Lurleen Brigham Burns-Wallace (19 September 1926 – 7 May 1968) was Governor of Alabama (D) from 16 January 1967 to 7 May 1968, succeeding George Wallace and preceding Albert Brewer. Lurleen was George Wallace's wife and a former First Lady of Alabama, and she was elected Governor by her husband's supporters after gubernatorial term limits forbade Wallace from running for a second consecutive term. Wallace died of uterine cancer on 7 May 1968 at the age of 41, the first female governor to die in office.
Biography[]
Lurleen Brigham Burns was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on 19 September 1926, and she married US Air Force serviceman George Wallace at the age of 16 while working at a five-and-dime store. She shared her husband's conservative views, as she spent much of her life as a homemaker and a mother and, while she was First Lady of Alabama, refused to serve alcoholic beverages to the public whenever the first floor of the gubernatorial mansion was opened up to them. In 1966, she ran for Governor of Alabama after her husband became ineligible to run for another consecutive term as governor, running against Republican Party congressman James D. Martin. Martin claimed that Lurleen would just be her husband's proxy, but he realized that he was being anachronistic when running against a woman; the popular Lurleen Wallace became the first female governor of Alabama. Barry Goldwater and Strom Thurmond campaigned on Martin's behalf, but to no avail; Wallace beat Martin 63.4% to 31%. However, Wallace began to suffer from uterine cancer during her governorship, an illness that she attempted to conceal. Her husband lied to the press, saying that she had won the battle against the cancer, but Wallace was forced to cancel a 6 May 1968 television apperance when his wife fell into critical condition. She died on 7 May 1968, surrounded by her family, and Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer succeeded her.