Biography:

Newman served continuously in the Mississippi Legislature from 1948 until 1988, first as a senator from 1948–1952, and as a representative thereafter. His House constituency included Issaquena and Sharkey counties, and portions of Warren County. As a protégé of the powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives Walter Sillers, Newman first became chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in 1964 and served in that capacity until 1975. He was elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives in 1974 and 1975 and as Speaker from 1976 through 1988. Only Walter Sillers, who served in the Legislature from 1916 to 1966 and as Speaker from 1944 to 1966, could boast a longer tenure than C. B. "Buddie" Newman.

Speaker Newman decided not to seek re-election to the 1988–1992 legislative term and retired to his farm at Valley Park. He was serving as chairman of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee when he announced his retirement. Speaker Newman also served as a member of the Commission of Budget and Accounting from 1964 to 1984 and the Board of Economic Development and its predecessor, the Agricultural and Industrial Board, from 1960 to 1984.

Scope and Content:

This collection includes correspondence of Walter Sillers and C. B. "Buddie" Newman between 1953 and 1966. There is a limited amount of correspondence of Newman and Mrs. Walter Sillers following the death of her husband in 1966 until 1977. Several dated and undated news clippings pertaining to the political career of Walter Sillers are also present. The Sillers-Newman correspondence is important, not only because it documents the long friendship between the two politicians, but also because it provides considerable insight into the internal campaigning of Mississippi representatives ambitious enough to seek the coveted Speaker's chair. These letters also document the loyalty that C. B. "Buddie" Newman demonstrated for his mentor, Walter Sillers, by his continuing efforts to secure the re-election of Sillers as Speaker, especially during the controversial Speaker's campaign of 1955 in which William F. Winter challenged the incumbent Walter Sillers and lost. The Sillers-Newman correspondence further provides evidence of how choice House committee assignments were won by C. B. "Buddie" Newman and others. The collection also contains valuable, albeit scattered, political commentary spanning the administrations of Hugh White through Paul B. Johnson, Jr.