He was also known for accompanying black student James Meredith onto the campus of the University of Mississippi in 1962, when it was still segregated. He was the lead prosecutor in a case which saw a Klan leader and the Mississippi deputy sheriff convicted of murdering three civil rights workers.
Face of the south
President Barack Obama awarded him the Medal of Freedom two years ago, saying: ‘He was the face of the Justice Department in the South. He was proof that the federal government was listening.’ Source: ABA
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