William David McCain
Encyclopedia
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
political establishment and a leader in its struggle in the 1950s and 1960s to maintain the segregated "southern way of life" against the forces of integration. He served as Mississippi state archivist, a Major General in the Mississippi National Guard
Mississippi National Guard
The Mississippi National Guard is Mississippi's component of the United States National Guard.The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. In fact, the National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to...
, longtime leader and promoter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
, fifth president and major architect of Mississippi Southern College (now The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi, informally known as Southern Miss, is a large public research university located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States. It is situated north of Gulfport, Mississippi and northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana...
).
McCain attended Delta State University
Delta State University
Delta State University, also known as DSU, is a regional public university located in Cleveland, Mississippi, United States, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta...
(then College), received an MA from The University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
, a Ph.D. from Duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
, and an honorary L.D. from Mississippi College
Mississippi College
Mississippi College, also known as MC, is a private, Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi. Mississippi College comprises the main campus in Clinton, as well as satellite campuses in Brandon and Madison, Mississippi, and the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson...
.
After teaching at several junior colleges and both Ole Miss and Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
(then College), he became director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, serving from 1938 to 1955. In addition, he worked as a historian at Morristown National Historical Park
Morristown National Historical Park
Morristown National Historical Park consists of three sites, the Ford Mansion, Fort Nonsense, and Jockey Hollow that were important during the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775 and was ended in 1783 by the Treaty of Paris...
in Morristown, New Jersey (1935) and served as Assistant Archivist at the US National Archives in Washington, D.C. (1935–1937).
From the late 1930s onward he enjoyed a growing reputation as an archivist and regional historian. He was a founding member of the Society of American Archivists
Society of American Archivists
The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual and institutional members...
and wrote several genealogical volumes, including histories of the McCain, Fox, Shaw, and Vance families. In addition, he wrote The Story of Jackson: A History of the Capital of Mississippi 1821-1851 (1953) and The United States and the Republic of Panama (1937).
McCain re-founded the dormant Sons of Confederate Veterans organization and did much research in Confederate history. He un-apologetically revered the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
and its policies. Today the SCV honors him in various ways.
Founded in 1896, the Sons of Confederate Veterans had its first period of growth and success around and after 1900. By the late 1930s it was dying. When McCain took it over and re-founded it in 1953, it was down to 30 chapters, 1,000 members and $1,053 in assets.
After 1953, McCain threw himself into developing the moribund organization into an influential force in Mississippi and Southern politics, and a valuable personal political power base.
He revived the group's abandoned publication, the Confederate Veteran
Confederate Veteran
The Confederate Veteran was a newsmagazine, published monthly from 1893-1932. It furnished Confederate veterans of the American Civil War and other readers with articles and pictures regarding that war. It remains a valuable historical resource, as the archives contain many thousands of names and...
, and began productive membership drives. Over the years of his stewardship from 1953 to the late 1980s membership rose to almost 20,000. He also obtained the current national headquarters facility in Columbia, TN, and a comfortable financial cushion.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans gives an annual literary award named for him, noting that "Dr. McCain was instrumental in reviving Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization that thrived in post-war [Civil War] years but lost popularity during the early part of the [twentieth] century. Dr. McCain is remembered not only for his presidency at Mississippi Southern but also for his leadership in Sons of Confederate Veterans."
The library at the national headquarters in Columbia, TN, is named is his honor, and the grounds are referred to as "MAJ GEN WILLIAM D MCCAIN HQ CAMP."
A split in the Sons of Confederate Veterans in recent years has led to some Sons of Confederate Veterans local groups defining themselves as being "Dr. William D. McCain Old School" camps to indicate rejection of more racist and neo-Confederate
Neo-confederate
Neo-Confederate is a term used by some academics and political activists to describe the views of various groups and individuals who have a positive belief system concerning the historical experience of the Confederate States of America, the Southern secession, and the Southern United...
nationalist elements.
As late as 1991 they featured McCain in a recruiting video along with then Republican Senator Trent Lott
Trent Lott
Chester Trent Lott, Sr. , is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and has served in numerous leadership positions in the House of Representatives and the Senate....
of Mississippi.
In the 1950s and 1960s he was also a staunch supporter of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
, a now notorious government agency created to undermine the civil rights movement. He was involved in many activities and decisions which will become more fully known as the commission's archives are made available, especially his part in the Clyde Kennard
Clyde Kennard
Clyde Kennard was a Civil Rights pioneer and martyr, born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In the 1950s, he attempted several times to enroll at Mississippi Southern College to complete his undergraduate degree started at University of Chicago...
affair.
