by Alex Heard
Romilly, Esmond, 299–300
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1–2, 6–7, 72, 79, 144
civil rights and, 6–7, 130, 131
on McGee case, 1–2, 6, 7, 8, 12
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 6, 61, 72, 130–32, 149, 160, 190
Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 7, 234
Rosenwein, Samuel, 201–2, 204
Rowan, Carl, 11–12, 90, 117, 324
Rowan Oak, 288–89
Royals, Preston, 262
Rush, Alonzo, 68
Sacco and Vanzetti, 188, 190–92, 241
Saffold, Henry and Nancy, 212, 230
Savitzky, Emanuel and Esther, 156–57
Schwartz, Murray, 204–5, 276, 308
Scottsboro Boys, 96, 117, 188, 192–98, 201, 221, 264, 272, 324, 340, 343
Screws, M. Claude, 203–4
Seeger, Pete, 187
Shepherd, Charley, 61–63, 66
Shore, Anne, 325
Shubuta lynching, 27–28, 40–42, 124
Shull, Lynwood, 75
Sibley, Mrs. Harper, 133–34
Silverman, Arthur G., 201–2, 204
Smith Act trial, 182–84, 206–8, 250
Smith, Gerald L. K., 80
Southern Negro Youth Congress, 56
Soviet Union, 7, 149, 158, 183, 185, 187–88, 240, 248, 250, 301, 324, 327, 328, 344
atomic weapons, 7, 233, 234
Communism, 149, 150, 154, 158–60, 185, 189, 191, 298, 328, 342
postwar expansionism, 134, 233
Spanish Civil War, 158, 190, 299
Spinks, Lycurgus, 245–46, 260
Spivak, Mr., 84–87, 95, 99, 102, 161, 171, 178–79, 199, 209, 346
Stalin, Joseph, 158, 185, 207, 328, 342
Stennis, John, 83, 102, 322
Stephenson, James and Gladys, 75–76
Stokes, Willie, 310, 337
Stoll, Frank, 247, 252
Street, James, 31–32
Street, Sherman, 63–66
Sullens, Fred, 209–11, 235–40, 243, 250, 269–71, 277, 302, 307, 315, 317, 335, 348
Supreme Court, U.S., 3, 8, 71, 96, 151, 152, 165, 191, 195, 196, 198, 199, 207, 250, 280
McGee’s appeals, 201–206, 208, 209, 218, 238, 241, 250, 256, 264, 266, 275–77, 287, 305–8, 324, 329, 340
Brown v. Mississippi, 201, 204
Norris v. Alabama, 198, 201
Patton v. Mississippi, 96, 151–53, 168, 201, 205, 340
Powell v. Alabama, 195, 201
Screws v. United States, 202–4
Smith v. Allwright, 71
Swartzfager, Jon, 164–65, 338–39
Swartzfager, Paul, Jr., 338
Swartzfager, Paul, Sr., 164–79, 242, 243, 290, 312, 318, 322, 338
Tabor, Warren, 318–22
Tanklevsky, Wolf, 157
Taylor, James Clabon, 181
Taylor, Recy, 135
Thackrey, Theodore O., 238–39, 266, 272
Thompson, Allen, 303
Thurman, Frankie, 68
Thurmond, Strom, 142, 145, 149, 184
Till, Emmett, 116–17, 290, 341
Tillman, A. R., 316, 331
Time, 4, 13, 79, 142, 235, 237, 281
Treuhaft, Robert, 296, 301
Trudell, Charles, 147
Truman, Harry S., 3–4, 91, 130, 148, 149–50, 183–86, 201, 228, 233, 280–81
civil rights and, 130–36, 142, 144–46
“Gracie Lee” letter to, 4, 16
McGee case and, 3–4, 7, 16, 262, 304, 315, 327–29
Tucker, Reverend Grayson L., 84, 346
Turner, Leon, 68–69
Tuskegee Institute, 67–69
Unger, Abraham, 183
United Nations, 1, 149, 343
University of Mississippi, 10, 55, 61, 155, 163, 296, 288, 309
University of Southern Mississippi, 22, 94, 108, 309, 319
Valentine, Wayne, 30, 37, 50, 51–54, 100–102, 136, 174–75, 287, 331
Valentine, Wayne, Jr., 331
veterans, African-American, 74–78
