Lurleen Wallace
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Lurleen Burns Wallace (September 19, 1926–May 7, 1968), born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was the first wife of Alabama Governor George Wallace, and the first (and to date, only) woman to be elected Governor of Alabama.
George Wallace had become very popular during his first term as governor (1963–1967), largely due to his opposition to racial desegregation. He could have easily won a second term in 1966 had he been eligible to stand for one. However, in Alabama, as in many states at the time, especially in the Southern United States, governors were not allowed to succeed themselves due to term limits. The provision was often enacted as a compromise and occurred at the same time as gubernatorial terms were extended from two to four years. It was hoped this would prevent someone staying in office for an essentially indefinite period of time. (In Alabama, the provision dated to the adoption of the current state constitution in 1901).
Wallace's solution to this problem was two-pronged, firstly to work for repeal of the constitutional provision (which eventually succeeded; Wallace was to serve three subsequent terms, including two consecutive ones), but also to have a more immediate solution while this could be enacted, which consisted of his running his wife as his surrogate, with the implicit understanding that she would allow her husband to continue to run the day-to-day operations of the state and would be governor herself in name only. This plan succeeded, and Mrs. Wallace won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1966 and was elected Governor of Alabama in November, 1966, being inaugurated in January, 1967. At first things went essentially as planned; however, early in her term, Mrs. Wallace's health began to deteriorate. Her last public appearance as governor was at the 1967 Blue-Gray Football Classic. It soon became apparent that she was gravely ill, and she died in May 1968, at the height of her husband's unsuccessful Presidential campaign. She was succeeded by Lt. Gov. Albert Brewer, a one-time ally of her husband who soon showed a strong interest to govern in his own right and maintain the office for himself. Brewer gained a seemingly unlikely ally in this quest in President Richard Nixon, who wanted to neutralize George Wallace as a potential Presidential adversary in 1972, but Wallace eventually won out, returning as governor in January, 1971 and soon launching another Presidential campaign, this time running in the Democratic primaries.
Mrs. Wallace was remembered fondly by many as a loyal wife and a good mother. Lake Lurleen in central Alabama is named in her memory. George Wallace looked back on his time with Lurleen fondly, and never seemed in many ways to be as happy again. He remarried twice subsequently, but both of these marriages ended in divorce.
| Preceded by: George Wallace | Governor of Alabama 1967–1968 | Succeeded by: Albert Brewer |