Dates: 1944; 1946; 1948-1957; 1969.

Biography:

Lester E. Wills

Lester E. Wills was an attorney from Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, in the mid-twentieth century. He was appointed as chairman of the state penitentiary committee of the Mississippi Association on Crime and Delinquency in 1947. Wills was also a member of the Mississippi Republican Party, serving for many years as legal counsel and as a fifth-district delegate to the state party. Other key members of the state party leadership were attorney and state executive committee chairman Nelson E. Taylor of Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi, and attorney and state party secretary J. A. White of Durant, Holmes County, Mississippi. In the early 1950s, these three men were involved in the transfer of state party control from the Black and Tan faction, led by black attorney Perry Howard, to the Lily White faction, led by Nelson E. Taylor and Wirt Yerger, Jr., an insurance agent from Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. During that time, Wills steadily corresponded with local and national Republican Party leaders about legal matters and current political issues.

The rise of the Lily White faction of the Mississippi Republican Party was largely in reaction to changes in the leadership of the national Democratic Party in the late 1940s. However, the state party had experienced dissension since the 1920s when the Black and Tan faction was recognized by the national Republican Party as the official Mississippi Republican Party. Perry Howard was a ranking member of the executive committee of the national Republican Party during that time. Howard maintained a residence in Jackson, but he mainly lived and worked in Washington, D.C. The post-World War II emphasis on civil rights and social programs advocated by the national Democratic Party leadership was unacceptable to many conservative white voters in Mississippi. The 1952 candidacy of Dwight David Eisenhower for president of the United States inspired the Lily White faction to join with the Citizens for Eisenhower (a mainly Democratic organization) and the Black and Tan faction to increase the Eisenhower vote in Mississippi. Although Eisenhower did not carry the state, he did win almost forty percent of the vote.

After the 1952 Eisenhower victory, the Lily White faction announced that they would gain national Republican Party recognition as the official Mississippi Republican Party. They filed a series of lawsuits against the Black and Tan faction, eventually gaining control of the state party. The Lily White faction was officially recognized by the national party at the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California. However, during the convention the national party offered a compromise to the two Mississippi delegations, splitting the total number of nominating votes they held. Of the fifteen votes allotted to Mississippi, the Black and Tan faction received eight, and the Lily White faction received seven. Although the Lily White faction was not satisfied with the outcome, they were appeased by the honor of having Katherine Grafton Miller of Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi, selected as one of the escorts to accompany Eisenhower to the convention podium. After the 1956 Republican National Convention, the Black and Tan faction gradually lost influence in the Mississippi Republican Party, which became a predominantly white organization.

Lester E. Wills was also involved in the political patronage system for local postmaster appointments in the state. The political party controlling the executive branch of the federal government determined such patronage. At that time, the Mississippi Eisenhower Advisory Committee was the designated body for screening prospective applicants for local postmaster. Their applications, civil service examination scores, letters of recommendation, and resumes were forwarded to the designated party representative, who would then refer the top applicants to the committee for approval.

 
Scope and Content Note:

This collection includes correspondence, newsclippings, notes, a photograph, printed materials, and speeches documenting the involvement of Lester E. Wills in the Mississippi Republican Party. The correspondence between Lester E. Wills, Nelson E. Taylor, and J. A. White concerns national and state Republican Party politics and strategies for recruiting new party leadership. Other correspondence relates to the litigation that enabled the Lily White faction to eventually gain control of the Mississippi Republican Party from Perry Howard and the Black and Tan faction. Republican Party political patronage is reflected in the correspondence and applications for local postmaster of many communities across the state. There are also form letters that were sent to members of the Mississippi Republican Party. The newsclippings document Republican Party power struggles in the state; the Hederman family's newspaper monopoly; segregation; integration; and Democratic Party politics. The correspondence and newsclippings also contain occasional discussions of Mississippi political theory by Lester E. Wills and others.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Litigation (Mississippi Republican Party). 1946; 1948-1954; 1956-1957; n.d. 13 folders.
This series contains original, as well as copies of correspondence, court documents, and notes regarding the litigation between the Black and Tan and Lily White factions over official control of the Mississippi Republican Party. The cases include Howard, et al. v Ladner, et al., District Court of the United States, Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson Division, No. 1974, and White, et al. v. Howard, et al., Supreme Court of the United States, October Term, 1953, No. 501. There is also one folder of correspondence related to Howard, et al. v. Hoskins, et al., and the Secretary of State of Mississippi, Circuit Court of Hinds County, Mississippi.

Box 1

 

Series 2: Applications (United States Postmaster). 1953-1954; 1956-1957; n.d. 13 folders.
This series contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, a photograph, and notes regarding applications for postmaster of various communities across Mississippi.

Box 2

 

Series 3: Republican Party-Related Materials. 1944; 1949-1950; 1952-1956; n.d. 0.66 cubic ft.
This series contains correspondence and printed materials regarding state and national Republican Party politics, as well as related notes and newsclippings. Other topics include segregation, integration, race relations, and Democratic Party politics.

Box 2

 

Series 4: Miscellany. 1952; 1955-1957; 1969; n.d. 2 folders.
This series contains printed materials explaining national Republican Party policies denouncing communism, promoting good citizenship and patriotism, and campaigning for independent national political parties. There are also two copies of Historic Sites Study, Jackson Land Use Study Area, by the Jackson City Planning Board (1969).

Box 2