Returning To Ole Miss

The University of Mississippi Was The Site Of History In 1962, As It Was Again Last Week

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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I went back to Oxford, Mississippi Friday to cover the presidential debate.

It was the first time I had been back on that campus since 1962, when I was sent there as a young reporter to cover what would be my first big story: the enrollment of James Meredith, the first African American to attend the University.

Of all the stories I've covered (including Vietnam), the most terrifying experience I ever had was that night that I spent on the campus of Ole Miss when a riot broke out. Hundreds were injured and two people died as protestors tried to stop a black man from attending a tax-supported state school.

Meredith remained under armed guard until he graduated, but his enrollment marked a turning point in the civil rights movement.

Yet, when I came back to the campus Friday, all that seemed long ago and far away.

Where the state's governor had once defied federal law and snipers had fired into crowds of journalists and mobs had set fires, black and white students were working together to welcome reporters and official visitors.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour called it a fine day. Ole Miss was hosting a presidential debate that included the first African American to capture a major party presidential nomination. Everyone had joined hands to insure that it went off perfectly, and it did.

We still have a long way to go in this country to insure that every American is treated fairly, but as I walked across the Ole Miss campus Friday, it helped me understand that in less than my lifetime, we have also come a very long way.

It was a fine debate but it was so much more. It was a significant moment in American history.

[usa1st]

Which is worse? A fanatic republican or a fanatic democrat? The answer is simple... neither... both are responsible for the mess we are in by putting their party ahead of the USA. USA first... party last... the only method that will solve the problems brought on by both parties and their blindly loyal members. There is no red and blue... only red, white and blue.

[magarcia4]

Dear Mr. Schieffer,
I was quite moved by your poignant comments about your return to Ole Miss. This was indeed an historic event which makes John McCain''s refusal to look at Senator Obama that much more egregious. He treated Obama with disdain and disrespect for ninety minutes. He did not behave this way during the republlican debates. McCain''s attempt to belittle Senator Obama belittled him instead.

[maggiecat3]

Dear Mr. Shieffer,

McCain cannot win on the issues. McCain continues to behave dishonorably. He realizes that people are finally learning that he is an absolute hypocrite on every issue; New GI Bill, VA Aid Bills, Post Katrina Aid Bills, Farm Bill, SCHIP Bill, all of which he either voted against or opposed.

The Deregulation Bill, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, is responsible for most of the mess we are in was authored by Phil Gramm and passed during 1999 with a Republican controlled Senate and Congress. We must all remember that it was Mr. Gramm that claimed we were a ''''Nation of Whiners'''' and we were all suffering from a mental recession. Another of his economic advisors, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard took a very profitable company from profit making to a 50% drop in shares and then to keep dividends from completely hemorrhaging, she laid off 21,000 employees. Ms. Fiorina was asked to leave, but she left with nearly $42,000,000.00 as her severance package.

For McCain to now claim that he is the reformer and regulator is beyond laughable, but he counts on the amnesia of the American public. This is the man that was involved in the Keating 5 Scandal and because he is so special, he only received a Congressional Reprimand. These issues together speak volumes regarding the true character of Mr. McCain. McCain is the most absent of Senators in the Senate and to date he has missed 429 roll call votes.