Lurleen Wallace, Proxy Governor (1967)

It’s January 20th. This day in 1967, Lurleen Wallace took office as the Govenor of Alabama, only the third female governor in the United States history.

She was the wife of segregationist governor George Wallace, who was unable to run because of term limits. Instead, he asked his wife to run and they campaigned on a thinly-disguised “two governors, one cause” platform.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the dynamic between the Wallace’s, the proxy campaign — and how Lurleen Wallace’s health struggles and eventual death in office affect how we should view the story.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producers at Radiotopia