Johnston had a different recollection of Barnett’s speech: “As he stood there, smiling, acknowledging the cheers of the multitude, he was more than a governor of Mississippi. He was a symbol of the South, with the red blood of his Confederate soldier father running through his veins.”
After the game hundreds of students began the 175-mile drive to Oxford. They were spoiling for a fight. And Barnett called Washington and left a message for Robert Kennedy: The deal to enroll Meredith was off. In the game to come, there would be no hidden ball trick.
The next morning, Sunday, September 30, an infuriated attorney general called Barnett with a threat. The President was prepared to go on national television that night to tell the American people that “you had an agreement to permit Meredith to go to Jackson to register, and your lawyer, Mr. Watkins, said this was satisfactory.” Barnett’s blood ran cold. This would mean that the entire nation would know of his secret talk with the Kennedys. Even more important, the entire white power structure of the state of Mississippi would know that the ardent segregationist and former Klansman had sold out the cause. The official transcript of the phone conversation reads as follows:
RB [Ross Barnett] : That won’t do at all.
RFK [Robert Kennedy] : You broke your word to him.
RB : You don’t mean the President is going to say that tonight?
RFK : Of course he is; you broke your word; now you suggest we send in troops, fighting their way through a barricade. You gave your word. Mr. Watkins gave him his word. You didn’t keep it.
RB : Don’t say that. Please don’t mention it.
The Attorney General then instructed Barnett and Watkins to prepare a statement to be read by the governor on statewide TV that night. They would consent to the enrollment and call for calm at Ole Miss. Barnett and Watkins wrote a script and reviewed it with Robert Kennedy later that day. The pillar of segregated education in Mississippi would fall to the earth with these words by Ross Barnett: “My heart says never but my good judgment abhors the bloodshed that would follow…. We must at all odds preserve the peace and avoid bloodshed.”
Despite the capitulation, President Kennedy had given up on Barnett. Forget the hidden ball trick. The President was charging through Barnett’s front line. He placed the Mississippi National Guard under his authority and alerted the U.S. Army base at Memphis to prepare for possible deployment to Oxford. As the military units moved into action that eventful Sunday, student mobs began roaming the campus, shouting racial slurs and hurling rocks and bricks. Hundreds of armed men—including Klansmen from across the South and white militias from as far away as California—began arriving in Oxford to take on the federal forces. At about 5:30 p.m., Meredith was escorted to the Ole Miss campus by dozens of U.S. marshals wearing gas masks, vests, and helmets and equipped with tear-gas launchers, batons, and sidearms. Within an hour, Ole Miss erupted into a full-scale riot. For hours, clouds of tear gas rode the breeze, and the sound of gunshots crackled in the night. Mississippi National Guard troops arrived at about 11 p.m., and U.S. Army units showed up at 2 a.m. By the end of the long night, more than 20,000 troops had descended on the campus. They seized control, restored order, and arrested more than 200 people. Two people were dead, and 165 federal agents were injured—23 by gunfire. On Monday, October 1, 1962, James H. Meredith attended his first class. The subject was American history.
In a telling footnote, six weeks later Commission investigator Tom Scarborough went to Attala County to continue the investigation into Meredith’s parents. Scarborough reported that Cap and Roxie had refused an appeal from Sheriff Wasson to go with him to Jackson to persuade their son to drop out of Ole Miss or—short of that—to speak out against his
After the game hundreds of students began the 175-mile drive to Oxford. They were spoiling for a fight. And Barnett called Washington and left a message for Robert Kennedy: The deal to enroll Meredith was off. In the game to come, there would be no hidden ball trick.
The next morning, Sunday, September 30, an infuriated attorney general called Barnett with a threat. The President was prepared to go on national television that night to tell the American people that “you had an agreement to permit Meredith to go to Jackson to register, and your lawyer, Mr. Watkins, said this was satisfactory.” Barnett’s blood ran cold. This would mean that the entire nation would know of his secret talk with the Kennedys. Even more important, the entire white power structure of the state of Mississippi would know that the ardent segregationist and former Klansman had sold out the cause. The official transcript of the phone conversation reads as follows:
RB [Ross Barnett] : That won’t do at all.
RFK [Robert Kennedy] : You broke your word to him.
RB : You don’t mean the President is going to say that tonight?
RFK : Of course he is; you broke your word; now you suggest we send in troops, fighting their way through a barricade. You gave your word. Mr. Watkins gave him his word. You didn’t keep it.
RB : Don’t say that. Please don’t mention it.
The Attorney General then instructed Barnett and Watkins to prepare a statement to be read by the governor on statewide TV that night. They would consent to the enrollment and call for calm at Ole Miss. Barnett and Watkins wrote a script and reviewed it with Robert Kennedy later that day. The pillar of segregated education in Mississippi would fall to the earth with these words by Ross Barnett: “My heart says never but my good judgment abhors the bloodshed that would follow…. We must at all odds preserve the peace and avoid bloodshed.”
Despite the capitulation, President Kennedy had given up on Barnett. Forget the hidden ball trick. The President was charging through Barnett’s front line. He placed the Mississippi National Guard under his authority and alerted the U.S. Army base at Memphis to prepare for possible deployment to Oxford. As the military units moved into action that eventful Sunday, student mobs began roaming the campus, shouting racial slurs and hurling rocks and bricks. Hundreds of armed men—including Klansmen from across the South and white militias from as far away as California—began arriving in Oxford to take on the federal forces. At about 5:30 p.m., Meredith was escorted to the Ole Miss campus by dozens of U.S. marshals wearing gas masks, vests, and helmets and equipped with tear-gas launchers, batons, and sidearms. Within an hour, Ole Miss erupted into a full-scale riot. For hours, clouds of tear gas rode the breeze, and the sound of gunshots crackled in the night. Mississippi National Guard troops arrived at about 11 p.m., and U.S. Army units showed up at 2 a.m. By the end of the long night, more than 20,000 troops had descended on the campus. They seized control, restored order, and arrested more than 200 people. Two people were dead, and 165 federal agents were injured—23 by gunfire. On Monday, October 1, 1962, James H. Meredith attended his first class. The subject was American history.
In a telling footnote, six weeks later Commission investigator Tom Scarborough went to Attala County to continue the investigation into Meredith’s parents. Scarborough reported that Cap and Roxie had refused an appeal from Sheriff Wasson to go with him to Jackson to persuade their son to drop out of Ole Miss or—short of that—to speak out against his
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