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Riley Strathmann
AP Language 4th
Cooper
3/5/17
George C. Wallaces Segregated South

More Americans died in the Civil War than in World War I, World War II, and Vietnam

combined. Yet a century later, people like George C. Wallace still promoted racism, segregation,

and the return of the South. In fact, in his inaugural address in 1963, Alabama Governor

George C. Wallace argued his highly controversial beliefs with the slogan, segregation now...

segregation tomorrow...segregation forever to help him gain southern support (Wallace 2).

Wallace backed his ideas with rhetorical devices that both helped and prevented him from

accomplishing his goal of maintaining separation of the races. Specifically, he used metaphors,

repetition, and symbolism to generate logical and emotional connections from segregation to

southern pride and the fear of communism (Wall 1).

One of Wallaces strategies to win southern support was equating an unsegregated society

to communism with metaphors. Specifically, he says, if we amalgamate into the one unit as

advocated by the communist philosophers. Then the enrichment of our lives...the freedom for our

development...is gone forever. We become, therefore, a mongrel unit of one under a single all

powerful government and we stand for everything and for nothing (Wallace 9). Here,

Wallace calls an unsegregated society a mongrel, a dog of no specific breed because it is a cross

of two others, to show that if everyone is represented equally, then society will be devoid of a

superior belief, which from a racists point of view is not good. Wallace employs logos because

he is making logical sense to his white audience. On the other hand, he avoids citing any

evidence to support his assertion that equality is bad, making his logos less persuasive from all

other perspective. Additionally, the definition of communism never even mentions the necessity
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of segregation as the 1848 publication 'Communist Manifesto' says [communism] envisage[s]

common ownership of all land...withering away of the coercive power of the state making all

social relations ...regulated on the fairest of all principles (Communism). From this

definition one can see that there is no mentioning of segregation and that communism is even

depicted as fair, giving the opposite connotation of Wallaces intent. Overall Wallaces use of a

metaphor did not succeed as a logical appeal because he lacked strong supporting evidence.

However, Wallace was able to make an emotional appeal with the connection he made between

desegregation and communism, one of the things Americans feared the most at the time (Wall 1).

Additionally, Wallace effectively used repetition when attempting to revive southern

pride, saying I stand ashamed of the fat, well-fed whiners who say that it is inevitable...that our

cause is lost. I am ashamed of them and I am ashamed for them...We remind all within hearing

of this Southland that a Southerner, Randolph, presided over the Continental Congress in our

nations beginning that a Southerner, Thomas Jefferson, wrote that a Southerner, George

Washington, is the, that a Southerner etc (Wallace 11). Here, Wallace repeats southerner

to remind his audience, the South, that they have a common bond and identity. Wallace cites

famous southerners to evoke pride by emphasizing what southerners have accomplished and

contributed to their country. Wallaces argument is effective here because he is using both pathos

and logos successfully. Specifically, he taps into the souths recovering depression from their

lost cause and nostalgia of past glory by referencing several past strengths of the South (The

Lost Cause). By doing this, Wallace uses pathos successfully because he makes an emotional

appeal to the souths nostalgia. Also, he uses logos correctly as he referenced historically

accurate events in the proper context. Wallace effectively used repetition to persuade his
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audience to take control and promote their common beliefs, which includes his desire for

segregation, with both an emotional and logical appeal.

Wallace was able to argue many of his points with strong rhetoric, however he lacked

essential evidence and analyses to prove his claims. According to the Toulmin method, an outline

for the essential elements needed to make a valid argument, one must support all of his/her

assertions with evidence that can be analyzed in favor of the claim. Therefore, Wallaces pro-

segregation argument was only partially successful.

Works Cited

Communism. Business Dictionary,

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http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communism.html. Accessed 5 March 2017.

The Lost Cause. Civil War Journeys, http://civil-war-journeys.org/the_lost_cause.htm.

Accessed 5 March 2017.

Wallace, George C. "The Inaugural Address of Governor George C. Wallace." 14 Jan.

1963,

Montgomery, Alabama. Accessed 25 February 2017.

Wall, Wendy. Anti-Communism in the 1950s. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American

History,

www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/fifties/essays/anti-communism-1950s.

Accessed 28 February 2017.