GOP Governor Brings End to Wallace Era

Guy Hunt, a northern Alabama cattleman, Amway distributor and lay Primitive Baptist minister, was sworn in Monday as Alabama’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, bringing to an end the often turbulent era of George C. Wallace, the one-time arch-segregationist governor.

“This is, indeed, a new day in Alabama,” Hunt, 53, declared in his inaugural address to thousands of Alabamians who braved chilling winds and overcast skies to attend the ceremony in front of the white-domed state Capitol.

“Now, today have we come full circle,” he said. “Now today have we arrived at that long awaited moment in Alabama history, the moment when we finally put to rest the forces that have divided us. . . . “

Vows to Fight for Unity

Hunt, whose only previous experience in elected office was as a two-term county probate judge, pledged to fight for unity, equality and economic opportunity for all Alabamians.

He also vowed to run an administration “dedicated to honesty and integrity so that, in the future, not only will we Alabamians be able to say we’re proud to be from Alabama but people everywhere, when they meet an Alabamian, will say: ‘You must be proud to be from Alabama.’ ”

The new governor delivered his remarks near the spot on the west steps of the Capitol where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy in 1861 and where Wallace proclaimed “Segregation now! Segregation forever!” in his first inaugural address in 1963.

Hunt, who had been considered a “sacrificial lamb” when he entered the gubernatorial race in this heavily Democratic state, pulled off a surprise victory last November after a prolonged and bitter primary election feud among Democrats led to massive voter defections to the Republican column.

Hunt outpolled former Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley, his Democratic challenger, by a margin of more than 170,000 votes of the total 1.3 million cast in the general election.

Faces Uphill Struggle

As the first GOP governor in this “Heart of Dixie” state since 1874, Hunt faces an uphill struggle in his attempt to move Alabama out of nearly a quarter-century of Wallace’s domination. The state is plagued by staggering state budget deficits, lagging economic development and still deep racial divisions.

At the same time, Hunt also must contend with a state Legislature dominated by Democrats, many of them still smarting from his gubernatorial victory.

“He’s going to have to be Merlin the Magician to work with that crowd,” said Wayne Greenhaw of Montgomery, editor of Alabama magazine.

In a pre-inaugural interview, Hunt said that he looks forward to the challenges of his new office. “I hope it will be said of our administration that . . . we restored honest government, created jobs for all Alabamians who really want to work and brought Alabama together instead of tearing it apart.”

He said that he has met with 135 of the 140 Alabama House members and has received pledges from them to work together with him on critical state issues. “In Alabama, elected Democrats have the same philosophy as Republicans in a lot of areas--education, economic development and crime,” he said.

‘Colorblind’ Administration

Hunt also has said that he wants a “colorblind” administration. But of 20 persons named as cabinet officers or as heads of state government agencies in recent weeks, all but one are white men.

Hunt’s inauguration fell on the same day that Alabama observed a holiday for both Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and martyred civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who once served as pastor of the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, one block west of the Capitol.

Hunt paid homage to these Southern heroes, saying of King that he “paid the supreme sacrifice” in his struggle for racial equality.

And, he said, turning to Wallace who has been confined to a wheelchair in almost constant pain since an assassination attempt in 1972 left him paralyzed below the waist: “Gov. Wallace, your sacrifice will be forever remembered by all Alabamians.”

Wallace, 67, announced last year that he would not run for an unprecedented fifth term because of ill health, declaring: “I have climbed my last political mountain.”

Wallace won election to his fourth term in 1982 with the help of a hefty black vote after recanting his segregationist past and promising to heal the state’s racial wounds.

In a recent interview with United Press International, the outgoing governor said that his antipathy toward the federal government was confused with hatred for blacks.

‘Media Never Liked Me’

“I never said one unkind word about black people in my whole career,” he said. “The media never liked me. I was too brassy. But I don’t deserve the epitaphs of being a man of animosity and hatred.”

In one of his last acts before leaving office, Wallace administered the oath of office at the inauguration ceremony Monday to his son, George Wallace Jr., who is the new state treasurer.