J. Maurice Dantin (December 13, 1929 January 10, 2012) was an American attorney and politician.

Early life

Dantin attended

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

and played on the school's football team. He enrolled at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

in 1948 and graduated three years later with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In September 1951 he joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

after completing the

Officer Candidates Course The United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School (OCS) is a training regiment designed to screen and evaluate potential Marine Corps Officers. Those who successfully complete the period of instruction are commissioned as Second Lieutena ...

. He served with the recon company of the

2nd Marine Division The 2nd Marine Division (2nd MARDIV) is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina a ...

from February 1952 until April 1953 before later serving with VMA-124 and VMA-143 as an intelligence officer. In 1953 he enrolled at the

University of Mississippi Law School The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, United States. Established in 1854, the School of Law offers t ...

and secured a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree. Dantin later retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of colonel.

Political career

Dantin ran for the office of governor of Mississippi in 1975. He placed third in the Democratic primary, earning 179,472 votes. In 1978 he won the Democratic nomination for a

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

seat in Mississippi. He lost the general election to Republican

Thad Cochran William Thad Cochran ( ; December 7, 1937 – May 30, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican, he previously served in the U.S. House of Representative ...

, taking only 32 percent of the vote, with many black Democrats instead choosing to vote for independent

Charles Evers James Charles Evers (September 11, 1922July 22, 2020) was an American civil rights activist, businessman, radio personality, and politician. Evers was known for his role in the civil rights movement along with his younger brother Medgar Evers. Af ...

. He endorsed

Wayne Dowdy Charles Wayne Dowdy (born July 27, 1943) is an American politician, lawyer and jurist from Mississippi. He was first elected in a Mississippi's 4th congressional district special election, 1981, 1981 special election and served four terms in the U ...

in the 1991 Mississippi gubernatorial election.

Later life

Dantin died at his home in

Columbia, Mississippi Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Mississippi, United States. Formed six years before Mississippi was admitted to statehood, Columbia was named for Columbia, South Carolina, from which many of the early settlers had mig ...

, on January 10, 2012, at the age of 82.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dantin, Maurice 2012 deaths Mississippi Democrats United States Marine Corps officers People from Columbia, Mississippi