Stennis Lecture Series

2004 speech by Gray Tollison, Mississippi State Senator


Thanks to Rex Buffington, Executive Director of the Stennis Center for Public Service, for his invitation to speak to you at the 11th Annual John C. Stennis Lecture. It is a privilege to serve as speaker for a series named in honor of my first employer out of college, Senator John C. Stennis, who introduced me to public service.

Congratulations are in order for each of the participants in the Mid-South Community College Fellowship Program and the assistance of the Phil Hardin Foundation, the Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges and the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation. Similar programs offered through service in the Mississippi legislature have always renewed my spirit and recharged my batteries. This program should do the same for you in preparation for the new school year.
I am a sixth generation Mississippian from the hills of Northeast Mississippi. If you are from this area, the path of your family may be similar to mine. In the early 1800s, my descendants traveled from North Carolina and South Carolina to seek good, affordable land to farm and new opportunities in the Southwest, which was at the time Mississippi. Mississippi was the land of opportunity. Years before, their families had arrived in this country from England, Germany and Ireland looking for a new life in America and abundant land. They were named Tollison, Faust, Gault, Hodges, Gober, Anderson and Jumper. They settled in rural areas across Northeast Mississippi in hamlets with names like Dry Creek, Lafayette Springs, Yocona, Dumas and Delay. They worked the land from sun up to sun down. They lived off the land. They ate the vegetables they grew and the livestock they raised. They cut the trees to build their homes and keep them warm. Many made the clothes that they wore, made their soap, and used sweet gum twigs for tooth brushes. The children helped with the work, but also played. They played outside, made up games and crafted their own toys. They had large families of seven, eight, nine children.

They were good, country folk whose lives were impacted not only by the major events of the time, but also by the public servants who shaped those events.

During the Civil War there was President Lincoln
In the 1860s, many Southern men left their homes to fight in the Civil War. Others would join their ranks in the last years of the war as their ranks dwindled. Some who enlisted were forty years old, some fifteen years old or younger. The War was devastating to a generation of Americans. Many of us have family members who served in the military during the Civil War. I recall that Senator Stennis had an Uncle who served in the War and fought at Gettysburg.

Today, July 21st, happens to be the 143rd anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run or Manassas in 1861. This first major battle of the Civil War was initially thought of as a novelty. It occurred on a Sunday and became a social event for the Washington, D.C. area. People, including members of Congress, rode out on their surreys to watch the battle as if it were a sporting event. The South would win the battle that day with the efforts of General "Stonewall" Jackson, a professor from VMI and others.

A Union officer said, "No efforts could induce a single [Union] regiment to form after the retreat was commenced." The disorganized band of Yankees ran back toward Washington, sweeping along with them the picnicking civilians who had come out to watch the battle. This battled was a clarion call to many that the War would last longer than the one or two months like some had predicated.
In Washington, President Lincoln received a note: "The day is lost. Save Washington and the remnants of this army. The routed troops will not reform." The Union lost 460 men and had 1,124 wounded. The Confederacy had 387 killed and 1,582 wounded. Approximately 620,000 Americans would die in the Civil War. Mississippi registered approximately 6,800 dead and wounded from the War.
This tragic war could not have been avoided; however, the leadership of Abraham Lincoln as President during this tumultuous time was a critical component in the Nation's preservation. In his book Leadership, historian John MacGregor Burns stated the following:

"[Leaders] can express the values that hold the society together. Most important, they can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations, carry them above the conflicts that tear a society apart, and unite them in the pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts."

Lincoln's efforts transcended the divisiveness in this country and attempted to reach out to all Americans to continue to pursue the vision of our founding fathers towards a desired goal of a united, democratic society. Recall his carefully chosen words from the Gettysburg Address:
" . . . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Although many people vehemently disagreed with Lincoln- some of whom eventually assassinated him- many of the decision makers - politicians, military men, pastors, businessmen - in this country listened to him and realized the importance of his efforts to preserve our country - this great experiment in democracy.

