Lurleen Wallace

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Lurleen Burns Wallace (September 19, 1926–May 7, 1968), born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was the first wife of Alabama Governor George Wallace, and the first (and to date, only) woman to be elected Governor of Alabama.

1 Early years
2 Governorship
3 Post governorship
4 Legacies
5 External links
6 References

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Early years

Lurleen Burns was born to Henry and Estelle Burroughs Burns of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She graduated from Tuscaloosa County High School in 1942 at 15 by taking summer classes. She then worked at Kresge’s Five and Dime in Tuscaloosa, where she met George Wallace. At the time he was a member of the U. S. Army Air Corps. They were married on May 21, 1943 when she was just 16.

Over the next twenty years, she focused on being a mother and a homemaker. She and George had four children. They were Bobbi Jo (1944) Parsons, Peggy Sue (1950) Kennedy, George III (1951), and Janie Lee (1961) Dye, who was named after Robert E. Lee.

Mrs. Wallace assumed her duties as First Lady of Alabama in 1963 after George was elected governor. She opened the first floor of the governor's mansion to public seven days a week. She also refused to serve alcoholic beverages at executive mansion functions. 1

In 1965 Mrs. Wallace was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had a hysterectomy to remove the early malignant tumor from her body and was treated with radiation.

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Governorship

George Wallace had become very popular during his first term as governor (1963–1967), largely due to his opposition to racial desegregation. He could have easily won a second term in 1966 had he been eligible to stand for one; in Alabama (as in many states at the time), governors were not allowed to serve two consecutive terms. This provision dated back to the adoption of the current state constitution in 1901.

Wallace's solution to this problem was two-pronged; first, Wallace worked for the repeal of the term-limiting constitutional provision (in which he succeeded; Wallace was to serve three subsequent terms, including two consecutive ones). Secondly, Wallace also devised a plan in which his wife, Lurleen, would run for governor while he controlled the policies and procedures of the governorship in the background. This plan succeeded, and Mrs. Wallace won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1966 and was elected Governor of Alabama in November 1966, with her inauguration being held in January 1967.

At first things went essentially as planned; however, early in her term, Mrs. Wallace's health began to deteriorate. In July 1967, an abdominal growth was found and in January 1968 she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Even with surgery and radiation treatment, the cancer still spread. Her last public appearance as governor was at the 1967 Blue-Gray Football Classic. It soon became apparent that she was gravely ill, and she died in May 1968, at the height of her husband's unsuccessful Presidential campaign.

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Post governorship

Mrs. Wallace was succeeded by Lt. Gov. Albert Brewer, a one-time ally of her husband who soon showed a strong interest to govern in his own right and maintain the office for himself. Brewer gained a seemingly unlikely ally in this quest in President Richard Nixon, who wanted to neutralize George Wallace as a potential Presidential adversary in 1972; Wallace eventually won out, returning as governor in January, 1971 and soon launching another Presidential campaign, this time running in the Democratic primaries.

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Legacies

Mrs. Wallace was remembered fondly by many as a loyal wife and a good mother. Among her major accomplishments during her brief tenure were major increases in expenditures for Mental Health including modernization of Partlow State Hospital for children and a big funding increase for State Parks. Lake Lurleen in central Alabama is named in her memory. George Wallace went on to remarry twice, but both of these marriages ended in divorce.

Because there were no adequate cancer treatment facilities in the state of Alabama at the time, Mrs. Wallace had to travel to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas for diagnosis and treatment. This fact underscored the need for improved cancer care in the state. Following her death, the Lurleen Wallace Courage Crusade was spearheaded by her successor, Gov. Albert Brewer, leading to fundraising for building a new cancer center. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (then called the University of Alabama Hospital) was selected as the site for the cancer center, and a formal cancer center program was begun in 1970; funding was received from the National Cancer Institute, and the center became one of the first eight NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Dr. John Durant served as its first director. Construction of the Lurleen B. Wallace Tumor Institute at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was begun in 1974 and was completed in 1976. The Wallace Patient Tower, an addition to the University Hospital, was also built in her honor.

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