Inside Story of Little Rock - Page 17

Abstract

Article in U.S. News and World Report based on excerpts from Hays' book A Southern Moderate Speaks ; Inside Story of Little Rock ."My proposal was to introduce legislation in Congress that would encourage a suspension of judicial procedures while a reexamination and a resurvey of the Court's decision was made" have occasionally resulted from the willingness of some politicians to exploit sentiment against the "big-city fellows." It is a good horse to ride if one is indifferent to what happens to the city people. When I returned to Little Rock on November 20, I spoke at a meeting of the State Chamber of Commerce and presented a plan to gain for the city and the entire South the "breather" so many of us thought necessary. My proposal was to introduce legislation in the next session of Congress that would encourage a suspension of judicial procedures while a complete study-a re-examination and a resurvey - of the Supreme Court's decision was made. That this approach met a recognized need became evident when it received a favorable response from many of the several hundred leaders from every part of Arkansas attending the meeting. Governor's Plan: Gain More Time One should keep in mind that the Governor had steadfastly held to the idea that time was the key to the solution - that delays in integration orders were essential. He continued to maintain that, in Arkansas, no State functionary should be compelled to support federal orders until the constitutionality of the interposition and other statutes approved by the people in 1956 was determined. Test cases should also be tried, the Governor believed, to determine the validity of certain 1957 acts of the legislature. Once this conflict in laws had been resolved, federal policy could be clarified in a manner that should be more acceptable to the South. Because I believed that a spirit of conciliation had to be restored before a final solution could be found, I deplored the visits of outsiders to Little Rock to stir up trouble. Those who exhorted the people to encourage threats of violence were concerned only with their own selfish ends. One illustration of this policy was the statement of Roy Harris of Georgia at the Little Rock Capital Citizens Council meeting held on Jan. 14, 1958. He told a cheering crowd, "Little Rock has Ike over a barrel. If the people of Little Rock stand pat and he is forced to keep troops here from now on, he soon will be the laughingstock of the nation and the world." In February, the businessmen's group repeated its recommendation to the school board to petition the courts for a stay of compliance. Now that a new board of directors was governing the city in a dedicated and forthright manner, it was believed to be a suitable time to make public the position of the businessmen, which had been only privately maintained heretofore. The community leaders were all committed to law and order, but they believed the city deserved and could make a case for further exploration of steps necessary to comply with court orders. The time was ripe for further judicial action, since the appointment of a new federal judge for Arkansas was imminent and, in any case, it seemed likely that Judge Davies would no longer be responsible for hearing the appeal. In light of the New Orleans Court of Appeals decision delaying integration in Dallas, the school board was urged "to develop its case fully so it could properly appeal should the decision be adverse in the lower court." The school board now decided to follow the advice of the businessmen's group and ask for a postponement of integration until: (1) the concept of "all deliberate speed" could be defined clearly, and (2) effective legal procedures for integrating the schools could be developed in a manner that would not impair the quality of the educational program. Said the petition: "The district, in its respect for the law of the land, is left standing alone, the victim of extraordinary opposition on the part of the State government and apathy on the part of the Federal Government." In a surprisingly strong but well-warranted tone of indignation, the board outlined the record of interference that its plans had met and the frustrations it had felt, pleading for judicial understanding of its problems. It was in this context that I introduced, on March 6, my bill calling for the establishment of a joint committee of the Congress to study the results of the Supreme Court decisions on school desegregation. In the statement I issued, I pointed out: "There is great need to re-examine the situation in the South in the light of the difficulties growing out of edicts requiring sudden change in age-old customs of the people. . . . The committee would be called upon to suggest to all school districts various alternative ways of complying with the order to desegregate that would do the least violence to local custom and attitudes. The Jeffersonian principle of considering local variations in conditions should be embraced in the national policy and this is one way to bring that about. . I hope that this proposal will help assure the South that haste and force will not prevail, but rather that patience and tolerant understanding of the problems in all sections will be achieved. It is only in this way that we can stimulate throughout the region the moral fervor and racial good will that have been characteristic of the South." Thus the forces of moderation in Little Rock were rallying to encourage the people of the city to stick to their traditional devotion to the law while at the same time calling on the national community to have patience and forbearance. That this was not an easy road to travel was quickly revealed by the immediate reaction to the introduction of my bill. While many Southern newspapers gave me a fair hearing and some even praised me for championing the Southern cause, others denounced me as betraying my heritage by becoming an avowed integrationist. At the same time, Clarence Mitchell of the NAACP, whom I had previously held to be pretty levelheaded in his championing of equal rights for Negroes, accused me of "trying to turn back the clock of integration." At the tenth annual conference of the National Civil Liberties Clearing House, he said that my action was "a repudiation of everything the Christian Church stands for" and that I was unworthy of leading a church group. The intensity of the feelings expressed by both extremes proved once again that the path of moderation was not "the easy way out." I was grieved at the bitter attacks but even more determined to stick to a course that I believed provided the only hope for lasting racial peace. On March 21, Sherman Adams asked me to come to the White House to confer again regarding the Central High School situation. In the earlier calls I had made on Sherman during the first Eisenhower Administration, I had often given 134 U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, March 23, 1959