During the Depression there was President Roosevelt
My grandparents endured difficult times in Northeast Mississippi during the 1930s, commonly called the "depression." They had few of the amenities that Americans enjoyed in the larger cities along the Atlantic seaboard. Rural Mississippians had kerosene lamps, not electricity; they had unfiltered, unchlorinated water, not clean, running water. Many still traveled by horse and buggy on rough, dirt roads; not in new Fords on paved roads. Farmers were helpless to control erosion of their land and flooding of the crops. There was little or no refrigeration and no grocery stores. The industrial age had not reached rural areas of the country and the gap between the haves and have nots was glaring. It was not until cracks began to show in the country's economic growth that the country's leadership begin to take notice of the plight of rural Mississippians and others similarly situated.

Leadership to redirect the country and improve the lives of my grandparents came from the most unlikely place - New York City. The country elected a wealthy patrician and former democratic Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He became the hope of millions of working class Americans. You could find a photograph of him hanging on the wall in country homes next to the family pictures. Everyone loved Roosevelt. Even President Reagan voted for him.

Roosevelt surrounded himself with smart social, political and economic people. Men and women like Frances Perkins, Harry Hopkins, Cordell Hull and others who would be tagged the "Brain Trust." People who put words into action. They took old ideas and new ideas and called it a "new deal." The Roosevelt administration enacted among other new federal legislation, the Social Security act borrowed from Germany, the Works Progress Administration- which included among its employees Eudora Welty-, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Soil Conservation Act and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Federal money poured into Mississippi to build roads, dams, control erosion and bring electricity to Northeast Mississippi. The federal work programs gave Mississippians jobs and raised their self-worth along the way. It inspired them to set higher goals and seek greater opportunities.
In accepting the Democratic nomination in 1936 after four years in office, President Roosevelt said:
It is a sobering thing, my friends, to be a servant of this great cause. We try in our daily work to remember that the cause belongs not to us, but to the people. The standard is not in the hands of you and me alone. It is carried by America. . . . There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

When Senator Stennis took office in 1947, being from rural Kemper County and traveling the circuit as a Circuit Court Judge, he knew first hand the impact of "new deal" programs on Mississippi. Throughout his career, he worked tirelessly to continue these programs and expand efforts to improve the lives of Mississippians.

During the Civil Rights movement there were many remarkable leaders1964 was an important year for our country. There was war - Vietnam, the Cold War, the war on poverty, the culture war and the war for Civil Rights. It was also important to my parents - they had their first born child.
Because of efforts by African Americans like Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley and many other leaders, I later became part of the first generation of white Southerners to attend integrated schools in the South. It has made a difference in my life, especially as a Mississippian.

Civil rights became an extremely difficult political issue for white Southern politicians. Some politicians chose to demagogue the race issue. In 1962, Gov. Ross Barnett had his showdown at Ole Miss with James Merideth, the first African American admitted to the University. Embracing civil rights for African Americans meant sure political exile for Southern white politicians. They were exceptions to the rule, however.

In 1960, Terry Sanford was elected Governor of North Carolina. As a decorated World War II veteran, he knew had to face a battle head on. He supported investment in the North Carolina public schools, built community colleges and promoted the creation of Research Triangle Park. Gov. Sanford recognized early on that education and economic development would improve the lives of all North Carolinians, black and white. He promoted positive relations between prominent blacks and whites with Good Neighbor Councils across the state.

Gov. Sanford efforts hurt him politically, but he averted North Carolina from being polarized and dragged into a civil rights crisis. Political commentator David Gergen wrote upon Gov. Sanford's death:

Sanford, like Lyndon Johnson, believed that racism was not only dividing blacks from whites but also dividing the South from the rest of the nation. By freeing people from its scourge, everyone in the region would have a better chance to grow. Indeed, that captured much of his political philosophy: A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.

When Sanford became governor, his state was 49th among the 50 states in per capita income; today it is 32nd and rising. More than that--as so many natives will attest--hate is giving way to decency, pessimism to hope. A single leader, brave and idealistic, liberated the best in his people.As a fitting tribute to Gov. Sanford, a Harvard survey recognized him as one of the 10 best American governors of the 20th century.

