the fears of public observers, the campaign was largely devoid of racism and both him and Waller avoided negative tactics. Waller won with 601,222 votes to Evers' 172,762 and Brady's 6,653. He was inaugurated as Governor of Mississippi on January 18, 1972. Executive action and appointments As governor, Waller began hosting weekly press conferences. He was ex officio a member of Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and responsible for appointing several other of its members. The sovereignty commission was responsible for upholding segregation in the state, though by the time Waller took office it had little business to conduct. He delayed in naming his appointees to the body and sent a representative to its meetings in lieu of his attendance. In 1973 he vetoed the commission's funding bill, leading it to shut down in June before being formally abolished in 1977. Despite some criticism in the press over costs, he directed the purchase of the state's first jet to serve as official transportation for state officials. He undertook several trips to Europe, Asia, and South America to secure business deals for the state. Waller appointed several blacks to positions in state government and his staff, the first time this had been done since the Reconstruction era, but most had no history of political activity. His first black appointee was Jim Rundles as a special assistant. Rundles was known as a mild-mannered man who had refused to take part in civil rights demonstrations. He also appointed the first black woman to a state board in Mississippi's history and integrated the Mississippi Highway Patrol. On the whole, his administration was overwhelmingly staffed by whites. He created a Minority Advisory Committee and an Office of Minority Business Enterprise. In August 1972, he became the first Mississippi governor to visit the territory of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians when he spoke at the opening of the Choctaw Indian Fair. At the onset of his term, Waller and his family decided not to move into the Mississippi Governor's Mansion, which had fallen into disrepair. Waller's wife led a campaign to restore the house, and the family eventually occupied it in May 1975. Unlike his predecessors and successors, Waller refused to use convicts as servants in the mansion. In 1972, he authorized the work release of one of the men convicted of murdering civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer. Waller had served as legal counsel for the