George Wallace (person)

1919-1998. Four-term governor of Alabama (five, really; when the law forbade consecutive terms, his wife Lurleen ran and won). Gained fame as a defender of Jim Crow, after losing a 1958 primary - for not being racist enough. Roadblock in the efforts of Robert Kennedy to desegregate the University of Alabama; sworn foe of Martin Luther King. Had a third-party presidential bid in 1968, diverting enough Dixiecrats' votes to enable Richard Nixon to win. Ran again in '72.