Robert Kennedy

Robert Kennedy is identified in the account of James Meredith’s court-ordered admission to the University of Mississippi as the attorney general involved in negotiations with Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. His role places the federal executive at the point where legal desegregation rulings met the resistance of state authorities and required federal enforcement.

Role in the Desegregation Dispute

In 1962, after a lengthy legal battle, federal courts ruled that James Meredith, a young Black Air Force veteran, had to be admitted to the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Governor Ross Barnett publicly rejected the order on television on September 13, declaring that Mississippi’s state universities would close rather than desegregate. The opposition to implementation was also organized by Citizens’ Councils, which had begun forming in 1954 to resist desegregation.

Negotiations and Federal Enforcement

Before Meredith was due to arrive, Barnett negotiated in Washington with President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. The negotiations did not remove the state’s resistance, and the federal government ultimately intervened forcibly to implement the court ruling. U.S. marshals were assigned to bring Meredith to Oxford, making federal enforcement—not agreement by Mississippi’s governor—the means by which the judgment would take effect.

Significance in the Account

Robert Kennedy’s documented role is specific but consequential: he participated in the effort to secure compliance with a federal court order while state officials openly opposed it. The episode shows the limits of rulings on paper when local authorities resisted them, and the federal government’s part in turning desegregation law into an enforceable change. The account does not attribute a separate public statement or action to Robert Kennedy beyond his participation in the negotiations.