Late one night in 1974, George Corley Wallace mused in his mansion about whether he should seek re-election as Governor of Alabama. A reporter turned to the perennial candidate, paralyzed from the waist down. Why would he want to suffer through more campaigning? In a rare moment of humility, Wallace answered softly, "If I didn't hold office, how could I live? You know I don't have any money. What could I do?"
Two years later, TIME Atlanta Bureau Chief James Bell pursued the same subject in a personal chat, asking: "Why not go back to...