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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—NOVEMBER 1957—PAGE 7
Oklahoma Hears Two Airings of School Issue, States’ Rights
OKLAHOMA OTTV OtL !j_. « =_ i ■mu — mm „
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.
O klahoma served as a sound
ing board in October for two
influential groups, the Vice Presi
dent of the United States, and
others in the controversy over
states’ rights versus federal rights.
The National Legislative Conference
voted a full-dress study of the question
after Arkansas delegates first sought a
more specific inquiry into the use of
federal troops to enforce school inte
gration in Little Rock. (See “Legisla
tive Action.”)
Vice President Richard M. Nixon
blamed the Little Rock crisis on ex
tremists and the Arkansas governor,
Orval Faubus, who, he charged, encour
aged them. (See “What They Say.”)
ACTION PRAISED
President Eisenhower’s decision to
dispatch federal troops to the Arkansas
capital drew praise from a church
group. (See “Community Action.”)
In Oklahoma City the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People mounted an attack on the school
district’s special-transfer policy, threat
ening court action. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
New information developed from a
study of State Department of Education
records indicates probably as many as
57, and possibly more, school districts
in Oklahoma are still segregated. (See
“Under Survey.”)
the president of this conference is here
by directed to appoint a committee of
not less than 15 members of this con
ference to make a study of the ques
tion of encroachment by the federal
government upon the rights reserved to
the states by the constitution of this
country. Such committee shall submit
its findings and recommendations to the
next annual meeting of this conference.”
RESOLUTION BY-PASSED
The resolutions committee, headed by
Emmett Asseff of Louisiana, by-passed
the Arkansas resolution and reported
out one calling for a broad study of
federal-state taxation. It was adopted
by the conference in this form:
“Be it resolved by the 10th National
Legislative Conference that the presi
dent be authorized and directed to ap
prove a committee of not less than 10
members from the membership of this
conference to make a study of federal-
state relationships with particular
emphasis on the allocation of the tax
ing powers, upon ways and means of
obtaining a more equitable distribution
of the dollar and upon clarification of
the powers delegated to the federal
government and the powers reserved to
the states.”
However, the Arkansas delegation
claimed a victory in the wording of
the final clause, viewing it as including
the jurisdictional issue of use of fed
eral troops to enforce federal orders,
such as in school integration.
The 40-member Arkansas delegation
came to Oklahoma City for the National
Legislative Conference in a chartered
bus bearing the sign: “Refugees From
Occupied Arkansas.” It also came armed
with a proposed resolution condemn
ing the use of federal troops against
citizens of any state without the request
of state authorities.
As first drafted the resolution read:
Be it resolved by the delegates of the
legislative branch of the sovereign states
assembled at the 10th annual National
Legislative Conference that the use of
federal troops against the citizens of
any state, without proper request
therefor by the head of said state, is
hereby formally condemned as a de
plorable violation of the inherent rights
of all American citizens.”
Lawmakers from Georgia, Florida,
South Carolina, and other southern
states conferred with the Arkansas
group over wording of the resolution.
However, by the time it got to the
conference’s resolutions committee, the
Measure had been toned down. It called
merely for a study of federal encroach
ment on states’ rights.
TWO PRESENT PROPOSAL
State Sen. Marshall Shackelford Jr.,
LI Dorado, chairman of the Arkansas
Legislative Council, and State Rep. Vir-
pl T. Fletcher, Benton, presented the
ollowing proposal to the resolutions
committee:
Be it resolved by the 10th annual
ational Legislative Conference that
Vice President Nixon was the fea
tured speaker at a Saturday night din
ner on Oct. 12 concluding the meeting
of the National Conference of Editorial
Writers in Oklahoma City.
Nixon assessed the Little Rock school
integration problems as centering on
three great issues: moral, economic,
and international.
Of the moral issue he commented, “I
wonder if some have thought as much
as they should have of the nine Negro
children who had to go into a strange
new school.”
The Vice President said the conflict
resulted in economic loss because “we
cannot continue to have a system in
which millions of our citizens are de
nied an education.”
