Big Jim Folsom was really no match for Wallace because Big Jim had always been soft on the race issue. He was a true progressive liberal who would not succumb to racial demagoguing, but Big Jim had succumbed to alcohol. Leading up to the governor’s race in 1962, while Wallace had been campaigning 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week for four years, Big Jim sat at home. Wallace would have won even if Big Jim had not embarrassed himself on live TV the night before the election.
A secondary story developed during the 1962 campaign. A star was born. Ryan De Graffenreid was a smart, handsome, articulate, Tuscaloosa state senator and lawyer. His family had been a prominent Tuscaloosa political family for generations but young Ryan De Graffenreid truly had the makings of an Alabama governor. However, when he entered the 1962 governor’s race, the pundits wrote him off as an also ran. They said it was a Folsom versus Wallace race, but De Graffenreid had charisma and captivated all the silk stocking voters who would be Republicans today. He was quietly moving up in popularity leading up to the May Democratic Primary.
The night before the election, De Graffenreid, Wallace and Folsom each had 30 minute television shows. Wallace appeared first and did alright, but he was used to the stump and country campaigning. The new medium of television felt uncomfortable to him, but he did not hurt himself. Ryan De Graffenreid came on next and he was a sensation. He took to the camera like a duck to water. He was the new kind of candidate. He had John Kennedy like appeal and he mastered the new medium of television. He helped himself a lot. Alabamians saw a candidate that they liked. Then Big Jim came on obviously inebriated and sunk himself, although it was a very colorful show.
Wallace won, but the surprise of the election was that Big Jim finished third. Ryan De Graffenreid came in second and would face Wallace in the runoff. Wallace was elected governor, but De Graffenreid had run a brilliant get acquainted race and a star had been born.
The 1966 governor’s race had two stories: the Ryan De Graffenreid story and the Lurleen Wallace story. Ryan De Graffenreid had become the man to beat in 1966. He took a page from the George Wallace playbook and copied Wallace’s work habits from four years earlier. He worked the state nonstop from one end to the other. He worked as hard as Wallace but was even more organized. Old timers say he had a precinct and box captain lined up in every box and hamlet in Alabama. It was an unbelievable organization for that era.
During the summer of 1965 one of the most titanic sessions in state senate history occurred. Wallace called a special session to get the Alabama Legislature to change the Constitution and do away with the one term limit to allow him to succeed himself. It was called the Succession Session. It passed the Alabama House easily, but some strong willed state senators withstood the most powerful pressure ever put on legislators. They refused to buckle to the brazen and strong armed Wallace power play. Wallace could not get the majority he needed in the senate. Many of those senators were committed to De Graffenreid. They had served with him and were loyal to him. It cost many of them their political careers. Wallace went after them with a vengeance. He was at the height of his popularity. The race issue was at its peak and at a fever pitch, and Wallace owned the race issue.
With Wallace out of the race, De Graffenreid appeared invincible. He campaigned tirelessly even though he had only token opposition. It was a cold windy night in February of 1966 and he was to make a speech up around Sand Mountain. He had a campaign plane and he and his pilot were advised not to try to make the flight to the event. De Graffenreid refused to stop. He boarded his plane at Ft. Payne and within minutes after takeoff he and his pilot crashed into a mountain and were killed instantly. De Graffenreid would have been governor. The state was in shock. The governor’s race was wide open with less than three months before the primary, which was tantamount to election.
We will continue next week with the rest of the story of the 1966 governor’s race, the Lurleen Wallace story.
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