{{Short description|American politician}}
'''Merle Franklin Palmer''' (March 11, 1919 - January 1, 1990)<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1990-01-03 |title=Obituary for Merle F. Palmer |pages=6 |work=Hattiesburg American |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112386012/obituary-for-merle-f-palmer/ |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref> was a state legislator and judge in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1960 to 1964<ref>https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=sta_leghb</ref> and the Mississippi Senate from 1964 to 1970, when he was appointed to the State Circuit Court.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mississippi. Legislature |date=1964-01-01 |title=Hand book : biographical data of members of Senate and House, personnel of standing committees [1964] |url=https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sta_leghb/11 |journal=Mississippi Legislature Hand Books}}</ref> He served as president pro tempore of the Mississippi Senate and was acting governor of the state for part of January 1968.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8qBC3V-qgcC&dq=merle.palmer+mississippi&pg=PA154|title=The Governors of Mississippi|first=Cecil L.|last=Sumners|date=October 26, 1998|publisher=Pelican Publishing|isbn=9781455605217 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5tKAQAAMAAJ&q=merle.palmer+mississippi|title=Journal|first=Mississippi Legislature|last=Senate|date=October 26, 1969|via=Google Books}}</ref>
He was a leader during desegregation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vqzDwAAQBAJ&dq=merle.palmer+mississippi&pg=PA67|title=The Smell of Burning Crosses: An Autobiography of a Mississippi Newspaperman|first=Ira|last=Harkey|date=October 29, 2019|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781496824882 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He chaired the senate's election committee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIzKddpl778C&dq=merle.palmer+mississippi&pg=PA16006|title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress|first=United States|last=Congress|date=October 26, 1965|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|via=Google Books}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}{{MS Senate Presidents Pro Tempore}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Merle}} Category:Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Category:Mississippi state senators Category:1919 births Category:1990 deaths Category:20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature