Reynolds was an heir to the Reynolds Aluminum fortune, on a glide path to the governorship, and already the subject of presidential speculation. Shortly after taking office in 1970, however, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. In his final year, he managed to preside over the State Senate's 1971 session, deliver his powerful Shad Planking speech, and then disappear from sight until his death on June 13. By chance, a mere two-and-a-half weeks after Reynolds's death, a new state constitution, in the works since 1968, replaced the segregationist document that had defined state law since 1902.
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