Former Mississippi Governor William F. Winter said he was surprised at how much material was available for Andrew P. Mullins to sift through as he put together the book, “The Measure of Our Days: Writings of William F. Winter.”

Winter and Mullins were in Meridian last week for a book signing that helped raise money for the local historic home, Merrehope.

Mullins said Winter turned him loose in his office as he went over papers spanning some 60 years in three big filing cabinets and 100 boxes to compile the book, which was published in October.

A World War II veteran, Winter served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1947-1959 and as Governor of Mississippi from 1980-1984. He served on President Bill Clinton’s Advisory Board on Race from 1997-1998.

Both Winter and Mullins took time out while in Meridian to visit with The Meridian Star Editorial Board last week.

Copies of the book are available for sale at Merrehope. Call (601) 483-8439 for more information.



The Meridian Star: What are people going to find out that they didn’t already know before reading this book?



William Winter: I’m not sure what they will find that they didn’t already know. I would hope they would find in the book some basis for understanding how far this state has come during my lifetime, how much progress we’ve made, how many obstacles we’ve had to overcome, some of them of our own making, but, nevertheless have a greater appreciation for the very progressive development that has taken place and hopefully out of it understand what a basis we have for optimism and expectations about the future.



Andrew Mullins: Also they will discover the breadth and depth of William Winter’s intellect. There are 59 different topics listed there in the index that I found quotable quotes from in his writings over 60 years. There’s one on leadership that goes back to when he was 18 years old and speaking to his fraternity.



The Star: Explain the process of going through the material for this book and how did the idea for it come about?



Mullins: The idea came back four years ago when those of us at The University of Mississippi were preparing to celebrate Gov. Winter’s 80th birthday. At that occasion we were going to name the institute for racial reconciliation at Ole Miss after him. I was putting together the program and I wanted some quotes from some of his speeches on racial reconciliation. I had worked for him so I was aware of his speeches on education because I was an education adviser to him and special assistant to education but I wasn’t aware of how much he had done on racial reconciliation so I was moved by those speeches and asked him if he had other speeches. He said “yeah” and pointed to his filing cabinets. I told him I had an idea to put together a book of quotations from his works, not just speeches but his writings. He didn’t use a speech writer, which is highly unusual among modern politicians. He wrote everything that is in that book. I did a little biography for the front part of it.

It’s raised a lot of money for the Winter Institute on Racial Reconciliation. The proceeds from the sale of the book go there.



The Star: What does the younger generation not know, or doesn’t understand about the past in regard to race relations and the process that brought us to where we are today?



Winter: I think what so many people who did not live through that period of the ‘50s and ‘60s cannot fully appreciate is the massive resistance to any change in our society — in our way of life.

Everything was measured through the prism of race. I was in the Legislature in the late ‘40s and early-to-middle ‘50s and there was no significant legislation that was considered that did not weigh the impact of that legislation on the maintenance of segregation.

I think that’s the greatest progress we’ve made. Coming from that mind set of not having anything change, now to being open to change and realizing that the future of this state lies in our ability to utilize all of our human resources and pass on a better state to our children and our grandchildren.



The Star: President Bill Clinton had you serve on his Advisory Board on Race. Tell us about that experience.



Winter: President Clinton and I served as governors of our respective states at the same time. He and I developed a very close friendship. Because of the similarity of almost everything in Mississippi and Arkansas we saw the problem of race relations through pretty much the same eyes and had undergone many of the same experiences. After his re-election in 1996 I actually suggested the creation of this initiative and he picked up on it and authorized it and created this advisory board chaired by that great historian John Hope Franklin, African-American professor of history at Duke University. That was a seven-member board consisting of people from all over the country including Asian-Americans and African-Americans and Hispanics and of course some folks who look like me. It was a great board. It was a great coming together of some diverse ideas and backgrounds. I think what we did was to point out to the President, and hopefully to the country, how much progress we’ve made in the South. But, how much more we need to do not just in the South but in the country in terms of breaking down the distrust and the lack of understanding that still exists between and among the races.

It’s more than just a black and white thing. We found the Asian-Americans, Hispanics and even Native Americans have different perceptions about what they expect out of this country. We still have this great diverse country, the successful future of which I think remains our ability to come together without regard to color or ethnicity or religion or anything else.