Gov. William Winter, a protegee of Senator Stennis, was another Southern politician who addressed the civil rights issue. Gov. Winter's politics were not the status quo for Mississippi and often cost him votes in statewide elections. Eventually he was elected Governor of Mississippi and led the fight to pass the Education Reform Act of 1982, the most progressive piece of education legislation passed by a Southern state at that time. He realized that the plight of many Mississippians, black and white, would be improved by improving our system of public education. Gov. Winter's efforts were applauded across the country and emulated by Governors across the South.
In a recent college speech, Gov. Winter reflected:
"While we look back nostalgically on those years as representing the good old days when things were solid and safe and simple, I can assure you that they were not good times for millions of Americans who had, for reasons of race or class or religion or ideology, been excluded from a seat at the decision-making table. In my city of Jackson, public policy was usually made by a handful of insiders, who were male, white, rich, and zealous guardians of the status quo. That system of the good old boys operated in many other cities and smaller communities as well.
But what has happened since? Motivated and inspired by ideas that in so many instances came from the intellectual force of universities like this one, we produced a generation of more creative and enlightened leaders than we had known before. We marshaled our unprecedented domestic resources to educate more of our people, create new economic opportunities, and break down the barriers that had for so long denied fundamental rights to millions of our fellow citizens."

In the 1980s, as a recent college graduate, I drove from my home in Oxford, Mississippi, to Washington, D.C. to begin a summer internship with Senator John C. Stennis. Through good fortune, several weeks later, my internship turned into a full-time job that lasted for two years.
My duties in the Senator's office involved responding to constituent correspondence, including issues relating to Mississippians serving in our military. I can recall the satisfaction I felt in knowing that I had helped a fellow Mississippian with an issue regarding their Social Security or sending a message from home to a family member stationed overseas in the military.
The most important matters in Senator Stennis' office were constituent matters. He always had a empty chair in his office reserved for visiting Mississippians. Senator Stennis' emphasis on placing Mississippians first was a valuable lesson I learned and prepared me for my duties as a State Senator in knowing to place my constituents first.

On occasion I would also have the opportunity to assist the Senator with his wheelchair, which generally meant that where the Senator would go I would go. I would accompany the Senator to the floor of the Senate and even went to the White House to see a speech by President Reagan and Soviet President Gorbachev. One vivid memory was spending the day with Senator Stennis on a day trip to Annapolis, Maryland, to visit the U.S. Naval Academy and to Gunston Hall in Virginia, the home of George Mason who was the primary author of the Bill of Rights. As we rode along the back roads of Northern Virginia, he told me the story of how in the 1920s he ended up at the University of Virginia law school.

Although, at the time, I realized that my employment with Senator Stennis was unique in providing access to a man of true integrity and character in addition to the inner workings of arguably the most successful democratic government in the history of our civilized world, it has only been later in my life that I truly realized the extraordinary opportunity that Senator Stennis provided to me.

For the past nine years as a State Senator, I have often relied on the lessons learned and experiences gained during my time working for Senator Stennis. It has been a valuable resource in my work to continue to improve education in our state and work on issues to improve the lives of all Mississippians.

After my wife and I married, I realized one of her ancestors, LeRoy Percy , a U.S. Senator from Mississippi, had a view of public service that is similar to my own. In a letter to a supporter in 1912, here is how he eloquently expressed it:
"If I can keep this small corner of the United States in which I reside, comparatively clean and decent in politics and fit for a man to live in, and in such condition that he may not be ashamed to pass it on to his children, I will have accomplished all that I hope to do. "A good deal has been written about 'shooting at the stars.' I have never thought much of that kind of marksmanship. It may be characterized by imagination, it is lacking in common sense. I rather think it is best to draw a bead on something that you have a chance to hit. To keep any part of Mississippi clean and decent in these days, is a job that no man may deem too small."This is the thought that I will leave you with today. As a leader in your community and in the field of education, ask yourself, "What will I 'draw a bead' on and have a chance to hit?"