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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER 1957—PAGE 3
GOV. ORVAL FAUBUS
State Authority . . .
—Arkansas Gazette
Arkansas National Guardsmen, before their call into federal service, were ordered by Gov. Orval Faubus to prevent
disorders at the Little Rock High School. Under direct orders, the guardsmen prevented nine Negro students from entering
the school. They were removed after the federal district court issued an injunction restraining their use to prevent execu
tion of the court-ordered desegregation of the high school.
JUDGE RONALD DAVIES
. . . Versus Federal
U. S. Troops Sent to Little Rock; Three Districts Desegregate
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
the Arkansas school dis-
*tricts that had planned to be
gin integration in September, one
called it off, one tried it and quit,
and only two managed to get it
done without some kind of diffi
culty.
The fifth, Little Rock, about to
integrate Sept. 3 under federal
order, was blocked temporarily by
Arkansas National Guard troops
ordered out by Gov. Orval E. Fau
bus. This brought a governor in
pursuit of his constitutional au
thority into direct conflict with a
federal court order on integration.
To observers it looked as though
the resolution of that conflict
would set a precedent of historic
proportions in the southern school
integration situation. With federal
troops present, the integration
took place on Sept. 25. (See “Le
gal Action.”)
Van Buren and Fort Smith got their
integrated classes started without inci
dent. Ozark enrolled three Negro stu
dents but all three dropped out within
a week under reported harassment by
white pupils. North Little Rock, just
across the Arkansas River from Little
Rock, postponed its planned integration
after trouble developed at Little Rock.
(See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
The Little Rock school integration
P an, after nearly 2% years of apparently
smooth sailing, hit serious trouble in
me last week before it was to take effect.
Lve days before the start of school Gov.
aubus testified that in his opinion inte
gration would produce violence and a
chancery judge ordered the school board
not to proceed; next day the federal
court which had approved the plan 18
months ago overrode the state injunc-
*on and also enjoined all persons from
jnterfering (Southern School News,
Se Ptember 1957).
On Monday night before the start of
classes Tuesday morning (Sept. 3), Ar
kansas National Guard troops appeared
at Little Rock Central High School and
surrounded it. An hour later Faubus, on
television and radio, said the guards
men were there to maintain or restore
peace and good order; he said they were
not to act as segregationists or as inte-
grationists. But he said maintaining
peace and good order would not be pos
sible “if forcible integration” were car
ried out and that therefore the schools
“must be operated on the same basis as
they have been operated in the past.”
REASONS FOR DECISION
Gov. Faubus gave these reasons for
his decision:
1) Supt. Virgil T. Blossom had ap
pealed to him for help the day before.
2) A “massive” telephone campaign
was under way calling on white mothers
to assemble at Central High School on
Tuesday morning.
3) Caravans from many points in the
state were either in the city or would
converge on the city and school Tuesday
morning.
4) He had received many telephone
calls expressing fear of disorder and vio
lence.
5) There had been an unusually large
sale of weapons to youths of both races.
6) A number of revolvers had been
taken from students, both Negro and
white.
7) Litigation in state courts on the
validity of four new state segregation
laws had not been concluded.
NO ADVANCE WARNING
There had been no forewarning of
this. The school board and the Little
Rock city government had not been con
sulted about it. To both it came as a
surprise.
After the governor’s radio-television
talk, the school board issued a statement
that although the federal court had or
dered integration to proceed the troops
were there and asked the Negro stu
dents not to try to enter school the next
morning.
The court-approved plan was to start
with the 10th, 11th and 12th grades and
10 Negro students had registered in the
all-white Central High School. None of
them came to the school Tuesday, the
first day of school. That afternoon the
school board asked the federal court
what it should do. Federal Judge Ron
ald N. Davies of Fargo, N.D., serving
temporarily in the Little Rock district
because of a vacancy, ordered the school
board to go ahead with integration the
next morning. He had read the govern
or’s speech and said he was taking Gov.
Faubus at his word that the troops were
there to preserve peace, not to act as
segregationists or integrationists.
NINE APPEAR
On Wednesday, the second day of
school, nine Negroes came. The troops
turned them away. Crowds of a few hun
dred persons had gathered both morn
ings. There was some jeering of the Ne
gro students but no one was touched or
hurt.
The school board returned to federal
court on Thursday with a plea that the
integration plan be delayed indefinitely.
Gov. Faubus sent a telegram to Pres
ident Eisenhower on Friday, Sept. 6,
saying that his representatives were
willing to meet with the FBI and dis
cuss the evidence of impending violence
known to Faubus. This evidence the
governor had declined to disclose. News
men on their own tried and failed to
verify his claims about weapon sales,
the seizure of revolvers and the exist
ence of caravans from other towns.
Judge Davies heard the school board
plea for a delay on Saturday and re
fused it, so the board announced that
the plan was in effect again and that
Central High would be open Monday
to Negro students. None came.
