Political Quotes

“at the end of this month, my long-time good friend, John Perkins, will retire from service as a member of my personal staff. He has served as press secretary in my office since August 1979. Our friendship dates from the 1940s when we were students in elementary school at Byram Consolidated School near Jackson, MS. We also were members of the same Boy Scout troop. John got his first newspaper job when we were in high school. My father was our principal, and he and our football coach were asked to recommend a stringer for the Jackson, MS, papers to report scores and highlights of our football games. The person they recommended was John Perkins. The year was 1953, and John was in the ninth grade. From that beginning, he went on to serve on the student newspaper staff at Millsaps College where he graduated with a major in history in 1961. After college, he served in the U.S. Army Reserves, and then became a docket and reading clerk in the Mississippi State Senate.”