Bootie Hunt: A Great American
Thursday, 16 July 2009 00:00
I was thinking today of the late James W. (Bootie) Hunt. Bootie passed away in 2002 at the age of 76, a man on the outside of society, and, like many Americans, he was excluded from the inner circles of power.
Bootie was never the focal point of the local society pages. He was always mostly broke, drove a rough, old Pontiac Sunbird that was on its last leg, usually needed a shave, and his clothes never quite fit or matched. Bootie would have benefited from some dental work which he couldn’t afford, and his shoes hadn’t seen a shine since they were new, one or two owners previous. Bootie was an unlikely figure to wear the mantle of “Great American”, but I can think of few who earned the title more than he.
Bootie Hunt was an American who truly believed that every American had an obligation to take part in the political and community life of our country.
I first met Bootie in the early 1990’s. I was serving as a member of the Oktibbeha County School Board, and one night our agenda included a requested appearance by Mr. James W. (Bootie) Hunt. The board president made some apologetic remark to the board about how “this won’t take long”, and called Bootie to the board table to make his presentation. Wearing his patched dress jacket, a necktie, and a well worn white shirt, Bootie made his way to the signified seat. As it turned out, Bootie didn’t have a presentation to make, he just wanted to see if he could help us in any way. He had read in the newspaper that the county school district was in dire straits, and he had come forth as a private citizen to let us know if he could help in any way, he would be glad to. In the seven and half years I was on that board, Bootie was the only private citizen to come forward and ask if they could help. The board president thanked him, and Bootie was dismissed. He had dressed up as best he could, and come forward to help the county’s children, if only we would tell him what he could do. That took a lot of guts, and a lot of heart. Bootie had both, with some to spare.
In 1996, when Thad Cochran was the undisputed front runner of the US Senate race in our district, Bootie was the only Democrat “foolish” enough to run against him. In a televised debate on public television, Bootie held his own against Cochran. When Cochran was asked how he would help in the fight against crime, he had lots of statistics, program ideas, and acronyms to share with the viewers. When Bootie was given the same question, he gave his most famous line of the campaign: “Well, I don’t know much ’bout all that, but I think if we’d do it like they do in Chinee (China), and take a few of the bad ones out back of the courthouse and shoot ‘em, it’d put a stop to a lot of that.”. A lot of Mississippians must have agreed with Bootie’s rough philosophy, as nearly a quarter million ( 240,647) Mississippians cast their vote for Bootie. Cochran won with 624,154 votes, but considering that Bootie spent zero money on campaigning or ads, and got over a fourth of the votes cast, he did very well indeed in his campaign.
After losing the election, Bootie was determined to remain a part of the election process, and was appointed as a delegate to the Democratic Natonal Convention in Chicago. This was during the years when the Republicans ran Washington, and Bootie was (again) one of the Democrats who believed that the process was too important to ignore. A friend loaned Bootie some money so he could get a bus ticket to Chicago and attend the convention. Once in the Windy City, most delegates to the DNC stayed at big hotels, and hobnobbed with the powerful and influential. Bootie did the best he could, and moved into a homeless shelter for his stay there.
When he arrived for the first day of the Democratic National Convention, convention security refused to admit him into the convention center, based on him looking like a homeless transient. Bootie had to call for help, eventually someone listened, reviewed his credentials, and Mr. James W. Hunt was finally seated as a Mississippi delegate at the DNC. His experiences in Chicago were covered briefly in the Starkville Daily News, and after his return, Bootie once again became the forgotten man.
I’ve thought of Bootie often. He used to stop by our store looking for parts, and he was always polite and gentle in his manner. His desperate financial situation never diminished his dignity or character. He’d accept help when offered, but he never asked for a handout.
He always rose to the occasion, ready to serve his county, his state, and his country, without excuse or apology for his meager holdings.
America and Mississippi could use a few more Great Americans like the late Bootie Hunt.
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