(2 of 2)
He recalled how Nixon told Southerners during the G.O.P. Convention in July that the Republican Party had no intention of ramming anything down anybody's throat. "He's correct about that," said Wallace. "He and Mr. Eisenhower and Mr. Warren have already rammed everything down our throats there is to ram. Well, we gonna have a good throat-clearin' on Nov. 5."
For those who cheered and hollered, it hardly mattered that Wallace had yet to put forth a platform—or even hint at his vice-presidential running mate. A. B. ("Happy") Chandler, the former Governor and Senator from Kentucky, was about to be anointed last week, but his relatively moderate record on race proved too much for key Wallace men. A press conference to announce the choice was put off, and Wallace said he would decide on a Veep "when the spirit moves me." Chandler, now 70, was undismayed. "I wouldn't change my position if I could," he said.
Wallace does not, of course, openly espouse racism, preferring to talk about law and order and let his listeners supply their own villains. Last week he complained that both the Democrats and the Republicans were trying to swipe the issue from him. "I was the first one to speak out on law and order, about a year and a half ago," he said. "Now they usin' our phrase." That is regrettably true, but Wallace can console himself with the knowledge that no one else has ridden the issue with quite the cowboy abandon that he has.