Geroge Wallace for President Rally in 1968 - a review

the man had a rally in Riverside CA in the town's biggest high school gym. He was running as a third party/independent against Humphrey and Nixon. As spectacle it was quite entertaining. Huge crowds in the parking lot pushing and shoving, cops in riot gear, helicopters with searchlights, protestors and followers with signs and shouting. Inside the gym SRO with supporters and anti wallace people. lots of every racial demographic present.

One must say he was a great speaker, shouting, whispering, telling stories and jokes that had the whole crowd laughing (even his detractors) now and then. maybe like hitler with a better sense of humor. all folksy and cornpone. of course the gist of his message was pretty much appalling.

The man did not use overt racist language, everything was couched in terms of states rights, federal government overreach, the government trampling individual freedoms. Same sort of stuff we hear from Republicans today. His followers however were quite overt in their signage and language. Plain ugly.

He finished a distant third.

(Then after he was shot and put in a wheelchair he repented his past and was elected governor of Alabama again with about 1/3 of the black vote)

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/09/us/wallace-wins-a-third-of-black-vote-in-capturing-spot-in-primary-runoff.html