William F. Winter

During the last week the state house was in session in March 1956, State Tax Collector Nellah Massey Bailey died.[68][69] The position was one of the highest-paid positions in Mississippi as it was tasked with collecting a "black market tax" in 1944. The office brought in large streams of revenue, mostly from illegal liquor sales, of which the office was entitled to keep ten percent. Many legislators speculated about who would be appointed to the vacant post.[70] Coleman, apologetic about not supporting Winter in his bid for the speakership, summoned the legislator and offered him the job, knowing that it would provide him with a large income and give him a platform from which he could make future bids for statewide office. Winter accepted, and the appointment was announced two days later.[68][69]

Winter assumed the office in April 1956[71] and closed his law practice.[61] While Mississippi was officially a dry state, enforcement of alcohol prohibitions were so haphazard and irregular across different jurisdictions that liquor sales were essentially treated as a local option issue, and the state hosted thousands of establishments that sold alcohol.[72] Enforcement of the black market tax was simple for Winter's office. He employed a few deputy tax collectors, a secretary, and a bookkeeper. Most of Mississippi's liquor was imported from Louisiana, and the two states' governments had earlier reached an agreement whereby Mississippi supplied Louisiana some funds in exchange for the latter providing a list of all Mississippian liquor purchasers. Supplied with this information, the deputy tax collectors would visit the bootleggers who had purchased liquor and apply a standard fee for cases of wine and liquor. Most bootleggers complied with the tax. Paying the tax did not exempt bootleggers from enforcement of dry laws, and Winter's office would supply certifications of black market tax payments as evidence of bootlegging to law enforcement officials upon request.[73]

Winter accumulated a significant income while serving as tax collector. In 1958 his office brought in a record $1.3 million in revenue. Of this, the office received $130,000, and, after paying about $67,000 to cover his staff's salaries and other office expenses, he pocketed the rest. Winter averaged between $60,000 and $80,000 in personal income per year he held the office and cumulatively acquired about $600,000 throughout his seven and-a-half year tenure. A 1962 feature in Life stated that he was the second-highest remunerated public official in the country, with the President of the United States being the first.[71] Some of Winter's opponents later asserted that his time as tax collector enabled him to become immensely wealthy. This was an exaggeration, though the tax collector's income enabled his family to live comfortably.[74]

Winter as Mississippi State Tax Collector, ca. 1961

Upon assuming control of the office, Winter promised to have it abolished. He felt the post was unnecessary and inefficient, and that its duties should be assigned to the State Tax Commission. He informed some legislators of his wish, but no action was taken towards the dissolution of the office in the legislature's 1958 session. This was due to the opposition of the head of the tax commission, who wanted to dissociate himself from the black market tax, fears among legislators that such an action would provoke wider debates about the liquor issue, and the alleged opposition of other legislators, including Sillers, that the dissolution of the office with Winter's support would amount to a victory for a political opponent.[75]

Winter decided to run for re-election in 1959. In January of that year circuit court Judge Sebe Dale, an avowed prohibitionist, denounced the tax collector office's arrangement with Louisiana as a felony conspiracy to violate state liquor laws and asked a Lamar County grand jury to indict Winter. The jury failed to indict him, but Dale declared he would ask a grand jury in each county on his circuit to indict the state tax collector.[76] When Dale held court in Lawrence County later in February, Winter snuck into the court room as Dale presented the case for an indictment to a grand jury. When Dale finished, Winter rose and asked for permission to argue his case to the jury. The judge refused, but the jury requested his argument. Winter explained to the jurors how the black market tax worked, stated that his actions were pursuant to the duties of his office as laid out by the legislator, highlighted the additional revenue raised by the tax, and asked for them to vote for his re-election. The jury failed to return an indictment and Dale ceased his quest against Winter.[77]

Winter faced nine opponents in his re-election bid, most of them arguing that he had had his "turn" in the high-paying office. He used $50,000 of his own money to fund his campaign, often by showing up at local television stations to buy air time, and then walking on set to deliver a campaign pitch in a live broadcast. His wife also traveled to speak on his behalf.[77] Winter failed to win an outright majority in the first primary, but won a runoff against John Whitfield Birdsong largely due to his more prominent public presence.[78] In April 1957 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.[78] He was elected president of the board in 1969, and served in that capacity until 2007.[79]

