1967 Mississippi gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1967 Mississippi gubernatorial election presidential Mississippi Flag of Mississippi (1894-1996).svg 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election 1963 1971 Mississippi gubernatorial election 1971 no November 7, 1967 File:John Bell Williams photographic portrait.jpg John Bell Williams Democratic Party (United States) 315,318 70.27% File:Rubel L. Phillips (cropped).jpg Rubel Phillips Republican Party (United States) 133,379 29.73% 1967 Mississippi gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 170px County resultsWilliams: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90% #0d0596 >90% Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. Democratic Party (United States) John Bell Williams Democratic Party (United States) The 1967 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1967, in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Democrat Paul B. Johnson Jr. was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second term. Democratic primary No candidate received a majority in the Democratic primary, which featured seven contenders, so a runoff was held between the top two candidates.https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/8/8/the-mississippi-election-today-pthe-jackson/ The Mississippi Election Today J. B. August 8, 1967 The Harvard Crimson en 2019-05-23 It was the first Democratic primary for the governorship since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, resulting in an increased registration for black voters from 29,500 to 195,000, making overt segregationist rhetoric less acceptable, as the Citizens' Councils complained by asking the contestants "why our ideals of states' rights and racial segregation" were not being "featured in this campaign as in the past". On the other hand, the abolition of poll tax benefited many poor whites, most of whom were supporters of segregation. As a result, each one of the seven candidates aired support for segregation, although to varying degrees. Bill Waller, who prosecuted Byron De La Beckwith and attacked the Ku Klux Klan, additionally railed against civil rights "rabble-rousers". He was the more moderate candidate on the race question along with Winter, who had to embrace segregationist rhetoric to stay in the race. Barnett attempted to make a comeback, but more militant segregationists complained he did not do enough during the Ole Miss riot of 1962. Staunch segregationist John Bell Williams ironically used the least overtly racist rhetoric since he could claim to have sacrificed his House career for Goldwater three years ago in 1964, although his supporters handed out flyers stating that "if William F. Winter is elected governor, the Negroes will run Mississippi."https://books.google.com/books?id=8vJWsJ2w4IoC&q=%E2%80%9CFREE%2C+private%2C+SEGREGATED+SCHOOLS+for+every+white+child+in+the+State+of+Mississippi.%22&pg=PA50 A Case Study of the Educational Reform Efforts of Former Mississippi Governor William F. Winter Hawkins James K. 2010-03-11 Universal-Publishers 9781599423111 46–54 en The most openly segregationist candidate was Jimmy Swan, running on a promise to establish "FREE, private, SEGREGATED SCHOOLS for every white child in the State of Mississippi" in the first twelve months of his term, or else he would resign and publicly apologize. He proposed to save Mississippi "from the moral degeneracy of total mass integration that Washington has decreed for our children this fall", saying that granting equality to the blacks was to make savagery the equal of civilization and promising to use extreme force against any black urban riot, which he viewed as a "Communist monster", and openly courted the Klan, of which his campaign bodyguard Pat Massengale was a member.https://books.google.com/books?id=YSLCS7hg-DEC&q=%22jimmy+swan%22+klan&pg=PA174 The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History Newton Michael 2009-12-21 McFarland 9780786457045 174–175 en Such rhetoric might have contributed to the relatively less extremist voters moving to vote for Barnett, viewed as more moderate, and similarly winning most extreme segregationists from Barnett.https://books.google.com/books?id=3R7-cSI_VI4C&q=%22jimmy+swan%22+gotterdammerung&pg=PA170 Dixie: A Personal Osyssey Through Historic Events That Shaped the Modern South Wilkie Curtis 2002-05-16 Simon and Schuster 9780743226042 170 en Swan always wore a white suit to demonstrate his beliefs on race.https://books.google.com/books?id=XOoMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22jimmy+swan%22+1967+white+suit The Journal of Mississippi History McCain William David 2008 Mississippi historical society. 