This is the only complete study of the Wallace phenomenon. It covers all of the presidential campaigns and views wallace from a variety of vantage ints: historical context content anal-ysis of speeches and analysis of elec-tion data including voting statistics and attitudinal patterns of supporters. Poli-tics of Powerlessness examines na-tionwide support for George C. Wal-lace in the presidential campaigns of 1964 1968 1972 and 1976. A number of election and candidate preference surveys are used as sources of data on supporters. An understanding of Wal-lace's appeal is provided through an examination of themes noted through-out his speeches and an analysis of his political history from biographical sources personal interviews and newspaper accounts of the time. The picture of Wallace that emerges is one of a man who saw himself as a crusader for his supporters' interests while de-liberately heightening and intensifying their feelings of powerlessness as a means of getting votes. Carlson shows that Wallace voters were not marginal. They did not reflect a loss of status nor were they simply outside the mainstream of political life. They were very much like major party voters with the exception of their feel-ings of political powerlessness that me about by increased government ..rticipation in state politics. This work informed not only by a careful anal-ysis but by interviews with Wallace many of his followers and people active in his campaigns. The work has the additional advantage of having follow-up analyses and interviews as late as 1978. In this sense it represents not only a scholarly analysis of the Wallace phenomenon but the most up-to-date analysis as well. |George C. Wallace and the Politics of Powerlessness The Wallace Campaigns for the Presidency 1964-76 | Politics
