Troutmouth: The Two Careers of Hugh Clegg by Ronald F. Borne is the remarkable story of a top man in Hoover's FBI who also played a significant role at Ole Miss before and during the Civil Rights era.
Hugh H. Clegg was among the most notable non-elected Mississippi historical figures during the period of the 1920s through the 1960s. Born in Mathiston, Mississippi, he was a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1926 to 1954, during which time he rose to the number three leadership position behind Director J. Edgar Hoover and Associate Director Clyde Tolson.
In his second career, as executive assistant to Chancellor J. D. Williams at the University of Mississippi from 1954 to 1969, he was de facto non-academic second-in-command before and during civil rights crises in the State of Mississippi and the university. Clegg served as a liaison between the university and the federal government during those troubled times. He was a close friend of many of the leading federal and state elected officials as well as members of the U.S. Supreme Court and was therefore well known to those with whom he had contact.
Through a Freedom of Information request from the FBI, author Ron Borne obtained approximately two thousand documents involving Clegg. In addition, Borne mined Clegg’s oral history at the University of Southern Mississippi and his unpublished manuscript, “Somebody Jumped the Gun.” Borne has interviewed Clegg’s surviving friends, his daughter, his nephew, and other people who knew him to reveal a portrait of a distinguished and loyal man who significantly shaped the training procedures for the FBI and then served the University of Mississippi during its conflicts with federal and state governmentsThis week Ronald Borne begins a book tour of Mississippi. He will be signing and talking about Troutmouth at the following times and locations:
Tuesday, June 9, 5:00 p.m.
Square Books
160 Courthouse Square
Oxford, MS 38655
Thursday, June 11, Noon
Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore
111 South Spring Street
Tupelo, MS 38801
Tuesday, June 16, 5:00 p.m.
Lemuria Bookstore
202 Banner Hall
4465 I-55 North
Jackson, MS 39206
Wednesday, June 17, Noon
History is Lunch at The Winter Archives
200 North Street
Jackson, MS 39205-0571
Wednesday, June 17, 5:00 p.m.
Turnrow Book Company
304 Howard Street
Greenwood, MS 38930
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| Ronald Borne |
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