Word: silver
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Professor Silver notes briefly the role of the state legislature in enforcing conformity through its laws. Yet he fails to assess adequately the possible impact of political reapportionment or a large-scale increase in Negro voters. He also neglects the rest of the governmental hierarchy, especially local officials like the county sheriff, who form the foundation on which the closed society rests. The State Sovereignty Commission, which investigates subversive activities like civil rights, appears only in a footnote...
Nearly half of Mississippi: The Closed Society is devoted to letters which Silver wrote to friends, relatives, government officials, and the press after the riot. This section is undoubtedly the more interesting, for it contains a detailed description of the riot, Silver's impressions of James Meredith, and a note to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., special assistant to President Kennedy, suggesting that if necessary the President telephone Meredith to plead with him to remain at the university...
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the letters is their revealing picture of Silver as a white Mississippi moderate, who feels uncomfortable in the role of civil libertarian...
...Silver's loyalty to his state in the face of outside criticism is always apparent. Writing to Time magazine, published in New York, Silver attempts to minimize the exodus of faculty and students from Ole Miss as a result of the riot. Yet, he does not mince words when addressing fellow Mississippians. In a letter written six months later to the Jackson, Miss., Clarion Ledger, he lists 39 faculty members who have left and adds, "Scores of our most talented students will not return in September...
Clearly, James W. Silver is not a radical dissenter from the Mississippi mind but a loyal citizen who attacks his world in order ultimately to preserve...