George C. Wallace in Civil Rights Movement: "Black Power" Era
George C. Wallace (1919–1998) was a pro-segregation Democrat elected governor of Alabama in 1962, 1970, 1974, and 1982. He also ran for President of the United States as a Democratic candidate in 1964, 1972, and 1976, and as an American Independent Party candidate in 1968.
In March 1965, under pressure from civil rights leaders, President Lyndon Johnson commanded Governor Wallace to mobilize Alabama's National Guard units to protect Selma marchers. Wallace refused, claiming the state was "financially unable" to do so. Wallace became perhaps the most prominent national icon of segregationist resistance to the Civil Rights Movement.