The Role of Gubernatorial Leadership in Desegregation in Public Higher Education

Abstract

What is the role of the governor in achieving desegregation in public higher education in the states of the Old Confederacy? What can or will a state governor do with regard to such desegregation, considering the political nature of his office? How much maneuverability does he have on this issue? What opportunity does he have for leadership here? Some students of Southern society maintain that the answers to all these questions are essentially in the negative, that the Southern governor has a minimal role regarding desegregation in higher education. It is argued that the climate of opinion that is established in a Southern state as a result of the interplay of factors like the heritage of the state, the racial composition of its population, the percentage of Negroes in its total active electorate, urbanization, industrialization, level of income, education, and the coherence of its political system is so rigid that no individual not even the elected leader of the state has any room for maneuver on such an emotional issue as school desegregation. According to this line of reasoning, the governor must act as prevailing opinion directs.