MONTGOMERY, Ala. — 50-year-old Peggy Wallace Kennedy has lived in the shadow of his father, the Governor of Alabama George C. Wallace, when he stood in a door and attempted to stop two black students integrating the University of Alabama.
That single episode in the civil rights movement us - his infamous "stand in the door of the school" - attached an asterisk to his name, he says. It is a permanent marking that can not delete never, despite their own history as a moderate Democrat who supported early candidate Barack Obama for President in 2008.
"If you're the daughter of George Wallace, think that the asterisk will always be there. '"Oh, his father standing at the door of the school,' "he said in a recent interview.
Kennedy was only 13 at the time. His mother, Lurleen Wallace, had disappears you to a cabin of fishing from the Lake with his three brothers that day, thus would be far the wrenching historical drama in which her father had a prominent role.
George Wallace, a pragmatic politician and a populist, may or not have been a true believer in the segregation - while it was appointed in 1963 with a promise: '' segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever".
On June 11, 1963, he stood at the door of the Auditorium of the University of Alabama Foster that Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood enroll for classes.
Wallace stepped aside after President John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard.
Jones and campaign registered, and Wallace became a national political figure that would be candidate for President the following year.
On the 50th anniversary, all the major players - Wallace, Jones, campaign and Nicholas Katzenbach, representative of the administration of Kennedy in Tuscaloosa - are dead.
Wallace died in 1998 after serving four terms as Governor, but he has never discussed the events of June 11, 1963, with his daughter.
Kennedy says that their motivations will then remain a mystery for her so far.
"Never he talked with me about it. Even I do not know that talking with my mother about it. I never heard them talk about the school gates are in everything, "said Kennedy.
Looking back 50 years, Peggy Kennedy recalled that she was a young teenager who was terrified of what could happen to his father in the midst of the tensions and the violence of the conflict. And as the years passed, somehow is only an issue that could not discuss.
"When the issue was raised was brushed aside," told a hearing last March.
It is speculated that perhaps he was keeping only a political promise, but she cannot say with certainty.
Culpepper Clark, author of the 1993 book "the school gate: Last Stand of segregation at the University of Alabama," believes daughter of Wallace is correct in its assumption.
"Clearly strengthened Wallace e identified with white voters in Alabama and kept a promise", Clark said.
Kennedy said that the actions of his father were difficult to understand because his mother, who also became Governor, raised not to think she was better than anyone else.
"At" that time that simply did not understand why he just stand and two African-Americans have not entering a University, he said.
But he said the episode marked a change irreversible for the Wallace family.
"That day was the end of our hopes of a simple life. It was really the beginning of our life under the shadow of the door of the school for the rest of my life."
He visited his ill father frequently in the last few years before his death. The conversations were short, due to his health, and he wanted to talk about policy, not the past. After all, "politics was the family business," he said.
But he never discovered why he felt that he had to stand in front of the school. "Definitely I regret that," said.
Know about Kennedy is that his father changed after an assassination attempt during his presidential campaign of 1972. A bullet fired by Arthur Bremer - whose self-proclaimed intention was to assassinate the then President Richard Nixon or Wallace - Wallace left paralyzed from the waist down and constant pain for the rest of his life.
"What it did for him, he realized how much he had made the African-American community suffer and realized that I needed to be forgiven, truly forgiven," said.
Wallace went to black churches to apologize for his segregationist views and he won a fourth term as Governor in 1982 with wide support from black. It honored Jones and campaign and welcomed leaders of civil rights as Jesse Jackson at his home in Montgomery.
"He was a different man when he died. I assure you of, "said Kennedy.
Kennedy is also a different woman. For years, stayed in the background as her husband, lawyer Mark Kennedy, rose through the hierarchy political up to a justice in the Supreme Court of Alabama. Only after his retirement she step from the shadows, first by supporting Obama in 2008. He told voters that United States had still healing and "with Barack Obama to direct our power to heal will we turn."
Then in 2009, he attended events in Selma "Bloody Sunday" - remember the day in 1965 when police of the State of his father attacked voting rights of protesters at the bridge of Edmund Pettus.
In Selma, she introduced Attorney General Eric Holder - Jones's brother-in-law - and they shared a desire that Jones had lived to see the time. Then marched through the bridge hand-in-hand with Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, who was brutally beaten during the "Bloody Sunday".
Kennedy said that she crossed bridges many in his life, but none as important as that one.
Last March, he joined Lewis and other members of Congress in a pilgrimage of civil rights at the University of Alabama, and walked through the doors of wood and glass which his father tried to block. The daughter of the Governor, who promised "segregation forever" saw a campus with a student body that is nearly 13 percent black.
Kennedy, 63, said that she has tried in recent years to get out of the shadow of the door of the school and show that families can change.
"Perhaps someone gave a glimmer of hope," said.
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