Mar. 6, 1963 - Former Major General Edwin A. Walker (pictured right) said today the integration riots at the University of Mississippi last year were “like a comedy, most amusing.” Chuckling, Walker told newsmen: “The students had a lot of fun on campus, plenty of laughs, a good time. I wouldn’t call it a riot, just student high spirits.” Two persons were killed and scores injured in the disturbance. Walker was arrested and charged with insurrection in connection with the violence, sparked by the entry of Negro James Meredith to the university. The charges against Walker were later dropped. Walker bitterly attacked “controlled” news media and the Kennedy Administration while discussing “Operation Midnight Ride,” the anti-Communist crusade he and evangelist Billy James Hargis (left) are making across the country. Asked if he found the two deaths at Ole Miss part of the “comedy,” Walker snapped, “One of them was a foreign newsman. What was he doing there?” He then implied the reporter incited students to turn over a press car so he could take pictures of the incident. Walker said communism was a “third force” during the riots.
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