Wallace in Wisconsin: The 1964 campaign that tested America’s soul over the politics of identity
In April 1964, Alabama Governor George Wallace entered the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary as a defiant challenger to the mainstream liberal consensus. Known nationally for his opposition to desegregation and federal civil rights mandates, Wallace used Wisconsin as a political laboratory to test whether his hardline message, rooted in states’ rights, anti-federalism, and White backlash, could resonate outside the South. His surprising success shocked the national Democratic Party and exposed emerging cracks in the New Deal coalition. Wallace’s decision to campaign in Wisconsin appeared quixotic at first. He had no local organization, no endorsements, and faced an electorate far...
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