Editing James Meredith (section)

==Political career==
In 1967, while living and studying in New York, Meredith decided to run as a [[New York Republican State Committee|Republican]] against incumbent [[Adam Clayton Powell Jr.]], a multi-term [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], in a special election for the Congressional seat in Harlem. He withdrew from the race and Powell was re-elected.<ref name="Jet">{{cite news |title=Meredith Makes Bid For U.S. Senate in Mississippi |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ckQDAAAAMBAJ&q=Meredith+Makes+Bid+For+U.S.+Senate+in+Mississippi&pg=PA28 |work=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]] |date=March 2, 1972|publisher= Johnson Publishing Company}}</ref> Meredith said later of his campaign, "The Republican Party [of New York] made me an offer: full support in every way, everything." He had full access to top New York Republicans.<ref>{{cite book |title=The King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. |last=Haygood |first=Wil |year=2006 |publisher=HarperCollins |page=363 }}</ref>

After returning to Mississippi in 1972, Meredith entered the Republican primary for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] seat of Democrat [[James Eastland]], who had been the incumbent for 29 years in what had operated as a one-party state. Following provisions of a new [[Constitution of Mississippi#History|state constitution in 1890]] that made voter registration extremely difficult, African Americans had been effectively [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] and the Republican Party had been crippled.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976–2008 |last=Nash |first=Jere |author2=Andy Taggart and John Grisham |year=2009 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=51 }}</ref> Meredith conceded that he had little chance of winning unless Governor [[George Wallace]] of Alabama entered the presidential race and split the white vote.<ref name="Jet"/> As it happened, many Republicans in Mississippi were not enthusiastic about the prospect of Meredith as their nominee, and [[Gil Carmichael]], a businessman from [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]], was recruited to run against him.<ref>''The Almanac of American Politics 1978'', p. 457.</ref> Meredith received only 21% of the primary vote against Carmichael.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 2nd ed. (1985), p. 1096.</ref>

An active Republican, Meredith served from 1989 to 1991 as a domestic adviser on the staff of [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Jesse Helms]]. Faced with criticism from the civil rights community for working for the avowed segregationist, Meredith said that he had applied to every member of the Senate and House offering his services, and only Helms' office responded. He also wanted a chance to do research at the [[Library of Congress]].<ref name="Byrd"/>

In 2002, officials at the University of Mississippi celebrated the 40th anniversary of Meredith's historic admission and integration of the institution with a year-long series of events. Of the celebration, Meredith said,

<blockquote>It was an embarrassment for me to be there, and for somebody to celebrate it, oh my God. I want to go down in history, and have a bunch of things named after me, but believe me that ain't it.<ref name="Byrd">{{cite news | first= Shelia | last= Hardwell Byrd | title= Meredith ready to move on | agency= Associated Press, at Athens Banner-Herald (OnlineAthens) | url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092102/new_20020921041.shtml | date= 21 September 2002 | access-date= 2007-10-02 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071016065534/http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092102/new_20020921041.shtml | archive-date= 16 October 2007 | url-status= dead }}</ref></blockquote>

He said he had achieved his main goal at the time by getting the federal government to enforce his rights as a citizen. He saw his actions as "an assault on [[white supremacy]]".<ref name="Byrd"/> In 2003, he was far more proud that his son Joseph Meredith graduated as the top doctoral student at the university's graduate business school.<ref name="Byrd"/>