NON-WHITE PEOPLES
Internationally speaking, he reminded
the editors that many millions of the
people who live in neutral countries
are not white. “Every time an incident
occurs in the United States, it is blown
up a thousand-fold abroad.” Nixon as
serted that what happened in Little
Rock was “to a great extent stirred up
by extremists and encouraged by Gov.
Orval Faubus of Arkansas.
The northern view of the integration
problem in the South was outlined by
a delegate to the conference from Buf
falo, N. Y. He was Millard Browne,
chief editorial writer for the Buffalo
Evening News. He said northerners
aware of the deep feelings in the South
do not expect integration to be com-
A 36-member delegation of Arkansas legislators arrived at the National Legis
lative Conference in Oklahoma City last month in this chartered bus. Pointing to
the slogan painted on the bus are, from the left, Frank Ross of McGehee and
Marion H. Crank of Foreman, both members of the Arkansas House of Repre
sentatives. The delegation’s efforts to promote a study of the use of federal troops
to force desegregation resulted in adoption of a resolution calling for a broad
states’ rights study.
pleted there for the next two or three
years. “I’m not sure that integration
will ever mean anything more than
abolishing of the legal barriers to it,”
he emphasized. “It has not meant a
50-50 association in the North. Yet, in
comparison to the Deep South, we are
integrated.”
OTHER REACTIONS
Little Rock’s school integration diffi
culties brought forth a variety of other
reaction in neighboring Oklahoma dur
ing the month.
Dr. John L. Peters, former Oklahoma
City University professor and found
er and president of World Neighbors,
Inc., charged the outbreak of trouble
in the Arkansas capital had fed grist
into the Communist propaganda mill. He
spoke to Oklahoma City chapter mem
bers of the American Association of
University Women.
A different aspect of the Little Rock
crisis alarmed a nationally known Okla
homan. Dr. Malcolm E. Phelps, presi
dent of the American Academy of Gen
eral Practice, criticized the use of force
to carry out a federal order. He ad
dressed a dinner session of the ninth an
nual Scientific Assembly of the North
Carolina Academy of General Practice.
“Integration is a chip floating on a tide
of centralization about to sweep away
family self-government, and state self-
government,” he said. “President Eisen
hower’s decision to use whatever force
may be necessary to prevent any ob
struction of the law and to carry out
orders of the federal court presents
America with her gravest internal crisis
since the reconstruction era.”
Oklahoma’s congressmen, with one
exception, were hesitant to wade into
the big controversy. The exception was
Rep. Tom Steed, a Democrat from
Shawnee, who declared: “A challenge
like this can’t be permitted to go un
answered. I think the President has
done the only thing he could do. You
just can’t enforce the popular laws. You
have to enforce them all. That’s all there
is to it.”
Steed and other political leaders, both
Democrats and Republicans, were quer
ied by newsmen in Tulsa, where they
were gathered for rival party functions.
Other members of the congressional
delegation had little or no comment,
beyond remarking that “it’s an unfor
tunate situation.” Sen. Robert S. Kerr
said he was already in “three fights
with the Eisenhower administration”
and didn’t believe he should get into
another one.
At the Republican gathering, a mem
ber of the GOP’s national finance com
mittee, Charles Thomas, former secre
tary of the Navy, predicted “nothing
resembling the Little Rock situation
ever will occur again elsewhere in the
nation.”
A Little Rock Negro attorney called
in Oklahoma City for the “opinion
makers” of the South to make them
selves heard in behalf of law and order.
Chris Mercer, 33-year-old former ex
ecutive of the Arkansas Council of Hu
man Relations, spoke to a social edu
cation and action committee of the
Presbyterian synod. He was an unoffi
cial counselor to Negro parents in the
Little Rock disturbance and drove one
of the cars that took the nine Negro
youngsters to Central High School the
first morning.
“Th'e opinion makers of the South
have been very silent,” he declared.
“The hierarchy of the churches should
assert themselves for law and order
whether they are for integration or not
. . . Nothing can be solved by violence.”
PRAISES STATE
Gov. Raymond Gary of Oklahoma re
turned from the Southern Governors
Conference at Sea Island, Ga., with
praise for his fellow Sooners for the
calm way in which they had accepted
school integration.
