William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography

2. College and Campaigning

31 2 COLLEGE AND CAMPAIGNING William Winter graduated from Grenada High School in the spring of 1940, and shortly thereafter, he won an oratorical contest sponsored by the state American Legion. As a result, the organization chose Winter to give a speech at a patriotic meeting organized for early September in Greenville. Winter’s speech at the program praised President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “a great leader,” who “is guiding our feet along the way to a still more perfect freedom.” He urged Americans to avoid complacency about the dangers posed by the war in Europe, noting that “the indifference of the American people is the deadliest enemy we have today. God grant that someday the people of America will learn that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Winter ended his short address by noting that he and his peers were likely to “be sent forth to die on the fields of honor. If this becomes necessary it only means that once more we shall make good with our lives and fortunes the great faith to which we were born.”1 Winter would eventually enter military service, like so many of the young men of his generation. Although he never saw combat in World War II, the conflict did have a major impact on him. Before his service in the U.S. Army began, however, Winter spent three years at the University of Mississippi, the state institution that typically provided higher education to the state’s political and economic leaders. During an abbreviated undergraduate career, Winter demonstrated considerable leadership abilities and further expanded his intellectual skills. He also had the chance, during the summer of 1942, to participate in his first statewide political campaign. College and Campaigning 32 In the early 1940s Ole Miss was a small, close-knit campus. Fewer than fifteen hundred students enrolled in the fall of 1940. Classes were held every day but Sunday, and students rarely went home more than once or twice a semester, since few had automobiles. Indeed, on the infrequent occasions when Winter returned to his parents’ home, only fifty miles away, he typically hitchhiked. Winter joined Phi Delta Theta with a number of his Grenada classmates. Although Winter’s fraternity brothers selected him “outstanding pledge” during his first semester on campus, the fraternity did not become the primary focus of his college experience. He had only a passing interest in the parties and dances sponsored by the fraternities and sororities. Because of his interest in sports, however, Winter actively participated through his fraternity in a variety of intramural sports: track, softball, and touch football. He also served as the freshman trainer for the Ole Miss track team.2 During his years at Ole Miss, Winter became involved in an array of other campus activities. As a freshman, he joined the Hermean Literary Society, which held literary discussions and participated in campus debates. In December 1940, Winter represented the Society in a debate that proposed “that a two-party system is desirable in the South.” Winter furthered honed his public speaking skills as a finalist in the annual freshman declamation competition, when he presented a stock speech, “The Monster in the Public Square,” which warned of the dangers of political demagogues. Winter participated in the International Relations Club and the Freshman YMCA. He also joined the Committee of 100, which brought speakers to campus to talk about religious topics.3 By his junior year, Winter had assumed leadership positions in several organizations on campus. He became the president of the Hermean Literary Society; Phi Eta Sigma, a national scholastic fraternity; and the International Relations Club. He was also elected in the fall of 1942, along with eight others, to Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership fraternity, which regularly held speaker forums. These events, initiated by history professor Jim Silver in 1940, brought a variety of speakers to the Ole Miss campus, many of whom were controversial. One of the first forums Winter helped organize, and over which he presided, looked at “Mississippi farm problems” and featured a debate between Owen Cooper, from the Mississippi Farm Bureau, and an official from the federal Farm Security Administration.4 College and Campaigning 33 Work on the campus newspaper, The Mississippian, consumed most of Winter’s free time during his undergraduate years. Assigned to cover sports, Winter put in long hours at the paper, frequently working late into the evening and...