Did George Wallace ever endorse Reagan?
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  Did George Wallace ever endorse Reagan?
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Author Topic: Did George Wallace ever endorse Reagan?  (Read 1175 times)
Downeaster89
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« on: March 08, 2020, 02:59:15 PM »

George Wallace endorced Carter in 76. Did he switch to Reagan in 80 or 84? I did find where he endorced Bush in 92 and Dole in 96.
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Badger
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« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2020, 02:48:33 PM »

George Wallace endorced Carter in 76. Did he switch to Reagan in 80 or 84? I did find where he endorced Bush in 92 and Dole in 96.

He did not. Remember, Wallace was the sitting Democratic governor of Alabama during the 1984 election. I distinctly remember a news article about the Mondale campaign plans to campaign in the South, and how George Wallace told them to come on down as he they might find receptive voters there. Haha sure. I also remember a photo of he and Geraldine Ferraro together smiling on the capitol steps. Somewhat awkward looking, but he did at least endorse the name.

I never knew until now that he had backed George HW Bush and Bob Dole. Well, a few George hi
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Podgy the Bear
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« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2020, 03:43:55 PM »

In fact, Jesse Jackson came to visit Wallace in Jackson's quest for the 1988 nomination--not necessarily to seek an endorsement (and he didn't receive one) but to have a cordial and meaningful discussion (which there was).  In that meeting, Wallace and Jackson spoke rather warmly with each other and Wallace asked Jackson to pray for him.  This is well documented in Wallace's biography from the early 1990s.

I do recall that Wallace endorsed Dole in 1996--he was on Larry King and he spoke very highly of Dole as a wounded veteran in WWII.   I was not sure about 1992.  I didn't think that he endorsed HW Bush because George Wallace Jr was running for a congressional seat that year (he lost by a slim margin and then declared himself a Republican a few years later).
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One Term Floridian
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« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2020, 12:33:14 PM »

Did Wallace have beef with the Clintons? Stunned he didn’t endorse a fellow southern Dem in those years.
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Indy Texas
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« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2020, 11:42:19 PM »

Did Wallace have beef with the Clintons? Stunned he didn’t endorse a fellow southern Dem in those years.

I think some of the dislike among Deep South Democrats for Clinton stems from cultural/social grievance.

Basically, he turned his back on his own kind and embraced the Yankee cosmopolitan way of life. (Going to Georgetown/Yale instead of to the University of Arkansas or some other SEC school; not enlisting in the military before or after college like a good Southern boy was supposed to; marrying an uppity Yankee who kept her last name and had a career.)

The lack of military service really bothered a certain generation (that included Wallace) in a way that is hard for Millennials/Gen-Z (most of this forum) to understand.
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One Term Floridian
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« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2020, 07:27:17 AM »

Did Wallace have beef with the Clintons? Stunned he didn’t endorse a fellow southern Dem in those years.

I think some of the dislike among Deep South Democrats for Clinton stems from cultural/social grievance.

Basically, he turned his back on his own kind and embraced the Yankee cosmopolitan way of life. (Going to Georgetown/Yale instead of to the University of Arkansas or some other SEC school; not enlisting in the military before or after college like a good Southern boy was supposed to; marrying an uppity Yankee who kept her last name and had a career.)

The lack of military service really bothered a certain generation (that included Wallace) in a way that is hard for Millennials/Gen-Z (most of this forum) to understand.

That may be true but didn’t Clinton still win the GI gen vote against two prominent WWII veterans for the presidency? Or is that because the GI gen continued to lean Dem since the New Deal?
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VPH
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« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2020, 08:23:36 AM »

Interestingly enough, in 1976 there were discussions around a Reagan/Wallace third party ticket. And then Reagan decided to primary Ford. The Conservative Caucus, led by Meldrim Thompson and Howard Phillips (of later Constitution Party affiliation), tried to do it. Linked is some information about that:
https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0011/1683514.pdf
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