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Ross Robert Barnett: Fifty-third Governor of Mississippi: 1960-1964
By David G. Sansing
The office of governor is the only public office Ross Barnett ever held
and the only political office for which he ever campaigned. He is also
one of only two Mississippians who ran for the office four times. He ran
and lost in 1951 and 1955, he was elected in 1959, and he ran again unsuccessfully
in 1967. Governor Barnett was also the last governor who was born in the
century in which Mississippi was admitted to statehood.
Born at Standing Pine in Leake County, Mississippi, on January 22, 1898,
Barnett was one of Mississippi’s most successful trial lawyers.
After graduating from Mississippi College in 1922, Barnett earned a law
degree at the University of Mississippi in 1926 and opened a law practice
in Jackson.
During Governor Barnett’s administration the state of Mississippi
was celebrating the centennial of the American Civil War. The state was
also adjusting to the great changes brought on by the Civil Rights Movement.
Governor Barnett vowed to maintain segregation in the state’s public
schools, even pledging to go to jail before he would allow integration.
But in 1962, the United States Supreme Court directed the University of
Mississippi to admit James H. Meredith, a black applicant. Meredith’s
enrollment at Ole Miss broke the color barrier in Mississippi and his
admission was the first step in the eventual elimination of all racial
segregation in the state’s public schools and universities.
Although Governor Barnett is most remembered for the Meredith crisis
at Ole Miss, there were several significant economic developments during
his administration. A series of amendments to the state’s workmen’s
compensation law and the enactment of a “right to work law,”
made Mississippi more attractive to outside industry. More than 40,000
new jobs were created during his four years in office. Governor Barnett's
industrial development program also included the construction of industrial
parks throughout the state and the establishment of a Youth Affairs Department
under the Agricultural and Industrial Board.
Governor Barnett resumed his law practice after leaving office in 1964,
but continued an active interest in state politics. In 1967 he ran for
governor but was eliminated in the first primary. After that defeat, Barnett
resumed his law practice in Jackson. Governor Barnett was one of Mississippi’s
last great “stump speakers” and remained a favorite at the
Neshoba County Fair until his death on November 6, 1987. Ross Barnett
Reservoir in Madison and Rankin counties and Barnett Lake in Smith County
are named in honor of Governor Barnett.
David Sansing, Ph.D., is history professor emeritus, University of
Mississippi.
Posted January 2004
Sources:
Ross Barnett Subject File, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Sansing, David. The University of Mississippi, A Sesquicentennial
History, 281-313
Johnston, Erle. I Rolled With Ross! (Baton Rouge, 1980).
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