On another front, young people attempted to integrate the state's institutions of higher education. James Meredith, the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, was greeted with the Ole Miss riot of 1962 as opponents rushed to the campus from the region. A white mob attacked 500 Federal law enforcement officers and 3,000 United States Army troops and federalized Mississippi National Guardsmen deployed by President John F. Kennedy to ensure Meredith's safety. Rioters assaulted the federal and state forces with bricks, bottles, and gunfire before the federal and state forces responded with rifle fire and tear gas. The fighting which ensued claimed the lives of two civilians and seriously injured dozens of more people, and polarized race relations and politics. Whites believed they were under attack from the federal government.