J. Lee Annis Jr. - Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi

Big Jim Eastland

THE GODFATHER OF MISSISSIPPI

By J. Lee Annis Jr.

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI / JACKSON

www.upress.state.ms.us

Designed by Peter D. Halverson

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Copyright 2016 by University Press of Mississippi

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Manufactured in the United States of America

First printing 2016

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Annis, J. Lee (James Lee), 1957 author.

Title: Big Jim Eastland : the godfather of Mississippi / by J. Lee Annis Jr.

Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015049967 (print) | LCCN 2015050103 (ebook) | ISBN 9781496806147 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781496806154 (epub single) | ISBN 9781496806161 (epub institutional) | ISBN 9781496806178 (pdf single) | ISBN 9781496806185 (pdf institutional)

Subjects: LCSH: Eastland, James O. (James Oliver), 19041986. | LegislatorsUnited StatesBiography. | United States. Congress. SenateBiography. | United StatesPolitics and government19451989. | MississippiBiography.

Classification: LCC E748.E135 A85 2016 (print) | LCC E748.E135 (ebook) | DDC 328.73/092--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015049967

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

Key to Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

ANY MANUSCRIPT OF BOOK LENGTH IS A COLLABORATIVE ONE, AND THIS one is no different. More than anything, I need to thank the Eastland family, particularly the senators son, Woods, and his cousin, Hiram, for their help with this project. At the outset of this project, none of the Eastlands knew me. All are aware that not everything in James Eastlands background or career will appear noble or edifying in the more socially egalitarian climate of the twenty-first century. Even so, Woods and Hiram Eastland patiently and charitably made time often in the midst of busy schedules to answer any questions I had or cajole reluctant friends of theirs to talk with me. They perused drafts but did not so much as even suggest a change unless they spotted a clear error of fact. I also benefitted from a discussion with James and Libby Eastlands daughters, Nell Eastland Amos, Anne Eastland Howdeshell, and Sue Eastland McRoberts. I am grateful especially to Mrs. McRoberts, for she heard that I had accepted as fact what appears to have been some artful embellishment by a ghostwriter for a non-Mississippian involved in one of the seminal events of Mississippi history of which she had some direct knowledge, and she called to save me from a particularly egregious mistake.

I am nearly as obliged to the thoroughly outstanding staff of the Special Collections Department at the John D. Williams Library of the University of Mississippi, where the Eastland papers are stored. Especially helpful was Leigh McWhite, the very able head of the political portion of that shop who processed the Eastland collection and did her best to guide me to what would be most helpful within its 1040 boxes. But I also need to thank Jennifer Ford, the departments able director, and assistants Chatham Ewing, Greg Johnson, Jason Kovari, Stephanie McKnight, Lauren Rogers, John Wall, Pamela Williamson, and others for gracious assistance that extended even to lining up hair appointments in Oxford. Over the course of five years, my research took me all over Mississippi and to libraries from Boston, Massachusetts, to Yorba Linda, California. I thank the always helpful staffs at the Library of Congress; the Mississippi Department of Archives and History; the National Archives; the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter Presidential Libraries; the special collections departments of the libraries at Clemson University, Delta State University, Hanover College, Mississippi College, Mississippi State University, the University of Memphis, the University of North Carolina, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Vanderbilt University; and the public libraries of New Orleans and of Belzoni, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Forest, Greenville, Greenwood, Indianola, and Jackson, Mississippi. And, I am grateful that Fred Smith, the semiretired proprietor of Choctaw Books, was always willing to spend a few minutes sharing his broad array of knowledge and stories.

I would also like to thank all those who interacted with Senator Eastland who were kind enough to take the time to sit for interviews. I was fortunate to speak with most of the living people who knew James Eastland best. The only two I truly missed speaking with who were alive at the outset of this project were Senator Ted Kennedy and Larry Speakes, who were beginning to suffer from the afflictions that took their lives. Even so, Im grateful that many of their associates recalled well so many of the stories they had passed down. Many who knew James Eastland were eager to share reminiscences of him. Discussions with presidential counselors of both parties, Judiciary Committee and Justice Department staff, and his Senate colleagues and staff were particularly fruitful. For this project, David Bowen, Clarence Pierce, and Herb Montgomery were especially generous with their time and valuable counsel. Gil Carmichael and Wally Johnson graciously read chapters on matters of which they possess a bit of expertise. Some, like Senators Jim Abourezk, Fred Harris, and John Tunney, who did not sit for interviews, were still kind enough to pass along helpful information. Others I profited from speaking with include Joe Allen, Cub Amos, Bobby Baker, Howard Baker, Frank Barber Jr., Haley Barbour, Birch Bayh, James Biglane, G. Robert Blakey, Leon Bramlett, Howard Brent, Bill Brock, Owen Brooks, Rex Buffington, Hank Burdine, Harry Byrd Jr., Robert G. Clark, Thad Cochran, Marlow Cook, Eph Cresswell, John C. Culver, Danny Cupit, Maurice Dantin, John Davis, Kenneth Dean, Ben Dixon, David Dixon, Winfield Dunn, Brad Dye, Rufus Edmisten, Macon Edwards, Charles Evers, Kenneth Feinberg, Jim Flug, Webb Franklin, Jim Free, Al From, David Gambrell, Steve Guyton, Orrin Hatch, Mark Hazard, Jim Herring, Ernest Hollings, Frank Hunger, Pete Johnson, Seymour Johnson, Bennett Johnston, Nicholas Katzenbach, Robert Khayat, Edwin King, Tom Korologos, David Lambert, Thurston Little, Robert Livingston, Trent Lott, James Meredith, Frank Mitchener, Walter Mondale, Frank Moore, Chip Morgan, Johnny Morgan, Robert Morgan, Walter Nixon, Walker Nolan, Maybeth Ormond, Casey Pace, Liz Johnston Patterson, Robert Tut Patterson, Steve Patterson, Eddie Payton, Billy Percy, Charles Pickering, Clarke Reed, John Rouse, Katherine Ruth, Ira Shapiro, Craig Shirley, John Siegenthaler, Bill Simpson III, Britt Singletary, John Sobotka, Dan Tate, William Threadgill, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph Tydings, William Waller, Taylor Webb, William Winter, Wirt Yerger, and Jim Ziglar.