Your wholehearted cooperation with our representatives who conducted the investigation at Poplarville left nothing to be desired, and both Mr. Bachman and Mr. Wick have advised me in detail regarding the judicious and capable manner in which you handled the many pressing and difficult problems which were of mutual concern to your office and our investigators. Such inquiries necessarily must be made with complete impartiality and objectivity, and it would have been impossible to bring this case to its logical conclusion without your freely given assistance.

You may be assured that I will always be grateful to your personally for your help, and I certainly hope that you will not hesitate to let me know whenever we in the FBI can be of service to you.

With kind regards and best wishes,
Sincerely yours,

J. EDGAR HOOVER.

So it was not leaked by me and as far as I know not leaked by anybody else. And I answer that simply because it was raised. I was surprised to hear it raised, but that being the fact, I wanted to state it.

Senator ERVIN. You were informed that the district attorney submitted it to the grand jury?

Mr. COLEMAN. He did submit it to the grand jury.

Senator ERVIN. You and I know in practicing law it is a require

ment

Mr. COLEMAN. It was submitted to the State grand jury and it was to a U.S. grand jury which also refused to indict. I have never revealed to anyone the contents of the document in any manner or form except I sent it in sealed form to the district attorney who under State law was the man who should have it and should receive it.

Senator EASTLAND. Is it not true that the circuit judge attacked you because you would not let him have access to it?

Mr. COLEMAN. The judge wanted me to send it down to the court. I wouldn't do it. It wasn't that I distrusted him, but it left it open to the proposition that others could get access to it and conceivably get in the wrong hands and the Government had trusted to me this information. It isn't that I distrusted the U.S. mail, not that the mails aren't trustworthy, but I took no chance at all. I sent one of my aids down with the report. I have never seen it since. I had done all I could do when I referred it to the grand jury and the district attorney.

Senator ERVIN. I do not know whether you have any personal knowledge of it and I cannot see its relevancy here, but there was a statement made, put in the record by Mrs. Virginia Gray concerning a man named Kennard.

Mr. COLEMAN. I was going to come to that next. That was the next matter I wanted to cover.

Long after I was Governor of Mississippi-I don't know how long— but long afterward-I haven't checked the reports to see when it was-Kennard was prosecuted in Forest County on a charge that he was an accessory to the theft of poultry feed, was convicted and that conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court. He later went to prison and it was discovered, according to what I read in the papers that he was suffering from a malignancy, whereupon the Governor of the State at the time let him out and he subsequently died which I thought was a very sad story, but something I had nothing to do with.

Senator ERVIN. He died of cancer?
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.

Senator ERVIN. You are not prepared to admit that you were the agency which caused his cancer?

Mr. COLEMAN. No, sir, I did not.

Senator ERVIN. You had nothing whatever to do with his trial, his imprisonment or his release or his death?

Mr. COLEMAN. Nothing whatsoever. I just wanted to get the record straight on that point.

Now, Mrs. Gray also brought this up in her statement which was read on her behalf yesterday. Of course, she is contesting at this time before the House of Representatives the seat of the Honorable W. M. Colmer who is the sitting Member from the Fifth District of Mississippi. On December 17 last year the four Members of Congress were in a meeting in Jackson and one of those Congressmen are here this afternoon, Mr. Abernethy, and they called me in my office in Ackerman and asked me if I was in a position to represent them in that contest and I told them of course I was, and I flew down to Jackson that afternoon and conferred with them and accepted their employment and presently employed-I am presently employed in that case before the U.S. House of Representatives.

Now, Mrs. Gray says in the statement that was read for her that I failed to keep some of the stipulations that were made in this case with opposing counsel in that case.

I just want to say to this committee that I have told the Clerk of the House on numerous occasions that any stipulation that appears anywhere in that record I will abide by 100 percent. I have been practicing 28 years and until this day-this is the first time in 28 years that anybody ever accused me of breaking an agreement made with opposing counsel. It just isn't done.

Senator ERVIN. I don't know about the laws in Mississippi, but in North Carolina you are required by the court to put stipulation in writing.

Mr. COLEMAN. But that is not required in Mississippi. We operate on the basis that when a man gives his word we will abide by it and we don't require stipulations to be in writing. But I have seen the time when I was a judge that in some countries in my district I had to require them to put them in writing because they would fall out with each other as to what they said and what they agreed to do and that would eliminate any discussion about what they had agreed to do.

I have no objection to them being in writing. However, in this case they were stated in the record and taken down by a reporter and I have told the Clerk of the House that anything that is in there with my name is worth 100 cents to the dollar and I say that here this afternoon, regardless of what was said in the statement made here to this committee yesterday afternoon.

I believe those are the three inaccuracies I wanted to clear up that I felt I owed myself the duty of clearing up.

Senator ERVIN. Senator, you may resume your interrogation.
Senator JAVITS. Thank you.

Governor Coleman, I gathered from the testimony that you felt there was some change in your thinking between the time of your campaign for Governor immediately on the heels of the Supreme Court decision in the Brown case and the later date. Would you tell us what was the meaning of the statement made in 1963 when you in

the primary, I gather, in the primary struggle with respect to the governorship, which is reported to have been as follows-on March 17, 1963, you were reported to have said in your gubernatorial campaign: There will be no necessity to abolish the public schools. Nor will there by any mixing of the races in none of the State-operated educational institutions.

Mr. COLEMAN. Senator, I made that statement during that campaign. However, I could not have made in in March because I did not become a candidate until about the 15th or 20th of May, but regardless of the date, did I make that statement?—I did make that statement. But I want to point out that nowhere in that statement did I say that that would be accomplished by defiance of the Supreme Court of the United States or by open rebellion against this country. I had in mind actually trying to operate as Governor again as I did the first 4 years on the basis of personal peace and good will among the people of Mississippi which worked very beautifully during those 4 years. Senator JAVITS. And also, you were quoted as having said back in 1956, and I give you both of these things because it is a bracketed date, in your address to the Mississippi Legislature on January 17, 1956: I am pledged to maintenance of the separation of the races at all costs. But I want to say this further word to the Negroes of Mississippi, as Governor I shall always give sympathetic consideration to any of their problems which deserve the assistance of the State government. If you accept this opportunity it will mean better days for all of us. If you reject it the responsibility must be yours.

Mr. COLEMAN. That was in my inaugural address when I was sworn in as Governor and in that same address I stated it would be one of my duties as Governor that Mississippi be a State of law and order and no violence, and so forth. That inaugural address was addressed to three people, three sets of people-to the white citizens of Mississippi, to the Negro citizens of Mississippi, and also to the people of the United States of America in which I pointed out it would be my desire and hope and ambition that we could so manage our affairs in Mississippi that we would enjoy the respect of the rest of the country. That was certainly my purpose, although we were operating the State on the basis of local institutions as they had existed prior to May 17, 1954.

Senator JAVITS. Now, in respect to this matter of desegregated education, I show you an advertisement which allegedly was used in your 1963 campaign, and ask you to notice especially what is written at the very bottom of the advertisement in very small print. I will ask you whether this is a legitimate and authorized advertisement of your primary.

(A document was handed to Mr. Coleman.)

Mr. COLEMAN. Yes, sir; this is an advertisement that was issued by my State campaign headquarters over the approval of my State campaign manager.

Senator JAVITS. Mr. Chairman, I ask that it may be included in the record insofar as it can practicably be introduced. I do not know whether it can all be reproduced. It has a picture and some other things on it.

Senator ERVIN. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. COLEMAN. Could I explain this just briefly?

Senator JAVITS. Yes; but first, the photograph there is a photograph of one of your primary opponents, is it not?

Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.

Senator JAVITS. Who actually was successful in the primary?

Mr. COLEMAN. Yes, sir; he defeated me in 1963 as I defeated him in 1956. He was my second primary opponent in 1956 and again in 1963. I won the first time and he won the last time and I guess the last one is the one that counts.

Senator JAVITS. Not necessarily, Governor, you got the last one

now.

Mr. COLEMAN. Beg your pardon.

Senator JAVITS. You are now up for higher office yourself.

Mr. COLEMAN. Well, I know that rests in the will of the people. Senator JAVITS. Would you explain that advertisement for us? If I may read it, then perhaps my colleagues will understand what it is. (The document handed to Mr. Coleman was returned to Senator Javits.)

Senator JAVITS. This is a picture of the Lieutenant GovernorLieutenant Governor Johnson and U.S. Marshal James McShane, allegedly taken at the University of Mississippi and on the top banner headline it says, "Let's tell the whole truth" and it really is, "Let's tell the whole truth, Paul," and I assume that means Paul Johnson and the rest says, "when the fist came down the hand went out," and then it says, "Meredith went in." "Elect a man you can trust, J. P. Coleman, the man for Mississippi," and on the very bottom as has been identified, submitted to and approved by A. F. Summer, State campaign manager.

Mr. COLEMAN. Senator Javits, that campaign for Governor eventually revolved around two things. No. 1, my support of the Democratic ticket in the national campaign of 1960. It was made—that was made a great issue by my opposition.

No. 2, the lieutenant governor said that since they put out a picture showing him with his fist up in Mr. McShane's and he was saying, on that account he ought to be elected Governor of Mississippi. About 3 days before the crisis at Ole' Miss I was sent for and was asked for my advice about what ought to be done and the Governor said at that time, and I don't want to reopen any controversy with him, he beat me and that's it, and I have no further words to say about it, except he said he heard me in that conference advising the Governor and others to obey the court order and to let Meredith in the university which in the meantime as I say, he stood for us in this picture and we suggested that he tell the whole story about what went on in that gesture, but he didn't do it and that's a closed chapter. I got beat for Governor myself in Mississippi and that's all over with. Senator JAVITS. That picture shows Lieutenant Governor Johnson shaking hands with the marshal?

Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.

Senator JAVITS. The chief marshal. Now, that had the clear implication, did it not, Governor, that you were not favorable to the admission of Meredith to the University of Mississippi in 1963, did it not?

Mr. COLEMAN. Well, I don't think that necessarily follows; no, sir. I think we just took a picture there that Mr. Johnson had been using