Just saw "Selma"

[okaawhatever]

41. Wallace had the endorsement of the NAACP for 1st election. Some background:

Back in Montgomery, Wallace obtained a job as assistant attorney general. Just three months later he launched his political career with a bid for a seat in the state legislature. He was elected in 1947 and earned a reputation as a "dangerous liberal" at the capitol. In 1953 Wallace won election to a circuit judgeship that he held for six years. The same year Wallace began managing part of Governor "Big Jim" Folsom's re-election campaign. Folsom, a largely colorblind progressive, was to become Wallace's political mentor. However, times would change, and what had worked for Folsom would fail Wallace.

In 1958 Wallace entered the race for governor. Wallace thought he could remain a "moderate" on segregation and win. His opponent in the Democratic primary, Attorney General John Patterson, promoted segregation and anti-African-American policies and received the support of the Ku Klux Klan, while Wallace received the endorsement of the NAACP. Patterson defeated Wallace in a landslide.

The lesson that Wallace took away from his drubbing was that he would not be able to advance his career in Alabama without taking a hard line on race relations. In 1962 Wallace's new ideology carried him to victory; he received the largest vote of any gubernatorial candidate in Alabama's history.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/peopleevents/pande05.html