Governor William F. Winter has enriched the political and cultural life of Mississippi and the United States for six decades--as an infantryman in World War II, as a Mississippi House representative (1947-1959), as governor of Mississippi (1980-1984), as a member of President Bill Clinton's Advisory Board on Race (1997-1998), and as an advocate for education and racial reconciliation.

Unlike most public figures, Winter wrote all of his own speeches. The Measure of Our Days: Writings of William F. Winter presents a collection of the governor's most thoughtful writings on his...