Dr. Micah Rueber, Humanities Teacher Awardee for Mississippi Valley State University, will present his public lecture:
Rueber will present material he has gathered while working on a manuscript about a river barge that sank in 1961. While barge sinkings are not uncommon, this one drew the attention of President Kennedy because it was carrying 1000 tons of pressurized liquid chlorine that, if released, would threaten over 40,000 people in and around Natchez, MS. The subsequent clean-up efforts, which involved a wide range of both state and federal agencies, reveals how Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, while taking a very public stance against the federal government in refusing to admit James Meredith to Ole Miss, showed quite a different character behind the scenes, as he took great pains to make sure that the federal government spared no effort or expense in removing the dangerous material.
