In the 1960s, Alabama governor George Wallace challenged federal action on civil rights by declaring, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” in his inaugural speech. His defiance was met with cheers and praise throughout the Deep South and among more than a few areas elsewhere in the nation. Indeed, Wallace became a perennial candidate for president. Though his electoral support was mostly limited to the South, Wallace’s rhetoric played a significant role in shaping the platforms of both Democrats and Republicans hoping to peel off some of his “law and order” voters.
Looking back on this period of American history, it’s tempting to picture all Wallace supporters as backwards redneck rebel-yellers whose social calendar was mostly limited to cross-burnings and Klan rallies. And Wallace did in fact enjoy the support from a number of organizations that we now identify as racial supremacy groups. But such a limited constituency is not enough to win over 13 percent of the popular presidential vote and carry five states, as Wallace did in 1968. No, Wallace supporters ran the gamut, from farmers in Kansas to autoworkers in Detroit all the way to millionaires on Wall Street. He may not have had the pull to win many electoral votes, but Wallace’s politics made their way into the psyche of many Americans across the nation.
But how did a man whose views were bigoted even by the standards of his time garner such support? Many Wallace voters didn’t feel strongly about segregation one way or the other, many of them didn’t hold racist views—consciously, at least—and yet they turned out at the polls for a man who did.
The fact of the matter is, George C. Wallace was a master manipulator. A compelling, if ineloquent, orator, he could play on human emotions like an old bluesman plays his guitar. As a law school graduate, he derided “pointy-headed” intellectuals; as governor of Alabama for 16 years, he lambasted career politicians; as a two-time divorcee, he pined for the nation’s lost family values.
George Wallace knew how to recognize the fears of white America. The 1960s were a time of cultural turmoil, with large shifts occurring very rapidly. Sometimes those changes—such as the riots sparked by the assassination of the Reverend Doctor King—were violent. Many Americans, not invested in the underlying political and social struggles, saw these bloody outbursts and wondered what had happened to their country. Wallace’s finely-crafted speeches on law and order offered them a voice. Smart enough to read his audience, he would tone down the overtly racial elements of his platform when speaking to crowds outside of the Deep South. By playing on these fears and utilizing subtle innuendo or implication, Wallace was often able to paint agents of social change—whether it was the Civil Rights movement or anti-Vietnam protestors—as enemies of the average (white) American.
All of this may be an interesting look at history, but why write this article now? This year Americans will choose their president. On the Republican side, there is one man who has come to dominate the primary polls and continually hogs the media limelight. That man is, of course, Donald Trump.
In Trump’s rise to political prominence, he has earned a reputation for making inflammatory—to use the latest euphemism for fundamentally abhorrent rhetoric—remarks. He sees Americans concerned about crime on the southern border, and speaks on his beliefs that Mexico sends us their rapists and thieves by way of illegal immigration. He observes America and the world reeling in fear from terrorist attacks committed in the name of a twisted conception of Islam, and argues that American Muslims ought to be tracked by the government or that members of that faith should be barred from entering this nation of immigrants. He believes that some use legitimate protests for racial equality as a cover for looting and violence, and allows supporters at his rallies to cry, “Sieg Heil.”
Trump has done this and continues to rise in the polls because he is extremely adept at harnessing the fear and uncertainty felt by many Americans and channeling it to further his own ambitions.
By no means am I attempting to excuse those Americans who do harbor feelings of racial or ethnic superiority. Prejudice is the ugliest side of the human condition. Intolerance is at the root of history’s most terrible horrors and must be stomped out wherever it is found. No, I will not defend those people. I am writing this for the regular Americans—the kind that wouldn’t dream of engaging in discrimination of any kind, who just want to live and let live, and who are scared. Everyday there’s a new act of violence on the news, a fresh tragedy in the world, and these folks aren’t sure what the future will hold. They see a man like Trump, a man who knows how to say just the right things in just the right way, and they latch on to this bit of hope—a chance that someone can figure this mess out. I am writing this in the hopes that they see him for what he truly is.
This isn’t political. This isn’t a partisan attack; hell, I’m a Republican myself. This is just an attempt to shed light on a man who is trying to twist and subvert the freedom and liberty that this great nation has always strived for. Donald Trump is George Wallace writ large: a demagogue.