GETS FBI REPORT
Davies received Monday afternoon
(Sept. 9) the report of the FBI on why
the federal court integration order and
injunction had not been carried out. He
then ordered the Department of Justice,
acting as friend of the court, to begin
injunction proceedings against Faubus,
Maj. Gen. Sherman T. Clinger, the state
adjutant general and Guard commander,
and Lt. Col. Marion E. Johnson, com
mander of the Guard detachment at
Central High.
During the week a conference of Gov.
Faubus with President Eisenhower was
arranged and took place Saturday (Sept.
14) at Newport, R. I. Both said it was
“constructive.”
After that, all that was left was the
courtroom collision of the state’s chief
executive with federal authority. That
came Friday, Sept. 20, Gen. Clinger and
Col. Johnson were subpoenaed over pro
test and were in court; Faubus, not
subpoenaed, was represented by his
lawyers.
FIVE DECISIONS
In five preliminary decisions Judge
Davies (1) overruled a motion by Fau
bus that Davies disqualify himself for
being prejudiced against Faubus and for
the government and the Negro students;
(2) allowed the Negro students to adopt
as their position the Justice Depart
ment’s injunctive pleading; (3) refused
to quash the service of subpoenas on
Clinger and Johnson, requested by Fau
bus on the ground that they couldn’t be
subpoenaed while on active militia duty;
(4) refused to entertain a motion by
Faubus that the injunction hearing be
turned over to a three-judge court; (5)
denied a plea by Faubus that the court
did not have jurisdiction anyway.
The governor’s attorneys then an
nounced their contention that the court
did not have jurisdiction, asked permis
sion to leave and walked out. Evidently
it was planned that way, for back at the
executive mansion the Governor was
ready before it was over with a written
statement that started “Now begins the
crucifixion . . .”
In the hearing the federal government
put on 8 of the 105 witnesses it had sub
poenaed, including the school superin
tendent, the mayor and police chief of
Little Rock, the Central High School
principal, the president of the school
board and three of the nine Negro chil
dren. Supt. Blossom said he had never
asked the governor to call out the
guardsmen. No evidence that violence
was imminent came from any of the wit
nesses. Judge Davies promptly granted
a temporary injunction against inter
ference with the court integration order
by Gov. Faubus or the National Guard.
Three hours later Faubus ordered the
guardsmen to leave the school.
fer oecause it relates to matters of a dif-
orin- 1 * , nature from the subject involved in the
° n gmal action.
■The petition was prematurely filed funder
es of procedure],
is wwf petitioner ’ the United States of America,
this °t- w *fh° u f authority to file and maintain
*holl versus the respondent, and the court is
tj. y w fthout jurisdiction to entertain such peti-
Arw^ t0 ® ran f an y rehef thereon. . .
•NED AT THE STATE
the T * US court i s wholly without jurisdiction of
of t , persons of respondent and the subject matter
e petition because
tejjL. Petition is in truth and in fact an at-
^kansa aCtion against th e sovereign State of
Ttest' court is wholly without jurisdiction to
spo nd lon (h e judgment or discretion of the re-
Sas ® rva l U Faubus, the governor of Arkan-
^rform • 0t ^ er respondents subordinate to him, in
them l ln ® (heir duties made mandatory upon
by ‘he Constitution and the laws of Arkan-
The petition of the United States of America as
amicus curaie for a preliminary injunction against
Gov. Faubus, Gen. Clinger and Col. Johnson and
all others named in the petition is granted and
such injunction shall issue without delay enjoin
ing those respondents from obstructing or pre
venting by the use of the National Guard or other
wise the attendance of Negro students at Little
Rock High School under the plan of integration
approved by this court and from otherwise ob
structing or interfering with orders of this court
in connection with the plan of integration. . .
Th —
1>e gan mot ‘ on f° dismiss was denied, the hearing
"'thd' an< * su hsequently the Governor’s attorneys
"itn e le "' ^ ew °f (he federal government’s 105
this , SSe , S were called. Then Judge Davies issued
' ^ erba l statement:
v ® r y clear to this court from the evidence
It is
SJicj ^ " clear to this court from the evidence
that tv," tes tl m ony adduced upon the hearing today
Rock 6 plan f° r integration adopted by the Little
the q cllo ol board and approved by this court and
heeq th" 1 ^ J ^PP ea l s f° r the Eighth Circuit has
Dse 0 j farted by the governor of Arkansas by the
°Hstr ;i u] at ional Guard troops. It is equally dem-
*om<j i 6 f rom the testimony here today that there
Wan 0 f aVe heen no violence in carrying out the
'Tol enc ln tegration, and that there has been no
The National Guard was withdrawn. That eve
ning Gov. Faubus spoke, in part, as follows:
... I have instructed my attorneys to exhaust
every legal remedy to appeal this order. However,
so long as this order is in effect and until its cer
tain reversal on appeal, I will comply as outlined
by my attorneys in their statement to the court. I
have tried to follow a course that would preserve
and maintain the peace and order in Little Rock
and in the state.
The calling out of the Guard and every order to
its commander was designed to achieve that pur
pose. Now that a federal court, however, has chos
en to substitute its judgment for mine as to how
the peace and order should be preserved, I must
temporarily at least abide and therefore I have
issued orders that all units of the Arkansas Na
tional Guard stationed at the high schools in Little
Rock be removed therefrom as soon as this can be
accomplished. . .