An active political figure, Winter traveled across the state to deliver speeches and make appearances.[78] In this capacity he found the political situation necessitated that he offer a public position on racial issues and segregation. Though privately disagreeing with white extremism and massive resistance to federal integration efforts in favor of more subtle delay, he publicly supported segregation and otherwise tried to avoid addressing the issue. He cofounded a group of moderates, the Young Democrats, to serve as a counterweight to more extremists factions, though it gained little influence.[80] He supported John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign during the 1960 presidential election despite an insurgent candidacy based on segregation headed by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett.[81] Following the Ole Miss riot of 1962, Winter began seeking out a more moderate approach for the state to address federal integration.[82] At a public gathering at All Saints' College he stated that Mississippi required a leader "who can successfully turn his people from a preoccupation with the race issue and the supercharged emotions of fear, anxiety, and hate which that issue suggests" in favor of pursuing economic development and "an effective educational system".[83]

Winter resumed his quest to have his position abolished and received support for the idea from the new head of the state tax commission. His opponents in the legislature also figured that it was more politically beneficial to allow Winter to take the credit for dissolving an unnecessary post than to let him remain in office and accumulate more money for future political campaigns. In 1962 the legislature passed a measure which would abolish the office and assign its responsibilities to the State Tax Commission effective January 1964, the end of Winter's term. He praised the action as "a step forward in state administration" that could quickly save the state $250,000.[84]

Results of the 1963 Mississippi State Treasurer Democratic primary by county

  Winter—30-40%

  Winter—40-50%

  Winter—50-60%

  Winter—60-70%

  Winter—70-80%

  Winter—80-90%

With his tenure as tax collector soon to end, Winter considered turning to full-time legal practice before ultimately deciding to run in 1963 for Mississippi State Treasurer. He faced B.G. Jones and Charlie Mosby in the Democratic primary.[85] He spent three months travelling the state to give stump speeches, and won the primary with 60 percent of the vote, winning eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties.[86] As treasurer, Winter was tasked with managing the distribution of funds across the state government. He was also in charge of issuing state bonds, though he encountered difficulty in selling them on New York financial markets due to Mississippi's lackluster national reputation for its opposition to civil rights.[87]

Winter encouraged the racial integration of Fondren Church, of which he was a member.[88] He was in Washington, D.C. when he learned that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Winter was initially angered to learn that some Mississippian segregationists were pleased by this development, but later expressions of mourning throughout the state led him to conclude that a "basic decency" prevailed in the state and could be used to challenge white racial extremism.[89] As violent resistance to desegregation increased, white moderates in Mississippi increasingly began seeking out a more middling strategy to deal with race issues and viewed Winter as a possible leader.[90] By early 1965 he had begun public appealing to Mississippians to stop resisting federal civil rights measures, saying to one gathering that the state needed "to lay aside old slogans and myths".[91]

That summer Winter attended the Neshoba County Fair. After a string of other politicians criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he addressed the fairgoers to attack the "rash and reckless defiance by a political leadership that would invite bloodshed and the destruction of our institutions [...] Our state needs as never before the constructive leader who will find the solution who will find the way, not the despairing critic who knows only the voice of alarm."[92] In the latter portion of 1967 he oversaw the sale of a $130 million bond issue to support Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula. He left the treasurer's office in 1968.[93]

Winter announced his candidacy in the 1967 gubernatorial election in January 1967, despite his own doubts about the potential of a candidate with a moderate position on race.[94] Former governor Barnett (who had been out of office the four previous years due to limits on gubernatorial succession), radio personality Jimmy Swan, and prosecutor Bill Waller also ran in the primary.[95] Early polling showed Winter running second to Barnett. Many Mississippians opposed a second Barnett term and recruited Congressman John Bell Williams, a segregationist with a reputation as an effective campaigner, to run, much to Winter's disappointment.[96]

Winter ran by emphasizing his Mississippian roots and experience in government, and promised to improve education and job opportunities. His campaign also produced some of the first modern television political advertisements in the state's history. Incumbent Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. did not endorse any candidates, but was rumored to favor Winter.[97] An April poll showed Winter leading the primary with forty-five percent of the vote, with Williams following at thirty-one percent.[98] Despite occasional jeering at public appearances accusing him of being a "nigger-lover", he tried to avoid discussing race early on in the campaign,[99] instead saying he wanted to focus on "bread-and-butter issues, not the old emotional ones—not racial issues."[100] None of the other candidates planned to openly appeal to the black electorate despite the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 having enabled the registration of thousands of new black voters in the state,[101][100][99]

