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With Phillips' defeat, which Bidwell Adam termed an "electrocution", the Democrat telegraphed his state chairman counterpart Yerger to ask: "Will you please advise the date and place you will deliver the funeral oration?"<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," pp. 256-257.</ref>​

With Phillips' defeat, which Bidwell Adam termed an "electrocution", the Democrat telegraphed his state chairman counterpart Yerger to ask: "Will you please advise the date and place you will deliver the funeral oration?"<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," pp. 256-257.</ref>​

 

===Vacating the chairmanship===​

===Vacating the chairmanship===

Yerger stepped down as chairman with plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator [[James Eastland|James O. Eastland]] in the 1966 general election. In the Phillips-Johnson race, Yerger had accused Eastland of missing twenty-five of fifty-one roll call votes while Eastland was in Mississippi campaigning in 1963 for Paul Burney Johnson, Jr. (1916-1985), the Democrat running against Phillips. Eastland said that his support of Johnson was essential to protect "white rule" in Mississippi. Democratic Chairman Bidwell Adam said that Eastland had a "patriotic duty" to support the state's Democratic nominees.<ref name=eastland>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 256.</ref> However, Prentiss Walker (1917-1998), the freshman Republican [[U.S. Representative]] from Mize,  elected in the Goldwater sweep of Mississippi in 1964, instead ran against Eastland. Walker was the first Mississippi Republican since Reconstruction to win a U.S. House seat. Yerger therefore did not pursue an elected office but later said that Walker's senatorial candidacy was "very devastating" to the Mississippi GOP because the House seat returned to the Democrats and was held for decades by Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery (1920-2006) of Meridian, who carried bipartisan support. Walker polled barely a quarter of the vote against Eastland.<ref name=eastland/>​

Yerger stepped down as chairman with plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator [[James Eastland|James O. Eastland]] in the 1966 general election. In the Phillips-Johnson race, Yerger had accused Eastland of missing twenty-five of fifty-one roll call votes while Eastland was in Mississippi campaigning in 1963 for Paul Burney Johnson, Jr. (1916-1985), the Democrat running against Phillips. Eastland said that his support of Johnson was essential to protect "white rule" in Mississippi. Democratic Chairman Bidwell Adam said that Eastland had a "patriotic duty" to support the state's Democratic nominees.<ref name=eastland>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 256.</ref> However, Prentiss Walker (1917-1998), the freshman Republican [[U.S. Representative]] from Mize,  elected in the Goldwater sweep of Mississippi in 1964, instead ran against Eastland. Walker was the first Mississippi Republican since Reconstruction to win a U.S. House seat. Yerger therefore did not pursue an elected office but later said that Walker's senatorial candidacy was "very devastating" to the Mississippi GOP because the House seat returned to the Democrats and was held for decades by Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery (1920-2006) of Meridian, who carried bipartisan support. Walker polled barely a quarter of the vote against Eastland.<ref name=eastland/>​

 

Yerger was succeeded as chairman by Clarke Reed, a businessman from Greenville in Washington County, who also served ten years in the post.​

Yerger was succeeded as chairman by Clarke Reed, a businessman from Greenville in Washington County, who also served ten years in the post.​

 

===The 1967 campaign===​

===The 1967 campaign===

In 1967, Phillips mounted his second unsuccessful race for governor, this time against [[U.S. Representative]] John Bell Williams (1918-1983) of Mississippi's 3rd congressional district, who had supported Goldwater in 1964 and was stripped in 1965 of House seniority for doing so. Sensing that he could not run to the "right" of Williams, as he had tried to do with Johnson in 1963, Phillips shed his former segregationiost image and adopted a more moderate stance similar to that employed unsuccessfully by Williams' Democratic runoff]] rival, state Treasurer and later Governor William Forrest  

In 1967, Phillips mounted his second unsuccessful race for governor, this time against [[U.S. Representative]] John Bell Williams (1918-1983) of Mississippi's 3rd congressional district, who had supported Goldwater in 1964 and was stripped in 1965 of House seniority for doing so. Sensing that he could not run to the "right" of Williams, as he had tried to do with Johnson in 1963, Phillips shed his former segregationiost image and adopted a more moderate stance similar to that employed unsuccessfully by Williams' Democratic runoff]] rival, state Treasurer and later Governor William Forrest  

Winter (born 1923).

Winter (born 1923).

 

==Later years==​

==Later years==

In 2009, the central committee of the Mississippi [[Republican Party|GOP]] recognized Yerger's lifetime achievements by naming him "chairman emeritus."<ref name=misspol>Jere Nash and Andy Taggert. ''Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006' ([[Jackson]]: University Press of Mississippi, 2006), pp. 41-42.</ref> He is also chairman emeritus of Ross & Yerger Insurance.<ref name=bio/>​

In 2009, the central committee of the Mississippi [[Republican Party|GOP]] recognized Yerger's lifetime achievements by naming him "chairman emeritus."<ref name=misspol>Jere Nash and Andy Taggert. ''Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006' ([[Jackson]]: University Press of Mississippi, 2006), pp. 41-42.</ref> He is also chairman emeritus of Ross & Yerger Insurance.<ref name=bio/>​

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