“I think the people of the state are
to be commended,” he said. “I think the
majority would prefer to operate as
they were operating before the Supreme
Court mandate was handed down, but
since that’s the law of the land, they
felt we should abide by it.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
The special-transfer policy of the
Oklahoma City school board came under
attack by the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
because of the former’s refusal to let
seven Negro pupils switch from an in
tegrated school to an all-white elemen
tary school.
The NAACP complained a number of
white children in the Culbertson dis
trict on the city’s east side were given
special transfers to Harmony, although
they live a greater distance from Har
mony than the Negro students request
ing transfers. The Culbertson school is
integrated while Harmony has an all-
white student body.
John E. Green, attorney for the Okla
homa City branch of the NAACP asked
the board, “Is it the policy of the board
to permit students of the majority race
to transfer freely but to put restrictions
on the minority race?”
STATES POLICY
Dr. Melvin W. Barnes, superintend
ent, said the board’s policy is to allow a
student to transfer to a school where
his race predominates in cases where
the move appeared to be “in the best
interest of the pupils” and where space
and facilities permit.
Dr. Barnes told the NAACP the pol
icy was established by the board at the
time city schools were desegregated and
expressed belief it had facilitated inte
gration. He recalled there was “a cer
tain amount of resistance” when Okla
homa schools were integrated. The
board’s transfer policy, he said, provided
an “escape valve” for those who cannot
take integration.
The Oklahoma synod of the Presby
terian Church in the USA, in its 71st
annual meeting in Oklahoma City,
adopted a resolution commending Pres
ident Eisenhower for his stand in the
Little Rock controversy. Little Rock and
western Arkansas are in the Oklahoma
synod.
The resolution expressed regret for
the necessity of calling out federal
troops but called upon “all Christian
people” to support without equivoca
tion the action taken by the President.
The list of Oklahoma districts still
operating segregated schools was up
dated during the month by checking
with State Department of Education of
ficials and records. It was disclosed that
50 districts in 22 counties are “definite
ly” segregated and seven others “prob
ably” are.
In September the total of still-segre
gated school districts was reported at
29. But this was on the basis of the
number of districts known to have de
segregated applied against the total be
lieved to have pupils of both races. It
is apparent now there are many more
bi-racial districts than are indicated in
State Department of Education records.
# # #
Arkansas
(Continued From Page 6)
to Ly telephone in advance.
Two days later Eisenhower described
j' Vo conditions under either of which
e would pull out the troops. The first
Was unequivocal assurance that court
orders would not be obstructed and
| “'at peace would be maintained. The
^ond was for conditions at Little
ltoc K to develop so that local police
c ° u ld carry out the court order.
Faubus, reading this, said that his
y me” statement was the unequivocal
durance.
Delations deteriorate
A few days later the governor said
°°ked to him as if the federal troops
°uld be needed as long as the Negro
jdents were attending Central High.
®reafter no known attempts were
ue to resolve the crisis as the rela-
ns between the state and federal au-
drifted to lower and lower
Pi
*irst, Gov. Faubus said that swarms
f PB-
^ock
^ FBI agents were working in Little
c °tnm
and holding teenaged girls in-
tin ■ un * ca< lo l° r hours while ques-
them. FBI Director J. Edgar
°° v er said this was a “falsehood.”
TVi
tr , nen the governor said that federal
a Ps> on duty inside Central High as
l^cj^foction for the Negro students,
Mi etltere d the girls’ dressing room
Sro 61 ^ £irl s > both white and Ne-
tj Q ’ c hange clothes for physical educa-
(A. Masses. The White House said this
was vulgar and untrue. Army
Secretary Wilber M. Brucker said it
was vulgar and unsupported.
INVESTIGATION ASKED
Then Rep. E. C. Gathings of West
Memphis (D-Ark.) wrote a letter to
Sen. James O. Eastland (D-Miss.),
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Com
mittee. He asked for an investigation of
the way Federal Judge Ronald N.
Davies had handled Little Rock inte
gration litigation and of the “gestapo
tactics” used by the FBI at Little Rock.