As the primary campaign went on, Winter increasingly sought to appeal to white segregationists. He attended the Jackson Citizens' Council's forum in May with the other candidates.[99] He stated "The overwhelming majority of Mississippians don't like the chaos that is being forced upon our schools by the HEW [...] I have three little girls and I am not going to forsake them to the HEW social planners and bleeding heart liberals as long as there is a breath in my body." in response to a question concerning school integration.[102] He also stated that "I was born a segregationist and raised a segregationist. I have always defended that position. I defend it now."[102] He finished by saying that it would be "the greatest disservice" if racial issues became "a political football" and said "The people of Mississippi want a man who is not afraid to fight [...] but one who has common sense enough to win. They are tired of losers [...] they want winners.[103] This spawned a new slogan for Winter's campaign, "Fight to Win for Mississippi".[104]

Feeling that he had done enough to address the race issue, Winter refocused his efforts on fleshing out a political platform. He proposed a "Winter Plan for Better Schools" which included decreasing class sizes, boosting teachers' and other school staff members' salaries, and increasing course offerings. He also released 12-point plan for industrial development.[104] His campaign ultimately developed 15 "Winter Plans" for various issues.[105] Winters' opponents kept their focus on race and denounced him as a "liberal".[104] Some black leaders quietly backed him, mindful that a vocal show of support would tarnish his image among white Mississippians.[106] Winter tried to counter segregationists' doubts about him by tying himself to Senators James Eastland and John Stennis—both clear segregationists—and by stressing law and order—a position which placed him in contrast to disorderly civil rights protests and riots elsewhere in the country.[107] He generally refrained from directly attacking the other candidates.[108]

Winter placed first in the primary with Williams in second place and a runoff being required.[108] In anticipation of the runoff primary, Winter and his team decided that they would need to pick up the votes of segregationist who had sided with Barnett and Swan by characterizing Williams as an inadequate defender of segregation.[109] Barnett endorsed Winter to avenge Williams' attacks on himself.[110] Winter initially adopted a hardline stance on segregation, saying he opposed Johnson's presidency and would support Alabama Governor George Wallace or Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1968 presidential election "to preserve conservative government".[111] Quickly losing the will to continue this rhetoric, he returned to his previous messages emphasizing his experience and his plans for reform. Williams and his supporters in turn attacked Winter as disingenuous.[112] His campaign also distributed literature which warned that "William Winter's election will ensure negro domination of Mississippi's elections for generations to come."[113] Winter received the majority of the black vote in the runoff primary, but lost to Williams.[114]

Winter became involved in private legal work after leaving the treasurer's office. At the suggestion of municipal bond attorney John N. Mitchell, he joined with several other lawyers in creating a successful bond practice.[115] The Winter family continued to support the public school system in Jackson during integration efforts as many white parents withdrew their children, leading them and other public school proponents to receive cards in the mail saying "You are being watched."[116] Concerns about racial issues continued to worry Winter as he mulled a potential run for governor in 1971. Senator Eastland and former governor Johnson both encouraged him to run to fight their political enemy and presumptive frontrunner, Lieutenant Governor Charles L. Sullivan. Winter was concerned about what "commitments" he would have to make by entering the race with the endorsement of such conservative politicians and he was still focused on retiring outstanding debts from his previous gubernatorial campaign. He chose to run for lieutenant governor instead as its primary had attracted no obvious major candidates and the job would allow him time to continue at his bond practice. He publicly announced his campaign in April 1971.[117]

