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John Ray Skates

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John Ray Skates Jr. (October 14, 1934 – February 18, 2009) was an American historian in Mississippi. He chaired the history department at the University of Southern Mississippi.[1] He wrote a history of the Mississippi Supreme Court, and his research into the history is held at USM's McCain Library and Archives.[2] He also wrote a book about planning for an invasion of Japan towards the end of World War II arguing it was not the preferred alternative to an atomic bomb attack and that justifying the bombing by setting it against such an invasion as the other alternative is ahistorical.[3][4][5]

Life and career

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Skates was born in Catchings, Mississippi in Sharkey County on October 14, 1934.[6] In 1956 he married Kathleen Craig Barnwell.[7] He was a colonel in the Army Reserve.[8]

Skates earned his PhD from Mississippi State University where he wrote his thesis on Frederick Sullens and the Jackson Daily News.[9] He continued to publish and his writings were published in journals including: Journal of Military History and Southern Quarterly.[10][11][12][13][14] He occasionally collaborated with David G. Sansing, another Mississippi historian, whom he'd taught as a grad student.[15][16]

Skates died in Ocean Springs, Mississippi on February 18, 2009, at the age of 74.[17]

Books

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  • Mississippi's Present and Past (1973)
  • Mississippi: A History (1979)[18][19]
  • Mississippi's Old Capitol: Biography of a Building (1990)[20]
  • Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb (1994).[21]
  • A History of the Mississippi Supreme Court, 1817-1948 (1973)[7]

References

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  1. ^ "John Ray Skates". wwnorton.com.
  2. ^ "Skates (John Ray)/ History of the Mississippi Supreme Court Research Collection". lib.usm.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  3. ^ https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/100/3/973/20979. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ James, D. Clayton (1995-06-01). "The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb. By John Ray Skates". Journal of American History. 82: 340. doi:10.2307/2082126. JSTOR 2082126.
  5. ^ Prados, John (1994-07-01). "The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb by John Ray Skates (Book Review) - ProQuest". The Journal of Military History. 58. doi:10.2307/2944163. JSTOR 2944163.
  6. ^ "MWP: This Month in Mississippi Literary History ~ October". mwp.olemiss.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  7. ^ a b "StackPath". lib.usm.edu.
  8. ^ https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/82/1/340/737578. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ A SOUTHERN EDITOR VIEWS THE NATIONAL SCENE: FREDERICK SULLENS AND THE JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 'DAILY NEWS' - ProQuest (PDF) (PhD thesis). Mississippi State University.
  10. ^ Skates, John Ray (1967-07-01). "FROM ENCHANTMENT TO DISILLUSIONMENT: A SOUTHERN EDITOR VIEWS THE NEW DEAL - ProQuest". Southern Quarterly. 5.
  11. ^ "MISSISSIPPI HISTORY: A THEME - ProQuest". Southern Quarterly. 6. 1967-10-01.
  12. ^ "FRED SULLENS AND THE GROWTH OF ORGANIZED LABOR - ProQuest". Southern Quarterly. 10. 1971-07-01.
  13. ^ "The Final Months of the War with Japan: Signals Intelligence, U.S. Invasion Planning, and the A-Bomb Decision - ProQuest". Journal of Military History. 1999-10-01.
  14. ^ ""Warriors of the Rising Sun: A History of the Japanese Military", by Robert B. Edgerton (Book Review) - ProQuest". Journal of Military History. 62. 1998-04-01.
  15. ^ Hoops, Jana. "Author Q&A: David Sansing". Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  16. ^ Eagles, Charles W. (2017-02-02). Civil Rights, Culture Wars: The Fight over a Mississippi Textbook. UNC Press Books. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-4696-3116-5.
  17. ^ "Time Line". Ocean Springs Archives. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  18. ^ Skates, John Ray (March 20, 1979). "Mississippi, a Bicentennial history". New York : Norton – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ Gordon, Mac. "As we near 200 years of statehood, who has mattered most in Mississippi?". Clarion Ledger. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  20. ^ Henderson, Kim (2017-10-14). "The Old Capitol Bowl — Letting history students show what they know". The Daily Leader. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  21. ^ Skates, John Ray (1994). The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-87249-972-0.
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