Lurleen Wallace

Uncommon card · No. 101582

Lurleen Burns Wallace (born Lurleen Brigham Burns; September 19, 1926 – May 7, 1968) was an American politician who served as the 46th governor of Alabama for 16 months from January 16, 1967, until her death on May 7, 1968. She was the wife of Alabama governor George Wallace, whom she succeeded as governor. Facing a constitutional restriction that prevented him from serving consecutive terms, George Wallace orchestrated his wife’s candidacy in the 1966 gubernatorial election, openly admitting that she would serve as a figurehead while he retained control over administrative policies and decisions. Wallace was Alabama's first female governor and was the only woman to hold the governorship until Kay Ivey in 2017. Wallace is also (as of 2026) the only female governor in U.S. history to have died in office, as well as being the first and only female Democrat to have served as governor in Alabama history. In 1973, she was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

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