I think it was quite clear that the cardinal point
at issue in this whole controversy is the means by
which integration is to be achieved.
NEED ‘PEACEFUL MANNER’
It is my firm belief that it can be successful only
if it is accomplished in a peaceful manner, which
means acceptance by a majority of the people of
any area affected. . .
Now that my authority to preserve and main
tain the peace and good order of this community
has been so curtailed by this unwarranted action
of Judge Davies, I can only offer a fervent prayer
that the same thing will not happen here that has
happened in other states in recent years. . .
It is inconceivable to me that the parents of the
Negro children who have already been enrolled
at Central High School . . . would want their chil
dren in the school now in the situation that pre
vails ... If by their own volition the Negroes
would refrain from seizing upon that [court-de
clared] right to [attend the school] until such time
as there is assurance that it can be accomplished
in a peaceful manner as it has been in other sec
tions of the state it would be an act of prudence
and good judgment that would be applauded by a
vast majority of the people. . .
I appeal now for reason and clear thinking and
good order . . . The public peace will be pre
served. . .
On Sept. 21 President Eisenhower issued two
statements from Newport. The first hailed the
withdrawal of the National Guard. The second
elaborated on the first.
Little Rock police were stationed at the school
Sept. 23. The Negro children entered and subse
quently were withdrawn during the events of the
day, Later, President Eisenhower issued the fol
lowing statement and proclamation.
THE STATEMENT
I want to make several things very clear in con
nection with the disgraceful occurrences of today
at Central High School in the city of Little Rock:
They are:
1. The federal law and orders of a United States
District Court, implementing that law, cannot be
flouted with impunity by any individual, or any
mob of extremists.
2. I will use the full power of the United States,
including whatever force may be necessary to
to 1,000. The nine Negro students went
in a side door while the crowd was
chasing four Negro newsmen. By noon
the crowd was judged to be so noisy and
threatening that city and school author
ities agreed to take the Negro students
out, and did. That afternoon President
Eisenhower issued a proclamation or
dering the people to disperse and cease
interfering with the court order but
about 250 persons gathered at the school
next morning. President Eisenhower
then ordered the Arkansas National
Guard into federal service and part of
the 101st Airborne Division (which is
racially integrated) to surround the
school and see that the court order was
carried out.
On Wednesday morning (Sept. 25) the
nine Negro boys and girls went back to
school.
There was no trouble.
The state attorney general announced
on Sept. 16 that he had taken a deposi
tion from Mrs. L. C. Bates of Little Rock,
president of the Arkansas Conference of
Branches of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, in
connection with his civil suit against the
NAACP. He said that Mrs. Bates had
refused to answer some questions on the
ground that she was privileged not to
answer them under the Fourteenth
Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
Atty. Gen. Bennett said she declined
to give the names and addresses of the
state officers of the NAACP and to an
swer questions about NAACP records,
reports and solicitations.
FAILED TO REGISTER
In this lawsuit, in Pulaski County
(Little Rock) Chancery Court (State
of Arkansas v. NAACP, Inc., 108603)
Bennett alleges that the NAACP failed
to register with the state as a corpora
tion until April 1957 but that it had been
doing business in the state seven years
and owes $50 a year in corporation fran
chise taxes.
In U. S. District Court at Little Rock,
a three-judge court declined on Sept.
19 to consider a lawsuit by 10 Negro
ministers attacking the validity of four
Arkansas segregation laws. The court
ruled that the state courts must pass on
the constitutionality of state laws before
their validity can be questioned in a
(See ARKANSAS, Page 5)
prevent any obstruction of the law and to carry
out the orders of the federal court.
3. Of course, every right-thinking citizen will
hope that the American sense of justice and fair
play will prevail in this case. It will be a sad day
for this country—both at home and abroad—if
school children can safely attend their classes only
under the protection of armed guards.
4. I repeat my expressed confidence that the
citizens of Little Rock and of Arkansas will respect
the law and will not countenance violations of law
and order by extremists.
THE PROCLAMATION
Whereas, certain persons in the state of Arkan
sas, individually and in unlawful assemblies, com
binations, and conspiracies, have wilfully obstruct
ed the enforcement of orders of the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
with respect to matters relating to enrollment and
attendance at public schools, particularly at Cen
tral High School, located in Little Rock school dis
trict, Little Rock, Ark., and
Whereas, such willful obstruction of justice hin
ders the execution of the laws of that state and
of the United States, and makes it impracticable
to enforce such laws by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings, and
Whereas, such obstruction of justice constitutes
a denial of the equal protection of the laws secured
by the Constitution of the United States and im
pedes the course of justice under those laws;
Now, therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Presi
dent of the United States, under and by the virtue
of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and statutes of the United States, including Chap
ter 13 of Title 10, of the United States Code, par
ticularly Sections 332, 333 and 334 thereof, do
command all persons engaged in such obstruction
of justice to cease and desist therefrom, and to
disperse forthwith . . .
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