No two people have same perspective of a past event.

But Mississippi governor Haley Barbour has the most colorful, “slightly” revised memories of Mississippi, Ole Miss and American politics that I have ever heard.

In a recent interview with Peter Robinson on the program “Uncommon Knowledge” on HumanEvents.com, Barbour discusses everything from his upbringing as a James O. Eastland democrat to joining the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon and to his generation’s experiences in desegregated schools.

In the interview, he fondly remembers his experiences with Verna Bailey, the first black woman to attend Ole Miss. He and Bailey sat near each another, assigned alphabetically, according to Barbour. He dotingly remarks that Bailey would allow him to copy her notes when he would skip or miss class.

But there’s a slight problem with Barbour’s story, according to Bailey herself, “I don’t remember him at all, no, because during that time that certainly wasn’t a pleasant experience for me,” she said. “My interactions with white people were very, very limited. Very, very few reached out at all.”

Barbour’s memories are overwhelmingly unusual. How can he remember having such a fond experience with Ole Miss’ first black female student and she does not remember even meeting him?

Barbour is one of the most prominent Southern politicians in America. He has become a national figure following hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the BP Oil Spill. He is the head of the Republican Governors Association, a well-known former lobbyist and a possible contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

If anyone met him at Ole Miss during the late 1960s, they would certainly remember him today.

But his wonderful quips about his youth in 1960s era Mississippi do not end there.

According to Barbour, his “generation went to integrated schools; I went to an integrated college.” Mississippi totally ignored the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The state did not begin integration of its K-12 schools until 1970, when they were forced by the U.S. Supreme Court to do so. Barbour first attended Ole Miss around 1965.

James Meredith graduated from Ole Miss in 1963, two years prior to Barbour attending.

Ole Miss admitted Verna Bailey in the summer of 1964 and admitted its first black freshman in the fall of 1964. So, during Barbour’s early days at Ole Miss there were probably two black students the whole time and by the time of his senior year there were 39 black students.

Barbour “never thought twice about it (integration).”

He obviously didn’t have to think about it, there were at least only two black students when Barbour was a freshman around 1965.

Barbour also has a very interesting view of early history of the Republican in the South. He says, “The people that led the change in the South was my generation… and it was the old democrats that fought for segregation.”

This is true; it was the old Southern democrats, like James O. Eastland, that fought hard for segregation. Nationally, in 1964 President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Nationally, the Democratic Party was quickly becoming the party of civil rights. That year, the GOP nominated Barry Goldwater, who was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, over the pro-civil rights candidate Nelson Rockefeller of New York. The GOP had attempted to win the votes of unsatisfied, unenamored Southern democrats. The ranks of the GOP were quickly beginning to be filled by former Southern democrats.

But what is most interesting about Barbour’s colorful story is that when all of the change was taking place in the South occurred, he was barely old enough to vote

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all choose what to remember?