386 en Vernon E. Brown, a 65-year-old tax assessor from Stone County, Mississippi,https://books.google.com/books?id=PupZAAAAIAAJ&q=Vernon+E.+Brown+mississippi+1967 New South 1967 98 en and C. L. McKinley, a Creole pipefitter living in Pennsylvania, had no campaign organization. The runoff election was won by U.S. Representative John Bell Williams, who defeated state treasurer William Winter. As was common at the time, the Democratic primary had higher turnout than the general election, as it was a given the Democrat would win. Black leaders avoided publicly supporting a candidate, out of fear that the candidate might lose votes. In some places, the MFDP called on blacks to boycott the primaries. Results thumb|center|170px|Primary results by county:Winter: #dee8fb <30% #dee8fb 30–40% #b4c7ec 40–50% #8da9e2 50–60%Williams: #f8effe <30% #f2dffc 30–40% #dcb7ef 40–50% #c88fe4 50–60%Swan: #f8f2de <30% #f0e6be 30–40% #d7c477 40–50% #c0a32f 50–60%Barnett: #a3d5af 40–50% Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial primary, 1967http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=382451 MS Governor D Primary 1967 Our Campaigns December 5, 2016 Democratic Party (United States) William Winter 222,001 32.46 Democratic Party (United States) John Bell Williams 197,778 28.92 Democratic Party (United States) Jimmy Swan 124,361 18.18 Democratic Party (United States) Ross Barnett 76,053 11.12 Democratic Party (United States) Bill Waller 60,090 8.79 Democratic Party (United States) Vernon E. Brown 2,051 0.30 Democratic Party (United States) C. L. McKinley 1,671 0.24 684,005 100.00 Runoff thumb|center|170px|Runoff results by county:Williams: #7996E2 50–60% #6674DE 60–70% #584CDE 70–80%Winter: #51C2C2 50–60% #2AACAC 60–70% Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff, 1967http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=376043 MS Governor D Primary Runoff 1967 Our Campaigns December 5, 2016 Democratic Party (United States) John Bell Williams 371,815 54.49 Democratic Party (United States) William Winter 310,527 45.51 682,342 100.00 General election Campaign Phillips, a former Democratic public service commissioner, had no running-mate. His previous nominee for lieutenant governor, Stanford Morse, endorsed Williams. Phillips later said that the GOP did not at the time realize the importance of offering full candidate slates."Challenging the Status Quo," p. 258 The unopposed Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, Charles L. Sullivan of Clarksdale, had defeated in his party's primary Governor Paul Johnson, who ran in 1967 for his former post of lieutenant governor. At the time Mississippi governors could not succeed themselves but could sit out a term and enter the next race four years later."Challenging the Status Quo", p. 259 Sullivan earlier said that he could work with either Phillips or Williams, but he endorsed the Democratic nominee, having verbally sparred with Phillips at a meeting in Biloxi of the Mississippi Manufacturing Association.Greenville Delta Democrat-Times, October 15, 26, 1967 Clarke Reed of Greenville, who succeeded Yerger as state chairman in 1966, recalled that Phillips did not wish to run for governor again in 1967 but was persuaded to do so by party leaders in need of a candidate though there was little expectation of success.http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/html_use/A-0113.html Interview with Clarke Reed docsouth.unc.edu May 12, 2014 For his second race, Phillips shed his past segregationist image and ran to the middle, as had Williams' unsuccessful primary opponent, state Treasurer William