Vicksburg, Mississippi, 187, 235
Vinson, Fred, 204, 276, 293, 308, 329
voting rights, African-American, 71, 73–74, 77–79, 152
Wachter, Billie, 297
Wagner Act, 81–82
Walker, Edgar A., 263
Walker, George, 50, 118, 170
Wallace, Henry, 149–50, 183–87, 239, 246, 291
Waller, Bob, 103
Walters, Granville, 9, 332
Walters, Leonard R., 259
Walthall Hotel, 237, 244
Walton County, Georgia, 75
Ward, Ralph, 64–65
Wash, Howard, 39–43, 56, 177
Washington Post, 4, 135, 184, 187, 234, 300
Waters, Enoc P., 40
Watkins, Thomas and H. V., 85, 209, 210, 270
Watson, C. W., 330
“The Way to Peace,” speech, 149
Welborn, Clint, 39–40, 43
Welles, Orson, 75
Weltfish, Gene, 246–48, 253
Welty, Christian, 244
Welty, Eudora, 38, 244
West, Rebecca, 143
WFOR, 9, 332
Wheeler, Martha, 249
White House, 91, 130, 132–33, 142, 181, 315
White, Walter, 8, 78, 131–32, 134, 144, 326
Whitt, Malcum and Windol, 68–69
Williams, Tennessee, 6
Wilson, Edmund, 294
Wingo, Earle, 43, 56
Woodard, Isaac, Jr., 74–75, 128–32
World War I, 32, 36, 124, 146, 190, 231, 237, 297
World War II, 8, 10, 33, 74–78, 82, 93, 94, 129, 142, 143, 154, 156, 158, 189, 241, 247, 297–98
Wright, Fielding, 145–49, 187, 238, 240, 242, 245–46, 249–54, 256, 262–63, 304, 305, 312–14, 325, 326, 327, 328, 330
Wright, Richard, 4, 114
Yarbrough, Laverne, 135–39, 217, 312
Yergan, Max, 77
YWCA, 302–4
Zaim, Craig, 117, 340
Acknowledgments
The Willie McGee case is a painful subject for the people of Laurel, Mississippi, and I didn’t know what to expect when I showed up in town several years ago, basically unannounced, and started asking questions about it. What I encountered—there and elsewhere in Mississippi—was a remarkable amount of courtesy and hospitality for which I’ll always be grateful. Special thanks to these individuals in Laurel, Jackson, and Lexington, Mississippi, whose knowledge and generosity made it possible for me to understand this complicated historical event: Louis Beverly Jr., William Boyd III, Margaret L. Cooley, Bertha Mae Crowell, Gus DeLoach, Ollie DeLoach, W. O. “Chet” Dillard, Jeannetta Edwards, Jesse James Harris, Raymond L. Horne, Leroy Jensen, Cleaven Jordan, Ed King, Dr. Luke Lampton, Evelyn Smith McDowell, Bill Minor, Emmett Owens, Cleveland Payne, Simmie Roberts, Edward Saffold, and Ann Sanders.
I also received invaluable cooperation from relatives of the men and women who were directly involved in the case. Nearly sixty years after the McGee story ended, it’s still a raw memory for many of them, and I appreciate their candor and trust. Thanks to Liz Abzug, Margaret A. Burnham, Mitchel Cohen, Carolyn Poole Ellis, Danny Grossman, Ann Hawkins, Dorothy Hawkins, Sandra Hawkins, Maurice Isserman, Ann London Liberman, Mitch Liberman, Della McGee, Tracey McGee, Donna Poole Mills, Steven Ordower, Dr. MaryLouise Patterson, Beverly D. Poole, John N. Popham IV, Todd Pyles, Bridgette McGee Robinson, Constancia Romilly, Lucile J. Ross, Percy Stanfield Jr., Anne L. Stoll, Courtenay Pyles Stringer, Jon Swartzfager, Susan Boone Vincent, and Wayne Valentine Jr.
