The 1970 Alabama gubernatorial election was marked by a competitive Democratic primary battle between incumbent moderate Governor

Albert Brewer Albert Preston Brewer (October 26, 1928 – January 2, 2017) was an American politician who was the 47th governor of Alabama from 1968 to 1971. Early life Albert Preston Brewer was born on October 26, 1928, in Bethel Springs, Tennessee, Uni ...

and segregationist former governor and 1968 independent presidential candidate

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

. The Alabama Constitution was amended in 1968, allowing a governor to serve two consecutive terms.

Democratic primary

Candidates

, incumbent Governor * Coleman Brown *

Asa Carter Asa Earl Carter (September 4, 1925 – June 7, 1979) was a 1950s segregationist speech writer, and later Western novelist. He co-wrote George Wallace's well-known pro-segregation line of 1963, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation ...

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

leader and former Wallace speechwriter *

Jim Folsom James Elisha Folsom, Sr. (October 9, 1908 – November 21, 1987), commonly known as Jim Folsom or Big Jim Folsom, was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of the U.S. state of Alabama, having served from 1947 to 1951, and ag ...

, former Governor * Ralph "Shorty" Price,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

, former Governor * Charles Woods, businessman

Campaign

Despite Wallace's popularity, Brewer was seen as an early front-runner. Brewer, who had been elected lieutenant governor in 1966, had become governor after the death of Governor

Lurleen Wallace Lurleen Burns Wallace (born Lurleen Brigham Burns; September 19, 1926 – May 7, 1968) was the List of Governors of Alabama, 46th governor of Alabama for 15 months from January 1967 until her death. She was the first wife of Alabama governor Georg ...

, George's wife. A moderate, he became the first gubernatorial candidate since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

to openly court black voters. Brewer, hoping to build a broad alliance between blacks and white working class voters, unveiled a progressive platform and accused Wallace of spending too much time outside the state, saying "Alabama needs a full-time governor.".

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

endorsed Brewer in order to break Wallace's political career and secure

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

votes for himself in the next presidential election. It was later discovered that Nixon had directed his reelection campaign to donate $400,000 dollars to Brewer in secret cash payments. Wallace, whose presidential ambitions would have been destroyed with a defeat, ran a very aggressive and dirty campaign using racist rhetoric while proposing few ideas of his own. The Wallace campaign aired TV ads with slogans such as "Do you want the black block electing your governor?" and circulated an ad showing a white girl surrounded by seven black boys, with the slogan "Wake Up Alabama! Blacks vow to take over Alabama." Wallace called Brewer a sissy and promised not to run for president a third time.Flowers, 2005

Primary results

Runoff

Despite Brewer's victory in the first round, he failed to win a majority and was forced into a runoff with Wallace.

General election

At the time, the Democratic primary in Alabama was regarded as more important than the general election, as Alabama was still essentially a one-party state. The Republican Party did not field a candidate, and Wallace easily won the general election.

References

* http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=79753 {{US Third Party Election

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

November 1970 events in the United States George Wallace