F. Winter, who ultimately won the governorship in 1979. Time magazine called Phillips "an erstwhile segregationist who this year appealed for an end to the racial rancor".Time, XC (November 17, 1967), p. 29 Phillips later said that his moderate stance hurt the Republicans at that time but that the party since "benefited from the things we did". In a television address, Phillips reaffirmed his belief in segregation but spoke in conciliatory language toward African Americans: The influence of race ... is so dominant that it is utterly unrealistic to expect any significant progress in such vital fields as education, economic development, and federal-state relations until we have brought the race issue out into the open and begun, at least begun, to deal with it effectively. ... I advocate spending money to develop our underdeveloped human resources ... with the expectation of getting all that money back ... With God's help and your help, I will bring peace and harmony and material progress to Mississippi.Biloxi-Gulfport Daily Herald, October 4, 1967 The Meridian Star charged that Phillips had "made it plain that he is no conservative. He is a member of the Republican Party, not just here ... but at the national level."Meridian Star, October 13, 1967 The Clarion-Ledger judged Phillips' in his second race as "a weak candidate with a weak pitch" and termed his prospects as virtually "hopeless".Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 18, 1967 Phillips took other heretical positions, having urged a "long-range master plan for education" and the reinstatement of compulsory attendance, which had been repealed in 1958.Meridian Star, October 17, 1963; estimates were that 84,000 pupils were not attending school in Mississippi in 1967. Phillips questioned the need of the Mississippi Milk Commission, which he said kept the price of milk artificially too high.Hattiesburg American, October 10, 1967 Presidential politics played some role in the 1967 campaign, as Williams stressed his friendship with George C. Wallace of Alabama, who was preparing for an independent candidacy in 1968. Phillips countered that only a Republican, perhaps Nixon or Governor Ronald Wilson Reagan of California, could defeat a national Democratic presidential nominee. Reagan cut a campaign commercial for Phillips; Maureen Reagan made some twenty appearances on Phillips' behalf at various places in the state.Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, XXV (November 10, 1967), pp. 2295-2296; Vicksburg Evening Post, September 23, 1967 Neighboring Governor Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas, younger brother of Nelson Rockefeller, spoke in Corinth and assisted Phillips in fundraising. Phillips raised $300,000 in the 1967 race.Hattiesburg American, November 1, 1967 Williams rejected Phillips' pleas for debates, as had Paul Johnson in 1963. In fact, the congressman spent few days on the general election campaign trail and urged friends "to do the campaigning for me".Jackson Daily News, October 25, 28, 1967; Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 28, 1967 Williams, who had lost the lower part of his left arm while service in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, was hospitalized during the campaign with a leg ailment, which also stemmed from war injuries.Vicksburg Evening Post, October 25, 1963 At a $40 per person fundraiser attended by some five thousand and hosted by the state's congressional delegation, Williams vowed to "destroy that Republican crowd so bad that they won't be able to find a Rubel in the rubble."Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 31, 1967 Endorsements Phillips obtained the endorsement of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which sent a rival delegation to the 1964 national party convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but he repudiated the support of that group.Jackson Clarion-Leger, October 28, 1967 The Freedom Democrats backed Phillips because he had expressed doubts that Williams as governor would be able to fight the desegregation policies of the then United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare.U.S. News & World Report, LXII (November 20, 1967), p. 35 As in 1963, the Greenville Delta Democrat-Times endorsed Phillips, having hailed his racial-moderation speech as "frank, honest, courageous ... the unvarnished truth."Greenville Delta Democrat-Times, November 5, 1967 The paper claimed that Phillips had abandoned the earlier GOP efforts to "out-Dixiecrat the Dixiecrats". An unidentified Republican told U.S. News & World Report that the GOP had "thrown off the tag of being a racist, segregationist party in the South."U.S. News & World Report, November 20, 1967, p. 35 Results 1967 Mississippi gubernatorial electionMississippi Official and Statistical Register 1965 460 Democratic Party (United States) John Bell Williams 315,318 70.27% Republican Party (United States) Rubel Phillips 133,379 29.73% 448,697 100.00% County results County John Bell Williams Votes Rubel Phillips Votes Total Democratic Republican Adams 64.32%5,81035.683,2239,033 Alcorn 53.39%3,46846.61%3,0276,495 Amite 86.60%2,63113.40%4073,038 Attala 77.24%3,83422.76%1,1304,964 Benton 77.46%92822.54%2701,198 Bolivar 71.96%6,43228.04%2,5068,938 Calhoun 90.13%3,1439.87%3443,487 Carroll 78.17%2,14121.83%5982,739 Chickasaw 82.76%2,97617.24%6203,596 Choctaw 84.17%1,85015.83%3482,198 Claiborne 56.33%1,30943.67%1,0152,324 Clarke 74.75%2,78825.25%9423,730 Clay 69.98%2,62230.02%1,1253,747 Coahoma 71.12%4,54028.88%1,8446,384 Copiah 74.10%4,43425.90%1,5505,984 Covington 78.13%2,85121.87%7983,649 DeSoto 79.69%3,17520.31%8093,984 Forrest 60.61%7,77939.39%5,05612,835 Franklin 83.54%2,05516.46%4052,460 George 89.31%1,97910.69%2372,216 Greene 84.45%1,39015.55%2561,646 Grenada 64.59%3,06635.41%1,6814,747 Hancock 74.18%2,53425.82%8823,416 Harrison 68.77%11,75131.23%5,33617,087 Hinds 59.02%26,07740.98%18,10944,186 Holmes 53.61%3,65446.39%3,1626,816 Humphreys 76.20%1,93123.80%6032,534 Issaquena 65.84%58634.16%304890 Itawamba 83.58%2,81016.42%5523,362 Jackson 68.56%8,16531.44%3,74411,909 Jasper 74.22%2,38125.78%8273,208 Jefferson 54.74%1,24845.26%1,0322,280 Jefferson Davis 78.36%2,19421.64%6062,800 Jones 63.33%9,09636.67%5,26714,363 Kemper 85.70%1,94114.30%3242,265 Lafayette 68.13%2,43531.87%1,1393,574 Lamar 78.72%3,20021.28%8654,065 Lauderdale 66.11%9,72633.89%4,98614,712 Lawrence 82.51%2,25117.49%4772,728 Leake 73.97%4,05726.03%1,4285,485 Lee 73.94%5,95426.06%2,0998,053 Leflore 68.52%5,13331.48%2,3587,491 Lincoln 81.37%4,98518.63%1,1416,126 Lowndes 65.08%5,98634.92%3,2129,198 Madison 60.68%3,40139.32%2,2045,605 Marion 77.29%5,09622.71%1,4976,593 Marshall 69.44%1,58630.56%6982,284 Monroe 73.03%4,69126.97%1,7326,423 Montgomery 77.87%2,45222.13%6973,149 Neshoba 77.60%4,77722.40%1,3796,156 Newton 78.16%4,01121.84%1,1215,132 Noxubee 59.90%1,74640.10%1,1692,915 Oktibbeha 66.42%3,16533.58%1,6004,765 Panola 70.38%3,33129.62%1,4024,733 Pearl River 73.90%3,76926.10%1,3315,100 Perry 77.41%1,57322.59%4592,032 Pike 74.07%6,11925.93%2,1428,261 Pontotoc 85.28%3,23814.72%5593,797 Prentiss 81.34%2,98218.66%6843,666 Quitman 81.67%1,86718.33%4192,286 Rankin 71.77%6,56528.23%2,5829,147 Scott 78.40%4,26021.60%1,1745,434 Sharkey 69.64%1,11030.36%4841,594 Simpson 70.52%3,86829.48%1,6175,485 Smith 80.37%3,73019.63%9114,641 Stone 83.03%1,45316.97%2971,750 Sunflower 69.01%4,32030.99%1,9406,260 Tallahatchie 73.78%2,39526.22%8513,246 Tate 81.18%2,99418.82%6943,688 Tippah 80.91%2,54719.09%6013,148 Tunica 76.66%1,40623.34%4281,834 Union 75.86%3,20524.14%1,0204,225 Walthall 83.80%3,00516.20%5813,586 Warren 66.08%6,33033.92%3,2509,580 Washington 50.31%5,52949.69%5,46010,989 Wayne 76.46%2,62523.54%8083,433 Webster 86.75%2,52813.25%3862,914 Wilkinson 75.47%1,64024.53%5332,173 Winston 76.62%3,09123.38%9434,034 Yalobusha 83.27%2,22016.73%4462,666 Yazoo 72.27%4,76227.73%1,8276,589 Total 70.27%315,31829.73%133,379448,697Mississippi Official and Statistical Register 1965 460 Footnotes 2 References Mississippi Official and Statistical Register 1964–1968 Mississippi Secretary of State 1965 Jackson https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015053613819 Mississippi Official and Statistical Register 1965 collapsed 1967 gubernatorial Mississippi Category:November 1967 in the United States