George Wallace & Fob James: Experiences from those who grew up in Alabama

XXIII · Jan 21, 2018

Hope this is the right place to ask this, and if not feel free to take it down.

Was at the Jason Isbell concert in Birmingham last night, and now I’ve been listening to old Drive By Truckers albums all morning. The songs about Wallace and Fob James always interested me.

I grew up in North Alabama in the 90’s, but was too young to remember any of the political landscape really until Bob Riley was in office. My parents grew up in Chicago so they didn’t have any first-hand knowledge other than what was covered on Wallace in the news.

Was hoping to gain some perspective from those who grew up in/around Alabama about what your experiences/memories were of the Wallace and James terms. Wallace’s time was obviously well covered by the media, but I’m really interested to hear thoughts on James. Seemed to have some pretty radical ideas on crime/religion/education by today’s standards.

Would love to hear any stories or experiences from this group about what life/political landscape was like in Alabama during these times. Thanks!

NationalTitles18 · Jan 21, 2018

I don't remember much about Wallace except for old news reels and his later term in office. By then he had "turned a new leaf".

With Fob James I do remember and mostly what I remember was that school funding took a big hit every time he was in office. Said he wanted government to run like the Waffle House. Looking back, I think that meant he didn't care if someone had a high school education or not.

81usaf92 · Jan 21, 2018

Fob James found a way to lose to a non Wallace democrat, and pardoned a woman that forced draino down a girl's throat. I think those 2 things sum up what Fob was in his last term.

In my lifetime I would rank governors of Alabama:

1. Riley
2. Folsom Jr
3. Ivey
4.Don Seigleman
5. Fob
6. Bentley
7. Hunt

A lot of criminals there

CullmanTide · Jan 21, 2018

81usaf92 said:
Fob James found a way to lose to a non Wallace democrat, and pardoned a woman that forced draino down a girl's throat. I think those 2 things sum up what Fob was in his last term.

In my lifetime I would rank governors of Alabama:

1. Riley
2. Folsom Jr
3. Ivey
4.Don Seigleman
5. Fob
6. Bentley
7. Hunt

A lot of criminals there

Put Albert Brewer near the top and Wallace on the bottom of that list and I agree.

jthomas666 · Jan 21, 2018

81usaf92 said:
Fob James found a way to lose to a non Wallace democrat, and pardoned a woman that forced draino down a girl's throat. I think those 2 things sum up what Fob was in his last term.
In my lifetime I would rank governors of Alabama:

1. Riley
2. Folsom Jr
3. Ivey
4.Don Seigleman
5. Fob
6. Bentley
7. Hunt

A lot of criminals there

I'd drop Ivey down 1-2 slots.
Fob regularly destroyed the education budget. And his son Tim may well be the dumbest person on the planet.

Valley View · Jan 21, 2018

Wallace was probably the only politician who could have stood in the schoolhouse house to prevent blacks from entering and yet a few years later win the Governors race by getting most of the black vote.

Crimson1967 · Jan 21, 2018

Ivey saying she believed the women but still supported Roy Moore meant she will never get my vote.

I know the others probably voted for him as well. But for her to throw other women under the bus is despicable. Show some leadership, governor.

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AUDub · Jan 21, 2018

Valley View said:
Wallace was probably the only politician who could have stood in the schoolhouse house to prevent blacks from entering and yet a few years later win the Governors race by getting most of the black vote.

Full disclosure, born in 85.

This was after recanting his prior racist views and showing his bona fides via pardoning the Scottsboro Boys. Don’t think he meant a word of it, but he was a skilled politician.

He probably wasn’t even that serious about the segregation issue but for its value as a wedge. When he first ran, back in ‘58, it was on a moderate platform.

From one of his speeches:

And I want to tell the good people of this state, as a judge of the third judicial circuit, if I didn’t have what it took to treat a man fair, regardless of his color, then I don’t have what it takes to be the governor of your great state.

He got thrashed by pro- KKK segregationist firebreather John Patterson in the Dem primary. He flipped after that. He wasn’t subtle about why to his campaign officials.

He really is an interesting cautionary tale on the depths to which some will sink for political power.

bama_wayne1 · Jan 22, 2018

Wallace was probably the most loyal to his base. I didn't like him or vote for him because of the school house door thing, but he was loyal to the employees of the state government. If I were a teacher I would have campaigned for him. It seemed that teachers did very well under his regime.

92tide · Jan 22, 2018

by the time i was getting close to voting age and paying attention to what was going on, the glorious guy hunt got into office.

all i remember about wallace and james is that they were governor.

bama_wayne1 · Jan 22, 2018

92tide said:
by the time i was getting close to voting age and paying attention to what was going on, the glorious guy hunt got into office.

all i remember about wallace and james is that they were governor.

I wish I couldn't remember them either. I do however think I remember that Fob added $0.10 per gallon to our gas prices. I was a young married guy still trying to work my way through school and it kind of stung.

92tide · Jan 22, 2018

bama_wayne1 said:
I wish I couldn't remember them either. I do however think I remember that Fob added $0.10 per gallon to our gas prices. I was a young married guy still trying to work my way through school and it kind of stung.

i do remember quite a bit of complaining about james when i was a kid. i do remember standing in gas lines with my mom when they were doing the odd/even thing with your tag to tell you what day to fill up.

AUDub · Jan 22, 2018

bama_wayne1 said:
Wallace was probably the most loyal to his base. I didn't like him or vote for him because of the school house door thing, but he was loyal to the employees of the state government. If I were a teacher I would have campaigned for him. It seemed that teachers did very well under his regime.

He was a democrat in the mold of Jim Folsom, a progressive and a liberal, even sharing Folsom's moderation on the segregation issue before Patterson destroyed him with an openly racist campaign in the primary.

Then he sacrificed every bit of moral integrity he had in the quest to get into office and remain there, but some of that did carry over. He ratcheted up infrastructure spending, raised teacher salaries and poured money into schools. He also expanded access to welfare (well, for white folks).

George Wallace said:
I tried talking about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about ******s, and they stomped the floor.

Crimson1967 · Jan 22, 2018

After reading how he treated his wife during her bout with cancer, I wanted to punch him in the mouth.

AUDub · Jan 22, 2018

Crimson1967 said:
After reading how he treated his wife during her bout with cancer, I wanted to punch him in the mouth.

To give you an idea of how far we’ve come on gender equality and medical ethics, this was absolutely normal for the time. You have to remember that this happened in 1961, two years removed from the '50s. Medical decisions were made without a woman’s consent every day, all across the country. A loving husband would want to follow their wife's wishes, but this would have hardly raised eyebrows at the time.

Pretty frightening what we used to consider normal.

Crimson1967 · Jan 22, 2018

I get that was how it was done then. But dragging her around the state while she was terminally ill so she could run for his second term was pretty low. Then he had an open casket funeral against her wishes.

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George Wallace & Fob James: Experiences from those who grew up in Alabama

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