Winter as Lieutenant Governor ca. 1973

Race ultimately became a much more muted factor in the Democratic primary as the moderate Waller won the gubernatorial nomination. District attorney Cliff Finch and segregationist Elmore Greaves ran against Winter in the primary. He campaigned on the same issues of education and economic development he had discussed in 1967, and paid more attention to organizing young voters. He won the nomination and faced no opposition in the general election.[118][119][120] He was sworn-in on January 17, 1972.[121] Though somewhat regretful that he had not entered the gubernatorial race, as lieutenant governor Winter held significant influence; the office presided over the state senate, appointed its committees, chaired its Rules Committee, cast tie-breaking votes in the body, and he was ex officio member of a number of state boards.[122] His feelings about holding the office were generally mixed, appreciating remaining involved in politics but disappointed that he did not have "access to the center of [the] decision-making process."[123] He did not desire multiple terms and dodged controversial issues, leading some observers to characterize him as a weak legislative figure.[123]

Though the legislature was in session only about three or four months a year, Winter spent about half of his working days tending to legislative matters. He was challenged in his leadership of the state senate by Finance Committee chairman Ellis B. Bodron and Appropriations Committee chairman Bill Burgin.[124] He attempted to seek consensus as the state senate's presiding officer, but would converse with committee chairmen to bring measures to the floor for a vote if he thought them important and used his power to assign bills to committees to protect legislation he favored.[125] During the 1974 session Winter employed the latter ability to his advantage by assigning a 16th Section Land-use reform bill to the Judiciary Committee and not its anticipated recipient, the Education Committee, where member Burgin was likely to quash it. The reform bill ultimately passed.[126] He also used legislative maneuvers to ensure the passage of a small loan reform bill[127] and supported improvements to social services, increased protection for natural resources, and the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (which did not occur).[128] Winter's primary focus while serving as lieutenant governor was education reform, though most measures towards this effort—including bills to create public kindergartens and reestablish a compulsory education requirement—were killed in the Senate's Education Committee.[129]

Winter had minimal communication with Waller during his tenure, largely due to the latter's lack of attentiveness to legislative affairs and the former's desire to remain independent of the governor.[130] Both men encouraged the reunification of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party with the regular Democratic delegation without success in advance of the 1972 Democratic National Convention. Winter avoided the convention and was worried by its nomination of liberal George McGovern, who he ultimately voted for but did not publicly support.[131] Winter and Waller served as ex officio members of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, which was established by the legislature in 1956 to maintain segregation in the state. Both men maintained their distance from the body, and Winter only attended its meetings once to affirm the governor's veto of its funding, and it de facto ceased to exist in 1973.[132] He left office on January 14, 1976.[121]

Winter began planning another gubernatorial campaign after the 1972 legislative session ended and officially launched his campaign in June 1975.[133] Despite advice from a pollster and other politicians that Mississippians wanted a candidate who represented "change" in wake of the Watergate scandal, Winter's campaign focused on his record and experience. His campaign material attempted to characterize him as warmer and down-to-earth, but this image gained little traction.[134] His attempts to portray himself as honest and principled were sullied by some ethics complaints from State Senator Theodore Smith and his opposition to a limit on campaign spending. Winter attempted to cultivate black support, but made no open appeals to the black community as he feared a backlash from conservative whites.[135] Polls conducted in July 1975 showed Winter still leading in the primary, and he gained the endorsement of several major newspapers.[136]

Meanwhile Finch, one of his opponents, ran a "working man's" campaign which featured him performing various manual labor tasks. Winter dismissed these as gimmicks and stunts, but they garnered support for Finch. Another candidate, Maurice Dantin, accused Winter of having a conflict of interest by remaining at his law firm while serving as lieutenant governor. Television ads broadcasting in the last two weeks of the campaign before the primary repeated this message and, despite some factual inaccuracies, damaged Winter's appeal.[137] Winter placed first in the primary while Finch came second, and Dantin placed third.[138] Winter and Finch both repeated the same messages they had used in the first primary in anticipation of the runoff, though Winter's campaign literature advertised him as "A statesman. Not a stuntman."[139] He also criticized Finch as lacking in a substantive program, but increasingly the working class began to view Finch as a "friend".[140] Finch also made successful entreaties to black voters.[141] Finch defeated Winter in the runoff with one of the largest victories ever in a gubernatorial runoff.[142][143] The defeat left Winter convinced that his political career was over.[144]

