[Devoted readers of the Spy will recall that one of the advantages of a 275-year publication history is the ability to pad out our offerings with old stuff dredged up from our archives. Somehow our thoughts turned to a distant time when an ignorant race-baiting demagogue attracted the attention of stupid white people. Let's go back to 1968 and give thanks that such things can't happen anymore – The Editors]
WALLACE ATTRACTS FERVENT SUPPORT
By David Bloviator
Political Editor
with additional material from Walter Rugaber and Ben A. Franklin
New York Times News Service
WORCESTER, Mass. -- Independent Presidential candidate George C. Wallace spoke yesterday on the street here to a largely adoring crowd in this vibrant Central Massachusetts metropolis. Although his grasp of the complex domestic and foreign issues facing the United States proved ephemeral at best, Wallace stirred the crowd with fervent if simplistic attacks on student protesters and urban rioters, which the almost entirely white audience understood to be code for Negroes.
The arch segregationist knew enough to eschew the racist rhetoric that had propelled his political rise in Alabama, while getting his message of intolerance and hate across in a way that would be palatable to working-class Northern whites. Styling himself as their spokesman and protector, Wallace told the crowd that the Washington establishment wasn't looking out for their interests.
Claiming wildly that there wasn't a "dime's worth" of difference between the Republican and Democratic Parties, Wallace said he would send 30,000 heavily armed Federal troops into the streets if necessary to restore "law and order."
"It's a sad commentary when you can't talk about law and order in the streets without some liberal left-winger saying you're a racist and I resent it."
Later his staff said that Wallace had raised over $1 million in small contributions and qualified for the Presidential ballot in 25 states.
Reaction from audience members varied. Mrs. Kathleen Burke of Webster, Mass. said she supported Wallace because he stood up for people like her. "What have the liberal Democrats ever done for me?" she asked. When asked whether she had benefited from the new Medicare law, she said she was paying for that already.
Behind her a slight balding middle aged man who gave his name only as "Whitey" said: "I like the cut of his jib."
The fervent support of Northern and Southern white voters has caused the Washington political establishment to take notice of Wallace, whom they once dismissed as a crude buffoon with bad hair. Recent Gallup Polls show Wallace with between 14 and 17% of the popular vote and leading or competitive in states representing 100 electoral votes. "Wallace has read the thoughts of the American people pretty well," said Texas Gov. John Connally.
But Wallace also attracted a number of skeptics and outright opponents. Hillary Rodham, a student at prestigious Wellesley College, peered over her purple-tinted spectacles and said: "Can you imagine choosing among Humphrey, Nixon, and Wallace? I could do a better job than any of them!"
Others expressed no interest in the Wallace phenomenon. Donald Tromp [sic - Ed.], a visiting student from Queens, N.Y., claimed never to have heard of Wallace. "Are you kidding? I've got a heavy date with a hot Croatian exchange student from Holy Cross. You know what that means: in an hour I'll be b**** deep in top p****! Now get out of my way or my dad will beat you up."
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