In 1924, McCain enlisted as a private in the Mississippi National Guard. He served with General Mark Clark in Italy during World War II, and also served during the Korean War. Remaining in the National Guard, he rose to the rank of Major General. As part of his military interest, McCain later very strongly promoted a large ROTC at the University of Southern Mississippi when he was president there. Over thirty officers were commissioned out of the 1970 class.
McCain married the former Minnie Leicester Lenz on October 3, 1931, and they were parents of three children: William D., Jr., John W., and Patricia.
On August 18, 1955, he became president of Mississippi Southern College, a minor teachers college in Hattiesburg. Here he entered on the great productive period of his career. When he took office, McCain promised to "keep the campus dusty or muddy with construction." During his tenure, twenty-five new academic and housing complexes were constructed. He built MSC into the regional educational powerhouse that became the University of Southern Mississippi.
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
cause. In the early 1970s among faculty and administration at Ole Miss one often heard complaints about McCain's unfair and sinister success with the state legislature in diverting resources from Ole Miss to Southern.
When his behind the scenes influence proved insufficient, he was capable of the vociferous attack. In a well publicized speech to a Hattiesburg civic club on March 15, 1969, he lashed out at the state legislature for being so paralyzed by the integration issue that they were causing higher education in Mississippi to "come to a grinding halt."
In the early 1960s he obtained the support of his friend and fellow segregationist Governor Ross Barnett
Ross Barnett
Ross Robert Barnett was the governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964. He was a States' Rights Democrat.- Early life :...
to elevate MSC to university status. This action paved the way for Mississippi Southern College to become a university, and on February 27, 1962, the school was officially renamed The University of Southern Mississippi (USM).
He was a prominent and active supporter of the state political establishment's racial policies. He promoted segregation as a very active state leader in the Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
and as state Adjutant General of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars
Military Order of the Stars and Bars
The Military Order of the Stars and Bars is a fraternal organization for documented descendants of men who served as commissioned officers in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America or who are descended from members of the Confederate Congress, or any elected or appointed member of...
. In this period the SCV was a fundamentally racist and segregationist group. McCain was a founder and led it as an authoritarian general leading his troops for decades.
He was accused of still fighting the Civil War. Specifically, he maintained that the Thirteenth Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
was not legally part of the U.S. Constitution. As a leader of the pro-segregationist White Citizens' Council
White Citizens' Council
The White Citizens' Council was an American white supremacist organization formed on July 11, 1954. After 1956, it was known as the Citizens' Councils of America...
and a member of its speakers bureau, he made numerous trips north to present the pro-segregation case.
In a period when pressure was growing nationally to integrate the state's institutions of higher learning, he was well known to vehemently oppose the prospect of having any black students at Mississippi Southern. In recognition of this, in 1964 James Meredith
James Meredith
James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...
made his attempt to enter Ole Miss rather than Southern, thinking success more likely there.
Indeed, when Clyde Kennard
Clyde Kennard
Clyde Kennard was a Civil Rights pioneer and martyr, born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In the 1950s, he attempted several times to enroll at Mississippi Southern College to complete his undergraduate degree started at University of Chicago...
, a black Korean War veteran attempted to enroll at Mississippi Southern in the late 1950s, McCain made major efforts with local black leaders, the state political establishment and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission to prevent it. The Commission sent Zack J. Van Landingham, a "subversive investigator," to assist him. He handled Kennard's file personally and had John Reiter, the school security chief, look for any criminal record from Kennard time in Chicago.
On September 15, 1959, Kennard was falsely arrested by constables Charlie Ward and Lee Daniel for reckless driving upon returning to his car from a meeting with President McCain. After he was jailed, Lee and Daniels perjured themselves before racist JP T. C. Hobby, claiming to have found five half pints of whiskey, along with other liquor.
Kennard was twice arrested on tromped-up criminal charges and eventually sentenced to seven years in the state prison.
McCain's direct involvement in this incident is unclear. He was certainly as aware as other intimate members of the state political establishment were that the charges were fraudulent but made no public objection.
On September 9, 1960, at the very time McCain was so forcefully seeking to keep Clyde Kennard out of Mississippi Southern, he made a trip to Chicago sponsored by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, where he explained to the Pro America Forum the reality of Mississippi life saying that those blacks who sought to desegregate Southern schools were "imports" from the North. (Kennard was, in fact, a native and resident of Hattiesburg.)
"We insist that educationally and socially, we maintain a segregated society... In all fairness, I admit that we are not encouraging Negro voting," he said. "The Negroes prefer that control of the government remain in the white man's hands."
