Everything about Ross Barnett totally explained
Ross Robert Barnett (
January 22,
1898 –
November 6,
1987) was the
Democratic governor of the
U.S. state of
Mississippi from
1960 to
1964.
Born in
Standing Pine in
Leake County, Barnett was the youngest of ten
children. He served in the
United States Army during
World War I, then worked in a variety of jobs while earning an undergraduate degree from
Mississippi College in
Clinton in
1922. Four years later, he followed that with a law degree from the
University of Mississippi in
Oxford. He was a member of the resurgent 1920s
Ku Klux Klan. In 1929, he married Mary Pearl Crawford, with the couple's long-time union producing two daughters and a son.
Over the next quarter century, Barnett became one of the state's most successful trial lawyers, earning more than $100,000 per year while specializing in damage suits. He often donated his skills to
white supremacist causes, and served as president of the Mississippi Bar Association for two years beginning in
1943.
Using the income derived from his legal fees, Barnett sought to try his hand at politics, unsuccessfully running twice for
Governor of Mississippi, in
1951 and
1955. On his third try in
1959, he won the election and was formally inaugurated on
January 19,
1960.
On all three occasions, Barnett freely used racial epithets in his campaign speeches. His belief that "the Negro is different because God made him different to punish him" helped earn him the endorsement of the notorious
White Citizens' Council.
During his time as governor, Barnett, a staunch segregationist, became noted for his tumultuous clashes with the
U.S. Civil Rights Movement. While this approach was popular in the state, it was done in part to blunt the criticism he was receiving for a variety of reasons: failing to follow through with promises of jobs for office-seekers; filling those jobs with acquaintances; and attempting to wrest control of state agencies from the legislature. In addition, he spent more than $300,000 to outfit the governor's mansion's bathtubs with gold-plated faucet handles.
In
1962, he actively opposed
James Meredith's efforts to
desegregate his alma mater, the
University of Mississippi. As a result, Barnett was fined $10,000 and sentenced to jail for contempt but never paid the fine or served a day in jail. This was because the charges were terminated (civil) and dismissed (criminal) by the 5th Cir. Ct. of Appeals, due to "substantial compliance with orders of the court," and "in view of changed circumstances and conditions."
Barnett gave his, "I Love Mississippi" speech at a 1962 University of Mississippi football game in Jackson. This occurred the night before the riots at Ole Miss' Oxford campus over the admission of Meredith to the University.
The following year, he also actively tried to prevent the
Mississippi State University basketball team from playing an
NCAA Tournament game against the racially integrated team from
Loyola of Chicago. The team defied Barnett by sneaking out of the state and playing the game, which they lost to the eventual national champions.
To his credit, he was very successful in spurring industrial development as a balance to the agriculturally based economy.
Barnett's term as governor officially expired on
January 21,
1964, with the swearing-in of his successor,
Paul B. Johnson, Jr.
Shortly after he left office, Barnett's looming presence was clearly evident at the first
trial of
white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith in February 1964. De La Beckwith was on trial for the
murder of
African American civil rights activist
Medgar Evers, but an all-white jury was unable to agree on a verdict in both this and a subsequent re-trial. De La Beckwith was eventually convicted at a subsequent trial three decades later, a case that was chronicled in the movie
Ghosts of Mississippi.
Barnett attempted a political comeback by running for governor again in
1967 but lost, finishing a distant fourth in the state primary. He then returned to the practice of law, but remained unrepentant about his past, saying, "Generally speaking, I'd do the same things again."
In 2007, his granddaughter, Judith Barnett, was a Democratic candidate for Justice Court judge in Hinds County, District One.
Ross Barnett Reservoir, north of
Jackson, Mississippi, is named in his honor, as is
Barnett Lake in
Smith County, Mississippi.
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