Hoover said that was wrong too and
lamented that Gathings had not given
any specific instances if he knew of
any.
Toward the end of the month the
Arkansas County Judges Association
adopted without dissent a resolution
commending Faubus for his stand at
Little Rock and criticizing the President
for sending federal troops. This asso
ciation is recognized as one of the most
powerful political groups in the state.
In protest against the use of federal
troops, the chairman of the Treasury
Savings Bond campaign in Ouachita
County and three members of the Se
lective Service Board for Prairie
County resigned their jobs.
There was much talk of a special ses
sion of the legislature to do something
about school integration, but nothing
came of it. Gov. Faubus, the only per
son who can call a special session, said
he personally was against having one
but that there was a strong possibility
there would be one because it looked
like the only way to a peaceful solution.
State Atty. Gen. Bruce Bennett re
minded that the state constitution con
tains a provision that the state “must”
provide free public schools.
The Little Rock City Council in a
statement approved by seven of its 10
members urged Faubus to call a special
session. The City Council declaration
suggested that the state withdraw fi
nancial aid from any school or college
“forced to integrate its pupils by the
armed might of the federal govern
ment.”
The Arkansas Legislative Council
(composed of both senators and repre
sentatives, it functions between sessions
as a study group) met Oct. 25 and de
cided on a study of the “various cir
cumstances, events and activities sur
rounding the educational problems of
the state. Rep. Carroll C. Hollensworth
of Bradley County, author of the in
vestigative move, said he thought the
legislators would be “unanimous” on
any anti-integration proposal “if we
thought we had a solution.” Finding
that solution is the task of the special
committee.
BENNETT PROPOSES ORDINANCE
State Atty. Gen. Bruce Bennett, con
tinuing his campaign against the Na
tional Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People, drew up a
suggested municipal ordinance and sent
it to the mayors of about 300 Arkansas
towns and cities. It was designed, he
said, to force the NAACP to register
with the cities and to make public the
names of its officers and employes and
to give certain financial information, in
cluding a list of contributions and how
it spends its money.
At least three cities—Little Rock,
North Little Rock and Crossett—
promptly adopted the Bennett ordi
nance. North Little Rock and Crossett
took no action after adopting the ordi
nance, but Little Rock Mayor Woodrow
Wilson Mann did. He ordered the
NAACP, the Capital Citizens Council,
the Freedom Fund, Inc., and the
League of Central High Mothers to
comply within 15 days. All but the
NAACP are segregationist groups. The
ordinance is directed at “certain organ
izations” and doesn’t name any one. Its
stated purpose is to determine whether
“certain organizations”are evading the
payment of privilege taxes.
Rep. W. F. Norrell (D-Ark.) said he
would never vote money for troops to
enforce integration in any public school.
He said Arkansas could handle its own
racial problems and “if the federal
government had let us alone we could
have done a marvelous job.”
Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.),
back from a six-week trip abroad, asked
the U. S. Attorney General for a copy of
the FBI report on the Little Rock situ
ation, not for publication but for his
own information. The report, ordered
by Federal Judge Ronald N. Davies to
determine what justification there was
for Gov. Faubus to use Arkansas Na
tional Guardsmen to prevent integra
tion at Little Rock Central High, has
never been released to the public. Ful
bright, who had not commented previ
ously on Little Rock, said only this: “It
is regrettable and tragic that federal
troops are in Little Rock. The people
of Little Rock and Arkansas do not de
serve this treatment; they have always
been law abiding citizens.”
ATTRIBUTION IN ERROR
The comments attributed to Fulbright
in the October 1957 issue of Southern
School News were not those of Ful
bright but actually had been made by
Sen. John L. McClellan (D-Ark.).
, SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
The Little Rock School Board
suspended 69 Central High School stu
dents for periods of three days to two
weeks because of incidents at the school
during the integration crisis.
The Pulaski County School District
(which operates in the county but out
side both Little Rock and North Little
Rock) said it had received “several”
requests for transfers of students from
Little Rock Central. It accepted only
three and then only when the families
moved out of the Little Rock school
district into the county district.