Governor Assisted: Alabama Governor George Wallace gets an assist from a state patrolman and is followed by others today just after alighting from National Guard plane in the background. The governor says he still plans to stand in the door tomorrow when two black students are scheduled to enroll at the University of Alabama. President Kennedy told Wallace today there would be little danger of any disorder at the university if the Governor would stay away, Tuscaloosa.

George Wallace (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Alabama, a position he occupied for four terms. As governor, he promoted "low-grade industrial development, low taxes, and trade schools." He ran for the U.S. presidency as a Democrat three times and as an American Independent Party candidate once. He was unsuccessful each time. Wallace is best remembered for his staunch opposition to desegregation and his support for "Jim Crow" positions during the Civil Rights Movement. During his 1963 inaugural address, he declared that he stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." Seeking to stop the racial integration of the University of Alabama, Wallace earned national notoriety by standing in front of the entrance of the University of Alabama, literally blocking the path of black students. Wallace ran in the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, once again campaigning for segregation. His campaign effectively ended when he was shot in Maryland by Arthur Bremer; Wallace remained paralyzed below the waist for the rest of his life. In the late 1970s, Wallace announced that he was a born again Christian and renounced his past support for segregation.

On verso: manuscript title and typewritten label with title and date affixed.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Airplanes
• Alabama National Guard
• Broken barriers
• Civil Rights Movements
• Desegregation
• Education
• Foster Auditorium
• George Wallace
• Injustice
• James Hood
• National Guard
• Propaganda
• Racial Discrimination
• Segregationists
• Stand in the Schoolhouse Door
• Tuscaloosa
• Vivian Malone

• Image Dimensions: 6 9/16 x 5 1/2 in. (16.67 x 13.97 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 6 13/16 x 6 1/2 in. (17.3 x 16.51 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen