Opinion: Wirt Yerger built the state’s Republican party – Northside Sun

Wirt Yerger, Jr. died May 2nd at 92. He founded the current Republican Party out of whole cloth beginning in the fifties. Back in the same period, I asked a prominent Sage in Greenville why we werent Republicans? He explained that the Republican Party at that time was controlled by a black attorney from Mound Bayou who lived and practiced in Washington. Perry Howard chose the convention delegates and what patronage there was.

It was a competition between the termed black and tans and the lily whites. This is just an indication of the political climate at that time. For example, in 1948, the Deweys forces paid Perry Howard $1,500 for the Mississippi votes. The bag man on the way from New York to Washington died on the train while he was trying to deliver the money.

The bag mans widow claimed the money and they had to pay twice. This story was confirmed to me by Lynn Hall the chairman of the Republican Party and by John Osborne a prominent reporter for the New Republic. In the late 1960s, Wirts good friend and mine Charles Blum slated to become the next Mississippi chairman.

He had a family problem that caused him to withdraw. Wirt turned to me and said you would take it if we cannot find anyone and the rest is history. I became state chairman in 1966. Wirt doggedly pursued what had to be done. For example, I met Wirt at his brother Swans wedding. He soon named me county chairman without anyones permission. Election was to come later.

The process of building a party was far more complex than this. He pushed to get every county in the state organized. There were miles to go but we were on a trajectory. By 1964, the Goldwater National Convention, the south and the conservative were clearly becoming the majority. Mississippi was on its way to become a majority Republican State. Rest in peace, Wirt.

Clarke Reed lives in Greenville, Mississippi. He is a former chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party.

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Opinion: Wirt Yerger built the state's Republican party - Northside Sun