J ohn N.] Patterson endorsed Senator Kennedy as his candidate for the presidency. Do you recall what your feelings wer e in these year s , in ' 58 and ' 59? WALLACE : Well, I wasn ' t in a position of office holdi ng in 1959. I do r ecall that Governor Patterson did endorse Senator Kennedy . I had the p l easure of being with Senator Kennedy after that when he spoke to the Alabama League of Municipalit ies in Birmingham, I believe in 1 957 . I remember him c r acking the joke that had he been success ful in the 1956 Convention, it might have ended his pol itical career . It mi ght have been over . What he meant was that Mr . [Adlai E. ] Stevenson and Mr . Kefauver had been defeated. I had the pleasure of driving him back to the air­ port to catch his a i rpl ane a f ter the League of Municipali ties meeting. STEWART : Do you recal l if there was any discussion at that time of his future ambiti ons? WALLACE : I' m s ure ther e was. I just don't recall the con- versation . Ther e wer e thr ee or four of us in the automobile , and mainly we talked about the pleasure of having h i m in Alabama . He was very personabl e, as you know, .--, and he was a very lovabl e character in politics. In fact, I've always sai d , and said it befDre , that his famil y has been and is - 3- one of the most attr acti ve families in the country and one of the most attractive political families a l though I do not agree wi th all the philosophy of the Kennedys and of the late Presi­ dent .