Wallace To Run Again

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32234, 28 February 1970, Page 11

Wallace To Run Again

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copf/riphG j MONTGOMERY 1 (Alabama), Feb. 27. ’ The former Governor i of Alabama, Mr George ] Wallace, has announced candidacy for the gover- i norship, and has hinted j that he will run again for ; the Presidency in 1972. j Before 500 cheering sup- !

porters, Mr Wallace declared his support for a return to segregated schooling; as Governor, he said, he would work for the return of the schools to the total control of individual states. Most observers agree that, in the South, this would mean resegregation; and Mr Wallace admitted that he favoured this. "That’s the best kind of school system,” he said. The comment has set the stage for an important campaign difference between him and the incumbent Governor (Mr Albert Brewer), who, though no integrationist, has publicly declared: “I don’t believe anybody believes we can go back to segregation.” The two men, once close friends, will face each other in the Democratic Party primary on May 5 to win the right to face a Republican candidate in the November election.

Political observers predict that onde the campaign is under way, Mr Wallace will rally white Alabamians to his side on the race issue for an overwhelming victory. Mr Wallace, who is 50, and gained world-wide fame for his steadfast defiance of Federal desegregation orders while Governor from 1962 to 1967, said that Alabamians must elect him again to show President Nixon that they weft “fed up” with forced integration. “We must send a message to Mr Nixon that we want our schools back,” he declared, adding that a victory for him could prompt Mr Nixon into making concessions to the South because the President needs to win the region’s votes to be re-elected in 1972. Mr Wallace said that he had no plans at present to run for the Presidency, but if the schools were still in a chaotic mess in 1972, and the people of Alabama wanted him. to be a candidate, he would. He will have four opponents In the race for the Governorship, but none given a chance to defeat him, for he still enjoys immense popularity among the state’s white

voters. The other candidates are Governor Brewer; a former Governor, Mr James (“Big Jim”) Folsom; a broadcasting executive, Mr Charles Woods; and the former Ku Klux Klan leader, Mr Asa (“Ace”) Carter. False Alarm Police cars sped to the home of the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland (Lord MacDermott) last night, after receiving reports of an explosion in a car parked outside it. When they arrived they found a badly-battered abandoned car, but no evidence of an explosion.—Belfast, February 27.