Anyway, no one likes to mention how Wallace (a racial moderate earlier in his career), dropped the segregation stance, got reelected with majority black support, became no different than Jimmy Carter, and IIRC DJ you once told me he would have been Teddy Kennedy's running mate in 1980(!).
I don’t recall having said that, though if putting Gov. Wallace on the ticket would’ve helped Ted the Swimmer, he’d have done it.
But it’s true, in 1976, Carter was most everything Wallace was, minus the baggage and the wheelchair. It’s remarkable how the media covered up or ignored Carter’s racist record.
As an aside, I think had Wallace not been shot, he probably could’ve gotten the Dem nomination in 1972 and/or 1976. Given that by then, even with a Southern “bigot” as the standard bearer, Blacks had been so radicalized and the rest threatened that if they didn’t vote Demonrat, well, that would mean they “weren’t Black”, or would get in big trouble.
If I’m not mistaken, the high-water mark for Black support as a % for a Republican nominee post-1960 was Gerald Ford in 1976 (something like 12-14%). There was a website chart that showed what it was, but I have no idea where it is. I’ll bet with Wallace in 1976 against Ford, Ford might’ve been able to get closer to 15-20% of the Black vote (I think Ford would’ve won the race). Had he been running in 1964 or 1966 against Wallace, he would’ve probably gotten a majority of the Black vote. Just showed how radicalized the Black vote became in a short period.