BIG JIM FOLSOM The Two Faces of Populism

Big Jim Folsom: The Two Faces of Populism examines the history and politics of the South in the decade and a half following the end of World War II, as seen through the story of Alabama's colorful governor James E. "Big Jim" Folsom. Folsom in 1946 overturned the planter/big business oligarchy that had ruled the state since Reconstruction. Part of a national trend toward progressive politics in the wake of World War II, supported by many war returning war veterans who were ready to see a change, he gave hope to the state's poor majority that the neglect they had suffered for a hundred years would be reversed.

Folsom, whose terms spanned the years 1947 to 1951 and 1955 to 1959, was part of a long strain of populist politicians that runs throughout the history of the South. Like populists before him, Big Jim eventually tripped over the race issue. He had spoken out strongly for giving all citizens the right to vote and giving greater opportunities to blacks, but the Supreme Court's desegregation decisions in the late 40sd and early 50s put his convictions to the test. When he chose to support the Supreme Court, his ambitious protégé George Wallace parted company with Big Jim and began his career of racial demagoguery. As racial tensions increased in Alabama, Folsom went too far when he invited Harlem congressman and civil rights advocate Adam Clayton Powell to the governor's mansion for a drink, then lent him his limousine during his visit in Montgomery in 1956. The increasing corruption among those around him further eroded his power and Folsom was considered a has-been when he left office in 1959.

But Folsom was ready for one last stand in 1962, when his principal opponent would be George Wallace, now fully committed to the segregationist cause. Folsom would destroy whatever chance he had when he appeared drunk on statewide television the night before the election. Some claimed Wallace's camp had slipped him a mickey. In any event, Wallace was elected and his career launched as the new champion of racial opposition.