Archival materials from this case are scattered all over the United States; without the expertise of research librarians, courthouse employees, and the researchers and writers who came before me, I wouldn’t have been able to find my way around. Particular thanks to the staffs of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History; the Library of Congress; the New York Public Library; the National Archives and Records Administration; the Federal Bure
au of Investigation’s FOIA branch; the Auburn Avenue Research Library; the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Books Library at Emory University; the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University; the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University; the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University; the Rare Books and Manuscripts library at Ohio State University; the special collections departments at the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Millsaps College; the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University; the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum; the Tuskegee Institute; the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art Library; the Laurel Jones County Library; and the county courthouses in Laurel, Hattiesburg, Jackson, and Lexington, Mississippi.
Several friends and colleagues helped by putting in research time on my behalf. Thanks to Jan Cheetham, Claire Crawford, Charles Euchner, Claire Napier Galofaro, James McNally, Michael Roberts, Christopher Solomon, Joe Spring, Tom Tiberio, Laurel Wamsley, and E. Thomas Wood. Thanks also to the writers, experts, and activists who helped me understand the era in which this story took place: Terrie Albano, John Polk Allen, Ace Atkins, Jeanni Atkins, Steve Babson, Leslie Brody, Sarah Hart Brown, Susan Brownmiller, Jerry Dallas, John Egerton, Katharine Carr Esters, Winifred Feise, Al-Tony Gilmore, Hunter Gray, Ernie Lazar, Scott Martelle, Gerald Meyer, Chester M. Morgan, Mary Mostert, Michael Ravnitzky, Ed Sharp, Peter Y. Sussman, Leonard Van Slyke, Christopher Waldrep, and Craig Zaim.
This project wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without the encouragement and hard work of my agent, Joe Regal, and my editor, Tim Duggan. Thanks also to the talented people at Regal Literary and HarperCollins who contributed in so many ways: Jonathan Burnham, Bess Reed Currence, Markus Hoffmann, Richard Ljoenes, Allison Lorentzen, Cal Margulis, and Tom McNellis.
My thanks to friends, colleagues, and family members who offered moral support and critical insights as the book took shape: the Cheetham family, Richard Chenoweth, Jon Cohen, Dave Cox, Dianna Delling, Eric Etheridge, Kevin Fedarko, Amy Feitelberg, John Gurley, Tracey Harden, Julia Heard, Ken Heard, Malcolm Heard, Mike Hiestand, Elizabeth Hightower, Rex and Kathy Joyce, Tom Jurkovich, Christopher Keyes, Hannah McCaughey, Scott and Kathleen Morgan, Justin Nyberg, Stephanie Pearson, Scott and Leah Richardson, Jack Shafer, Grayson Schaffer, Nancy Swenton, Andrew Tilin, Mary Turner, Kent Wells, and Brad Wetzler.
Most of all, I thank Jim Leeson, who first told me about Willie McGee and who has offered years of priceless friendship and wisdom, and my wife, Susan, without whose intelligence, encouragement, and love I would have packed it in long ago.
About the Author
ALEX HEARD is the editorial director of Outside magazine. He has worked as an editor and writer at The New York Times Magazine, Slate, Wired, and The New Republic, and is the author of Apocalypse Pretty Soon. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Credits
Jacket design by Richard Ljoenes
Jacket photograph of McGee by Robert W. Kelley/Getty
Postcard of Laurel train terminal by Mississippi Department of Archives and History
All other art by iStockphoto
Copyright
Some images were unavailable for the electronic edition.
THE EYES OF WILLIE MCGEE. Copyright © 2010 by Alex Heard. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heard, Alex.
The eyes of Willie McGee: a tragedy of race, sex, and secrets in the Jim Crow South / by Alex Heard.
p. cm.
Summary: “A saga of race and retribution in the deep South that says as much about Mississippi today as it does about the mysteries of the past”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-128415-1 (hardback)
1. McGee, Willie, 1915-1951—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Capital punishment—Mississippi—History—20th century. 3. Capital punishment—Social aspects—Mississippi—History—20th century. 4. Discrimination in capital punishment—Mississippi—History—20th century. 5. Discrimination in criminal justice administration—Mississippi—History—20th century. 6. Executions and executioners—Mississippi—History—20th century. 7. Race discrimination—Mississippi—History—20th century. 8. Mississippi—Race relations—History—20th century.
I. Title.
HV8699.U6M744 2010
364.66092—dc22
2009051769
EPub Edition © April 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-199356-5
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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