In this first Better Angels episode, David talks with William F. Winter, who has spent a lifetime in Mississippi politics, beginning as a state legislator in 1947, when he was still in law school at Ole Miss, and culminating in 1979, when he was elected Governor of Mississippi. David is also from Mississippi and has known William Winter since childhood. In fact, David’s first experience in politics was going with his mother to hand out literature for William Winter when he first ran for governor in 1967. This shared history and their shared memories gives a certain intimacy to their conversation, which covers Mississippi in the 1960s, the role of compromise in politics, and whether “not a politician” is a good credential for someone who wants to hold political office.