George Wallace

George Corley Wallace (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician and the 45th governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. After four runs for U. S. president (three as a Democrat and one on the American Independent Party ticket), he earned the title of "the most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher. A 1972 assassination attempt left Wallace paralyzed, and he used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He is remembered for his Southern populist and pro-segregation attitudes during the American desegregation period, convictions he renounced later in life. The first of four children, Wallace was a native of Barbour County, Alabama. He was born in the town of Clio, in rural southeast Alabama, to George Corley Wallace and Mozell Smith Wallace. He was the third of four generations to have the name George Wallace, but as neither parent liked the name "Junior", he was...