Bill Waller

Bill Waller
55th Governor of Mississippi
In office January 18, 1972 – January 20, 1976
Lieutenant	Bill Winter
Preceded by	John Bell Williams
Succeeded by	Cliff Finch
Personal details
Born	October 21, 1926(1926-10-21) Lafayette County, Mississippi
Died	November 30, 2011(2011-11-30) (aged 85) Jackson, Mississippi
Political party	Democratic
Religion	Baptist

William Lowe "Bill" Waller, Sr. (October 21, 1926 – November 30, 2011) was an American politician. A Democrat, Waller served as the Governor of Mississippi from 1972 to 1976. During the subject's military service he attained the rank of sergeant and was offered a commission in the Counter Intelligence Corps, but he declined being discharged on November 30, 1953. He returned to Jackson, Mississippi, to active Army Reserve duty under Colonel Purser Hewitt, and resumed his legal career. As a local prosecutor, he unsuccessfully prosecuted Byron De La Beckwith in the murder of civil rights advocate Medgar Evers (the first two murder trials of De La Beckwith both in 1964 ended in hung juries and subsequently because De La Beckwith was never acquitted in these trials, he was later eligible to be prosecuted again). In 1994, De La Beckwith was found guilty of the murder.

In 1971, Waller defeated Lieutenant Governor Charles L. Sullivan in the Democratic primary run-off. His main opponent in the general election was Evers' brother, James Charles Evers, then the mayor of Fayette, who ran as an independent. Waller handily prevailed, 601,222 (77 percent) to Evers' 172,762 (22.1 percent).

Waller is credited with successfully winning elections without using racially charged or racially offensive rhetoric. He organized working class white voters and African American voters separately and usually did not merge their election efforts until it was too late in the election cycle for internal conflicts to disrupt the campaign. Waller effectively shut-down the segregationist Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission by vetoing its appropriation while he was governor. He appointed many blacks to positions in state government.

After leaving office, Waller lost the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in 1978 and for governor again in 1987. He practiced law in Jackson for several years.

His son is the Hon. William L. Waller, Jr., Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.

On November 30, 2011, Waller died at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson of heart failure after being admitted the previous night. He was 85.

External links

• William Lowe Waller entry at the National Governors Association
• Waller, A True Mississippi Rebel, Dies at 85, Cotton Boll Conspiracy, December 5, 2011

Political offices
Preceded by John Bell Williams	Governor of Mississippi 1972–1976	Succeeded by Cliff Finch