With his time as governor coming to an end, Winter briefly considered accepting an appointment as chancellor of the University of Mississippi before deciding against it.[203] After finishing his term he ran for a seat in the United States Senate against Republican incumbent Thad Cochran at the urging of national Democrats eager to recapture control of the U.S. Senate. He announced his campaign on February 6, 1984, and campaigned little before primary, in which he easily defeated three challengers for the nomination. Despite this, many of his regular supporters had backed Cochran, and Winter was unenthusiastic in campaigning.[201][204][205] With polls showing Cochrane ahead by a large margin, he adopted a more aggressive strategy, attacking the incumbent for his support for some of President Ronald Reagan's policies. Cochrane in turn accused Winter of running only at the behest of the national Democratic Party.[206] Both men presented a moderate image which appealed to black voters, thus denying Winter the guaranteed backing of this constituency. He also publicly supported Walter Mondale's campaign for the presidency, despite the fact that most Mississippians thought Mondale too liberal.[207] Though public approval was favorable to both Cochrane and Winter, Cochrane ranked higher in polls and voters favored his experience. He defeated Winter in the election, taking 61 percent of the vote.[208]

Winter at the 2014 Neshoba County Fair

Following his defeat, Winter taught a seminar on Southern politics at the Harvard Institute of Politics for the spring 1985 semester and served as a commentator for WJTV. From 1985 to 1986 he chaired a panel on rural economic development in the South and another on "the future of the South". Afterwards he spent significant time presenting its findings, calling for renewed focus by policymakers on rural areas and attracting high-tech industry.[209] Upon his return from Harvard he rejoined his former law firm as a senior partner.[210] In 1990, he and power company executive Ed Lupberger created the Foundation for the MidSouth, a regional nonprofit.[211] He continued to advocate for improvements in education as the best means to improve the economy.[212]

Winter remained active in the state Democratic Party, despite its weakening electoral influence, and chaired its finance committee in 1990. He also became involved with the Democratic Leadership Council and co-chaired Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996.[213] Clinton appointed him co-chairman of his Advisory Board on Race in 1997.[214][215] The goals of the body were to study race relations and make recommendations to the president on ending racism.[216] At the suggestion of Winter and Charles W. Pickering, the University of Mississippi created the Institute for Racial Reconciliation, which was renamed in Winter's honor in 2003.[217] In 2009 he said in a speech, "I have to admit I could not stand up to the pressure for being in public life in Mississippi and come out four-square for the elimination of segregation and for that I apologize today."[218]

Winter argued that the flag of Mississippi should be modified to remove its canton of the Confederate battle flag due to its negative national perception. Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed Winter to chair a commission in 2000 to advise the legislature on what action to take, if any, on the design of the flag.[219] The commission held a series of public hearings around the state to gauge public opinion on the matter. Most were contentious and showed clear divides between whites who supported retaining the current flag and blacks who wanted to change it.[220] The commission also designed an alternative state flag, and recommended that the legislature vote to hold a public referendum to chose between the two flags. Winter originally opposed a referendum, but came to support it after becoming convinced that constituent pressure would keep the legislature from changing the flag themselves. A referendum was held and, in a divide along racial lines, most Mississippians voted to keep the flag.[221] The state legislature voted to remove the canton in 2020, leading Winter to say, "The battle for a better Mississippi does not end with the removal of the flag."[222]

In 2001, Winter was accorded the National Education Association's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History building was named after him in 2003. He was given the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in 2007, for his work advancing education and racial reconciliation.[223] In 2006 he and a former aide published a collection of his writings and speeches, The Measure of Our Days.[224] In January 2008, the board of trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History declared him a trustee emeritus of the organization.[225] He conducted fundraising efforts and lobbied the legislature to back the construction of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, both of which opened in 2017 as the Two Mississippi Museums.[226][79] Winter died at the age of 97 on December 18, 2020 at his home in Jackson.[227] Due to the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic, a public funeral was not held. The Winters' pastor, Robert Lowry of Fondren Presbyterian Church, published a homily in memory of Winter in Mississippi Today.[228] The Two Mississippi Museums hosted an event on May 3, 2022, to commemorate Winter and his wife.[229]