He was equally vocal in Mississippi, having become well practiced in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
anti-communist rhetoric of the period. He closely echoed conservative Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, who heavily carried the Mississippi white vote in 1964. On March 19, 1964, McCain gave the keynote speech at the annual convention of the Mississippi Education Association. He exposed Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, Communist China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, and Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
for fomenting the civil rights movement in general and particularly the move to integrate public education in Mississippi. He labeled the movement un-Christian, quoting Jesus Christ: "For the poor always ye have with ye..."
By the fall of 1965 both Ole Miss and Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
had been integrated—the former violently, the latter peacefully. University of Southern Mississippi leaders, such as President McCain, had come to realize that the battle to maintain segregation was lost. Therefore, they made extensive confidential plans for the admission and attendance of their first black students. A faculty guardian and tutor was secretly appointed for each. The same campus police department which six years before had attempted to railroad Kennard to prison when he attempted to enroll, now had very strict orders to prevent or quickly stop any incident involving the two black students. Student athletic, fraternity, and political leaders were recruited to keep the calm and protect the university from such bad publicity as Ole Miss had suffered from its reaction to James Meredith
James Meredith
James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...
.
As a result, black students Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong
Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong
Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong was a black Mississippi pioneer in the African-American Civil Rights Movement . In September, 1965, she and Raylawni Branch, both local natives, integrated the University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg...
and Raylawni Branch
Raylawni Branch
Mrs. Raylawni Branch is a black Mississippi pioneer of the African-American Civil Rights Movement ,professional nursing educator and US Air Force Reserve officer...
were enrolled without incident in September 1965.
McCain had always run the university very much as the authoritarian commander of a military camp. This management style was challenged by the rebellious spirit of the 1960s on American university campuses. For example in 1966 and 1967 he attempted with economic pressure and slanted performance evaluations to silence several outspoken liberal faculty members. This led to a confrontation with various liberal groups, including the Young Democrats led by future Governor Bill Waller
Bill Waller
William Lowe "Bill" Waller, Sr. was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as Governor of Mississippi from 1972 to 1976. As a local prosecutor, he unsuccessfully prosecuted Byron De La Beckwith in the murder of civil rights advocate Medgar Evers. Both trials ended in hung juries...
. This resulted in turmoil throughout April 1967, and finally to a riot on May 12, which required the intervention of the state police.
As the years passed after 1965, McCain gradually lost the iron disciplined control he had held over the university. After the Jackson State killings
Jackson State killings
The Jackson State killings occurred on Thursday/Friday May 14–15, 1970, at Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi. A group of somewhat violent student protesters were confronted by city and state police. The police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve...
of student protesters on Thursday and Friday, May 14–15, 1970, some 75 of his black students staged a sit-down at his home and then his office. Their demands included the integration of the campus police, the establishment of black social sororities and fraternities, and the inclusion of blacks on the faculty. Preparing for a protracted process of negotiations, McCain asked the black students to elect a leadership group with which he would deal.
At this time he was also in a struggle to keep the ACLU off his campus. This culminated in January 1972, with a Federal District Court order to grant the ACLU a charter to operate on campus.
In the twenty years that McCain served as president, enrollment grew from 3000 in 1955 to more than 11,000 in 1975.
When he retired in 1975, a Chair of History and the university archival library were named in his honor. He then kept an office in the library as President Emeritus. He died on September 5, 1993, and is interred at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson, Mississippi.
In the later decades of his life McCain was best known for his work in successfully—if highhandedly—building a small teachers college into the regional educational powerhouse that became the University of Southern Mississippi and for his anti-integration activities in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also recognized regionally as an author, lecturer, historian on the Confederacy and post-Civil War period, archivist and genealogist.
Books
- Medgar Evers by Jennie Brown, Holloway House Publishing, 1994, 192 páginas
- The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund by William H. Tucker, University of Illinois Press (May 30, 2007), Pp 165–66
- Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction by Euan Hague (Editor), Heidi Beirich (Editor), Edward H. Sebesta (Editor), University of Texas Press (December 1, 2008) pp. 284–85
External links
- http://battleofraymond.org/mccain.htm
- http://www.scv.org/pdf/BonnieBlueSocietyApp.pdf
- http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organization.asp?tn=598701
- http://www.csnavy.org/semmes11,old,school,mccain.htm
- http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/m393.htm?m393text.htm~mainFrameBiographical/Historical Sketch
- http://www.mississippiwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=University_of_Southern_Mississippi
- http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=135