In the time of George Wallace, the defense of segregation was not unusual. However, the newly-elected governor of Alabama managed it in a rather elegant manner.
Wallace’s rhetoric was based on subversion. He was taking his opponent’s views and turning them around to provide a different perspective on segregation. Instead of claiming that segregation was a necessary evil or that it benefited the minorities, he claimed that it is the only way to protect the freedom of the white people. To Wallace, abolishing segregation meant making his beloved Anglo-Saxons slaves to the people of color. To underline his point of view, he referenced the fates of white people in other countries: “the Belgian survivors of the Congo cannot present their case to a war crimes commission… nor the Portuguese of Angola… nor the survivors of Castro.” Wallace believed that the same fate would befall all of America under liberal rule. He also stated that integration in education can only mean trouble, remembering the school riots in Washington. However, his most fascinating argument was undoubtedly a reference to Nazi Germany. The argument was made in an attempt to differentiate his views from German racism. He turned the tables on his opponents, by claiming them to resemble Hitler trying to bind the global white minority to the will of the majority.
While the worldview of George Wallace was misguided and blind to the simple need for equality of all people, his rhetoric was impressive. By using the example of Nazi Germany in such an elegant way, he undoubtedly left his opponents rather confused since most of them would have loved to use the comparison against him.