- • ,, ro.0 k' \ssc,:csin s G ?P'%.t5' r er Ge rl:F oe il Wa Qi° LEte For orae.4, IN . cL a • By Saul Kohler Wallace to take. On the second anniver- us—the Nixons, and the McGoverns and sary, he woke early and worked out with the Wallaces — will carry. MONTGOMERY, Ala. — He rubbed the weights and the parallel bars and "Yes, I sent a message to the Ameri- away the pain and shifted in his wheel that electric exercise bicycle in a bed- can people, and to the Democratic Par: chair, and on the second anniversary of room which has been converted to a through the American people. but I paid the assassination attempt which left him physical therapy center for the gover- a high price for that message." paralyzed for life, Gov. George C. Wal- nor. e And then George Wallace's eyes be- lace of Alabama made Martha Mitchell Two telephones kept him .busy be- came hard, and he became the tough cry. tween exercises and for an hour after- guy once again for just a moment. The estranged wife of former Atty. ward — and then he went down stairs "The chickens have come home to Gen. John Mitchell w a s visiting the for lunch. roost as a result of the permissive soci- executive mansion here, and was telling He spent the afternoon receiving an ety we have allowed to happen in this George Wallace her troubles. honorary degree from Alabama State country," be snapped. "The court sys- University, an almost all-black college That's Not Bad tem has to be reorganized.' whose accreditation he helped during "Honey, you MRS' have your tree- his first administration. He was asked whether he has com- bles," . the governor • said with a half- He's a candidate for an unprecedent- municated with, or heard from, Anhee smile on his face. "But so long as you ed third term here and there is no way Bremer, the would - be assassin new can kick off your shoes and wiggle your serving 50 years in prison for the shoot- he can lose. He may even he a candi- toes, you aren't too bad off. • ing in Laurel. • date for president again, but be talked "No. I haven't, but I wouldn't mind if "Fellow came in the other day and about Laurel, Md., and the shooting. told me he needed a job to keep his son he wanted to talk to me," Wallace said. in college. I told h i tie I'd exchange worry about him a lot when he's "I don't hate hi-n. I hope the Lord helps Places with him if I could. I'd be- a ten- speaking at a rally," Cornelia Wallace him. ant farmer if only I could get up from said. "Once in a while, I see someone I-hope that young man repents. But 1 this chair and walk out of the room." who doesn't look just right to me and I can't forget him. Even the simple act of A n d Martha Mitchell, the blonde mention it to a security man. I !mow it's getting out cf a car — I used to jump out belle of so many balls, wept. hard for him, but it's hard for me too." a n d 'move. move, move — now is a The governor has asked his wife and major production." The governor also shed a tear. He children to stay oft that platform when pointed to a bullet wound in his arm - he is speaking, because "I couldn't take Talk Off Record 111.1 and' his wife, Cornelia, leaned over his losing any of my family, the people I Mrs. Wallace's mother, Mrs. Ruby wheelchair to whisper to him. love." • Austin, and the governor's son. George A n d George Corley Wallace, t h e "One time not too long ago, I was Jr., joined the governor, Mrs. Mitchell tough politician, pulled out his handker- speaking in Scottsboro and a truck back- and a reporter for lunch. chief and wiped his eyes. fired." Wallace continued. "I was afraid The conversation was off the record, for an instant. I stopped my talk and at Wallace's request, because it involv- _ It was two years. ago on May 15 at a told the people I was a little gun-shy." ed the shooting and the similarity in the shoppieg center in Laurel, Md., that the . They laughed in Scottsboro, but Wal- diaries kept by Bremer, Sirhan Sir; an governor was struck down by a would- lace doesn't laugh about it, even in pri- and Lee Harvey Oswald — the men who assassin's bullets. be vate. killed Robert Kennedy a n d John F. • One of the home-bored slugs lodged Kennedy. near his spine, and it wasn't too long be- Risk Their Cross "I don't want to talk about connec- fore the than who was sending a mes- "As long as I am In public life, there tions in public," Wallace said. "I have sage to America got a message of his will be a risk," he said. "That risk is a my ideas, but I'll never say it to an - own — that he'd never walk again. - cross people in public life will have to one."' May 15 always will he a hare day for 0111••• bear. a burden weiet will be with alt of Wallace doesn't to remind him of that day in Laurel. He thinks of it all the time, when he has to be helped from place to place, and ween he sees the bullet holes in his abdomen as he exercises muscled shoulders to makeitp for useless legs. He recalled that he and his wife were interviewed separately on the same day recently. "They asked me which single thing - "Because after all, this shooting w as was the worst that happened to me. in a horrible thing — but I didn't lose any- . my lifetime," he said. "I told them it one I love. A.nd speaking selfishly, I sail was losing Lurieen, my first wife. have my life. "Then they asked Cornelia the samee "Anniversary or any other day. I. question. We didn't talk it over. but she thank God for that." said it was her divorce from her first Newhouse hews Se•••••:* husband. .