Academic James G. Thomas Jr. wrote, "Governor Winter's legacy is a complex web of sometimes seemingly conflicting politics".[230] Historian Charles C. Bolton wrote, "To be sure, Winter, like any political aspirant, had ambitions. He made mistakes. He sometimes took actions that were politically expedient or adopted stands he thought necessary to protect a future political career. Yet William Winter steadfastly used his political offices to further the public interest, and his work in the public arena in the more than twenty-five years after he left politics continued that same objective. Our democracy could benefit from more leaders who would emulate the career of William F. Winter."[223] Mabus described him as "the greatest governor Mississippi has ever had".[79] Historian David Halberstam called him "Mississippi's best and strongest governor of modern times. Winter, more than any other politician, is the architect of the new Mississippi and the new America."[231] Academic Maarten Zwiers called him "one of the most successful progressive governors in the history of Mississippi."[232] Historian Tony Badger wrote, "many now see Winter as the most successful governor in Mississippi's history. But he was not then, and is not now, universally admired."[233]

Winter is broadly remembered in Mississippi as its "education governor" for his work on education reform.[234][235][236] Historian David Sansing wrote that "he will be most remembered for the Education Reform Act of 1982".[237] Authors Jere Nash and Andy Taggart credited Winter with having "perfected the use of a special session to focus the public's attention on a single issue".[238] Reform continued to dominate political activity in Mississippi for over a decade after Winter's departure from office until falling out of favor in the 1990s as conservatives such as Kirk Fordice became increasingly predominant.[239] His papers are kept by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.[240]

• Badger, Anthony J. (2022). Why White Liberals Fail: Race and Southern Politics from FDR to Trump. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674242340.
• Bolton, Charles C. (2013). William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-61703-787-0.
• Danielson, Chris (2011). After Freedom Summer : How Race Realigned Mississippi Politics, 1965–1986. University of Florida Press. ISBN 9780813037387.
• George, Carol V. R. (2015). One Mississippi, Two Mississippi: Methodists, Murder, and the Struggle for Racial Justice in Neshoba County. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190231095.
• Gibson, Nola Kay Pearson (1993). A Biography of Governor William F. Winter With Emphasis on his Contributions to Improve Education in Mississippi (PhD thesis). University of Mississippi. ProQuest 9406645
• Kaplan, Marshall; O'Brien, Sue (2019). The Governors And The New Federalism (reprint ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781000301946.
• Krane, Dale; Shaffer, Stephen D. (1992). Mississippi Government and Politics: Modernizers Versus Traditionalists. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803277588.
• Lyons, Amanda (2016). "Giving Shape and Substance to Our Society: William F. Winter, Leadership, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History". The Southern Quarterly. 54 (1): 116–137. ISSN 2377-2050.
• Mississippi Official and Statistical Register 1964–1968. Jackson: Mississippi Secretary of State. 1965. OCLC 1131544573.
• Mississippi Official and Statistical Register 1972–1976. Jackson: Mississippi Secretary of State. 1973. OCLC 1131544573.
• Mississippi Official and Statistical Register 1980–1984. Jackson: Mississippi Secretary of State. 1981. OCLC 1131544573.
• Morris, JoAnne Prichard (2016). "Elise Winter: A New Kind of First Lady". The Southern Quarterly. 54 (1): 80–96. ISSN 2377-2050.
• Nash, Jere; Taggart, Andy (2009). Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2008 (second ed.). University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604733570.
• Pickett, Otis W. (2016). ""We Were All Prisoners of the System": William Winter, Susan Glisson, and the Founding of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation". The Southern Quarterly. 54 (1): 150–169. ISSN 2377-2050.
• Sansing, David G. (2016). Mississippi Governors: Soldiers, Statesmen, Scholars, Scoundrels (first ed.). Oxford: Nautilus Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-936946-81-5.
• Sumners, Cecil L. (1998). The Governors of Mississippi. Pelican Publishing. ISBN 9781455605217.
• Thomas, James G. Jr. (2016). "Guest Editor's Introduction". The Southern Quarterly. 54 (1): 6–13. ISSN 2377-2050.
• Zwiers, Maarten (2016). "Good Cop, Bad Cop: Segregationist Strategies and Democratic Party Politics in Mississippi, 1948-1960". The Southern Quarterly. 54 (1): 29–52. ISSN 2377-2050.

• Winter, William F. "William F. Winter." In Growing Up In Mississippi, edited by Judy H. Tucker and Charline R. McCord, 3-10. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008.
• Winter, Elise Varner (2015). Once in a Lifetime: Reflections of a Mississippi First Lady. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781626746046.

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