Changes

| preceded=First modern chairman​

| preceded=First modern chairman​

| succeeded=Clarke Reed​

| succeeded=Clarke Reed​

| birth_date=1930​

| birth_date=June 1, 1930​

| birth_place=[[Jackson]], [[Mississippi]], USA​

| birth_place=[[Jackson]], [[Mississippi]], USA​

| residence=Jackson, Mississippi​

| residence=Jackson, Mississippi​

}}

}}

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'''Wirt Adams Yerger, Jr.''' (born 1930), is a retired [[business]]man from the capital city of [[Jackson]], [[Mississippi]], who is the founding 20th century state chairman of the [[Republican Party]], a position that he filled for the decade from 1956 to 1966.​

'''Wirt Adams Yerger, Jr.''' (born June 1, 1930), is a retired [[business]]man from the capital city of [[Jackson]], [[Mississippi]], who is the founding 20th century state chairman of the [[Republican Party]], a position that he filled for the decade from 1956 to 1966.​

==Background==

==Background==

===Replacing the Black and Tans===

===Replacing the Black and Tans===

Yerger's conservatives, who stressed [[states' rights]], replaced the former Black and Tan contingent, which had governed the state party from [[Washington, D.C.]], with the [[African-American]] [[attorney]] Perry Wilbon Howard (1877-1961) as the national committeeman and the past dispenser of the limited federal patronage in the state.<ref name=jacksonfp>{{cite web|url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2009/may/12/yergers-revisionist-lily-white-history/|author=Ronni Mott|title=Yerger's Revisionist ‘Lily White' History|date=May 12, 2009|publisher=''The Jackson Free Press''|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> At the  [[Republican National Convention]] in [[Chicago]] in 1951, Howard led an all-black delegation pledged not to Eisenhower, but [[U.S. Senator]] [[Robert A. Taft]] of [[Ohio]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/daily/2755|author=Murray N. Rothbard|title=Swan Song of the Old Right|publisher=mises.org|date=June 21, 2011|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> a favorite of the conservative forces but known for his opposition to segregation, in Taft's words: "No segregationist belongs on a Republican ticket or even in the party".<ref name="ReferenceA">"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 248.</ref>​

Yerger's conservatives, who stressed [[states' rights]], replaced the former Black and Tan contingent, which had governed the state party from [[Washington, D.C.]], with the [[African-American]] [[attorney]] Perry Wilbon Howard (1877-1961) as the national committeeman and the past dispenser of the limited federal patronage in the state.<ref name=jacksonfp>{{cite web|url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2009/may/12/yergers-revisionist-lily-white-history/|author=Ronni Mott|title=Yerger's Revisionist ‘Lily White' History|date=May 12, 2009|publisher=''The Jackson Free Press''|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> At the  [[Republican National Convention]] in [[Chicago]] in 1952, Howard led an all-black delegation pledged not to Eisenhower, but [[U.S. Senator]] [[Robert A. Taft]] of [[Ohio]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/daily/2755|author=Murray N. Rothbard|title=Swan Song of the Old Right|publisher=mises.org|date=June 21, 2011|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> a favorite of the conservative forces but known for his opposition to segregation. Taft said, "No segregationist belongs on a Republican ticket or even in the party".<ref name="ReferenceA">"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 248.</ref>​

In addition to the Yerger and Howard factions, there were two other smaller groups contending for intra-party power, the Lily-White Movement, led by George Lawson Sheldon (1870-1960), a former [[governor]] of [[Nebraska]], who had run for governor of Mississippi in 1947 and polled only 2.5 percent of the vote, and the "Democrats for Eisenhower" under E. O. Spencer. Some media had incorrectly identified Yerger as the head of the Lily Whites who had ousted the Black and Tans.<ref name=madison>{{cite web|url=http://onlinemadison.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=23246|title=Yerger recounts history of state GOP in new book|publisher=onlinemadison.com|date=January 21, 2011|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref>​

In addition to the Yerger and Howard factions, there were two other smaller groups contending for intra-party power, the Lily-White Movement, led by George Lawson Sheldon (1870-1960), a former [[governor]] of [[Nebraska]], who had run for governor of Mississippi in 1947 and polled only 2.5 percent of the vote, and the "Democrats for Eisenhower" under E. O. Spencer. Some media had incorrectly identified Yerger as the head of the Lily Whites who had ousted the Black and Tans.<ref name=madison>{{cite web|url=http://onlinemadison.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=23246|title=Yerger recounts history of state GOP in new book|publisher=onlinemadison.com|date=January 21, 2011|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref>​

===Vacating the chairmanship===

===Vacating the chairmanship===

Yerger stepped down as chairman with plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator James Oliver Eastland (1904-1986) 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,who was elected in the Goldwater sweep of Mississippi, 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 Oliver Eastland (1904-1986) 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,who was elected in the Goldwater sweep of Mississippi, 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.​

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/>​

In January 2010, his active political career long behind him, Yerger published with Joseph L. Maxwell, III, a lengthy memoir entitled, ''A Courageous Cause: A Personal Story of Modern Republicanism's Birth from 1956 to 1966 in Mississippi''.<ref name=book>{{cite book|url=http://acouragouscause.blogspot.com/|title=''A Courageous Cause''|publisher=LifeStory Publishing|page=50| ISBN 0975898876|accessdate=May 10, 2014}}</ref>​

In January 2010, his active political career long behind him, Yerger published with Joseph L. Maxwell, III, a lengthy memoir entitled, ''A Courageous Cause: A Personal Story of Modern Republicanism's Birth from 1956 to 1966 in Mississippi''.<ref name=book>{{cite book|url=http://acouragouscause.blogspot.com/|title=''A Courageous Cause''|publisher=LifeStory Publishing|page=50| ISBN 0975898876|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref>​

In 2012, Yerger was an elector for former Governor [[Mitt Romney]] f [[Massachusetts]] and later a U.S. Senator from [[Utah]] in the presidential election but did not cast his vote and was replaced by an alternate. All Mississippi electors voted for Romney, who carried Mississippi over the Democrat incumbent, [[Barack H. Obama]].​

In 2012, Yerger was an elector for former Governor [[Mitt Romney]] f [[Massachusetts]] and later a U.S. Senator from [[Utah]] in the presidential election but did not cast his vote and was replaced by an alternate. All Mississippi electors voted for Romney, who carried Mississippi over the Democrat incumbent, [[Barack H. Obama]].​