I ROLLED WITH ROSS; A POLITICAL PORTRAIT. [Governor Ross Barnett and Mississippi campaign politics.]

First printing (not stated) INSCRIBED, DATED, AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. [6], 134 pages. Hardcover: H 23.5cm x L 15.75cm. White dust jacket rubbed and lightly soiled; nicks and short tears at edges; front flap is not price-clipped. Blue cloth; vibrant gilt stamped lettering to spine and front board; slight bumping at spine ends. Author's four-line ink inscription "To Cliff Sessions | Best Wishes | Erle Johnston | March 22/1982" at top of the front free endpaper. Light toning to endpapers; interior leaves are otherwise clean. Binding is firm. A very good+ copy in a very good+ dust jacket. With Preface, four unpaged leaves of b/w illustrations, and Acknowledgements. A sympathetic biography of Ross Barnett, governor of Mississippi from 1960-1964, which focuses upon his political campaigns and administration. An ardent segregationist, Barnett's political reign was noted by his fervent arguments regarding states' rights, his opposition to the integration of the University of Mississippi at Oxford, aka Ole Miss, via the enrollment of James Meredith, and the ensuing riots which still haunt the placid college town. Author Erle Johnston served as publicity manager for Ross Barnett's 1955 and 1959 gubernatorial campaigns and was appointed Public Relations Director for the State Sovereignty Commission from 1960-1963 and as commission director from 1963-1968. The notorious State Sovereignty Commission overtly colluded with the Citizens' Councils and allegedly cooperated with the Ku Klux Klan in hindering Justice Department investigations and repressing the activities of civil rights and voter registration organizations throughout the state. Inscribee Cliff Sessions (1931-2005) was a Mississippi native who covered the state's civil rights struggle as a United Press International reporter, was friends with Myrlie and Medgar Evers, was co-founder of the National Journal in 1969, and was most assuredly not a Ross Barnett supporter but, in his capacity as a journalist, would certainly have interacted frequently with Johnston in the latter's role as the governor's publicist. {MS Shelf #7} ISBN 0865180172.…