Turning On the Charm in Europe

About to meet George Wallace for the first time, British Labor M.P. Bruce George was expecting an ogre. To his surprise, the Alabaman turned out to have "delightful charm." Wallace brushed off barbed questions, the M.P. noted, with an "impish grin and laughing eyes." The M.P.'s reaction was shared by many other Europeans. On his first trip to Europe, Wallace was determined to be ingratiating and play the statesman.

The journey got off to a rocky start when engine trouble grounded Wallace's chartered jet for ten hours in Newfoundland. Wallace was noticeably weary when he finally arrived in London early Monday morning. But with his usual cockiness, he drawled: "I've been up two nights now and I feel fine." He apparently wanted to demonstrate that his stamina had not been impaired by the paralysis that confines him to a wheelchair.

Wallace and Wife Cornelia were received politely wherever they went. He had chats of roughly half an hour each with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (whom Wallace adjudged "a fine gentleman"); Tory Party Leader Margaret Thatcher ("a lovely talk with a lovely lady"); Belgian Prime Minister Leo Tindemans; Italian Premier Aldo Moro and President Giovanni Leone ("I said I recognized the contribution Italy has made to society in general, especially in our country"). But Wallace could not get an audience with Pope Paul VI.

Though Wallace's schedule was kept light, he sometimes appeared to be distracted and often had trouble hearing because of his growing deafness. "You really had to roar at him," said a luncheon companion, "and he had some trouble with our English accents." Wallace's energy did not seem to slacken, but there was no disguising the fact that he is an invalid. Noted the Daily Telegraph: "It was a small, strained, pathetically helpless figure that was helped from car to wheelchair and back."

Complex Stuff. His opinions were simplistic, if pungently stated. "I don't mind dictatorships abroad provided they are pro-American," he told a gathering in London. He also called détente a "highfalutin word. They ought to say 'get-together.' While we have so-called détente with the Soviet Union, we should recognize that we cannot necessarily depend on what they say. I think they have out-détented us." A British listener commented that Wallace "seemed to be trying to position himself where Scoop Jackson is, but he hasn't learned the names of the horses yet." In Brussels, Wallace discussed military issues with the U.S. delegation to NATO. Said one: "His questions indicated that he was following very carefully some fairly complex stuff."

The Governor avoided inflammatory domestic issues. He did not mention busing; instead, he spoke of the need to save the world's middle classes from taxes and inflation. At one lunch, he recalled the time he had been "mobbed" in Alabama by a group of friendly blacks. "Isn't that right?" he bellowed at a state trooper stationed by the door. "Yes siree, Guvnor," came the loyal reply. Said an observer: "It was almost as if he were presenting himself as the man uniquely qualified to heal the race wounds in America and even further afield."

1. Sarah Palin's Breakout Night
2. Searching for Palin's 'Hot Photos'
3. The Man Behind Palin's Speech
4. Why Disasters Are Getting Worse
5. Mayor Palin: A Rough Record
6. Can Palin Escape the Parent Trap?
7. Call Of the Wild
8. In Wasilla, Pregnancy Was No Secret
9. Understanding John McCain
10. McCain's Prickly TIME Interview