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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE 1958—PAGE 9
Alabama
(Continued From Page 8)
as they did in 1948, came within four
seats in the May 6 primary of winning
a majority on the State Democratic Ex
ecutive Committee.
Of the 72 committee seats, states’
righters who oppose the party “loyalty
oath” in Alabama (SSN, April 1958)
won 32. Party loyalists who advocate
allegiance to the national party won 23
seats.
17 TO BE FILLED
This leaves 17 seats to be filled by
run-off races June 3. The states’ right
ers are assured of at least one addi
tional seat because no loyalist is run
ning for it. By similar default, loyalists
are assured of seven more seats.
Thus, the control of the committee
(37 or more seats) will be determined
in nine races. The states’ righters need
to win only four of the nine to seize
control; the loyalists must win seven to
keep control.
Under the loyalty oath, which had its
origin in the 1948 Dixiecrat revolt,
candidates in the party primary must
swear that they supported Democratic
nominees in the last general election
and will support them in the next gen
eral election.
If the pledge is abolished—and the
states’ righters have said they will abol
ish it if they get control of the com
mittee—the way will be cleared for a
Year-End Summary
1) Alabama’s School Placement
Law was found to be constitu
tional “on its face” by a three-
judge federal court in Birming
ham.
2) Last summer the legislature
passed a bill, introduced by state
Sen. Sam Engelhardt of Macon
County, which gerrymandered
virtually all the 400 registered
Negro voters in Tuskegee out
side the city limits, thus stopping
what Engelhardt and others de
scribed as a threat to white po
litical control in the city.
3) When Negroes retaliated
with a boycott against white mer
chants in Tuskegee, the legisla
ture—again at Engelhardt’s re
quest—enacted a bill to study
feasibility of abolishing the whole
county of Macon, which has the
highest percentage (84 per cent)
of Negroes of any county in the
state. That study continues.
4) The segregation issue dom
inated the race for the guberna
torial nomination in the May 6
primary. Finishing first and sec
ond in the field of 44 were two
men most closely identified with
firm stands against integration.
5) The event with the greatest
impact of all, however, happened
in another state. The President’s
use of troops in Little Rock “fin
ished off the moderates,” as one
observer put it. The excitement
over Little Rock may have fig
ured in an apparent return to
power of states’ righters on the
state Democratic Executive Com
mittee.
repeat of 1948 when the Presidential
electors named in the state primary
pledged in advance that if President
Truman were nominated again they
would not vote for him as electors.
In the race for lieutenant governor,
state Sen. Albert Boutwell of Birm
ingham, head of the legislative commit
tee which prepared the state’s “free
dom of choice” school segregation
amendment, finished first in a field of
five.
Finishing last was Asa E. (Ace) Car
ter of Birmingham, who headed a North
Alabama Citizens Council group and
has been a frequent speaker at Klan
rallies. He was charged with assault
with intent to murder in connection
with a gunfight at a KKK rally in
Birmingham (these charges were later
dropped).
In the race for attorney general, Mac
Donald Gallion, a former member of
the attorney general’s staff under John
Patterson, won a first primary victory
over state Sen. Richmond Flowers, who
finished second, and state Rep. Charles
W. McKay, Jr., third.
Although admitting they had been
hurt by Little Rock, Alabama Repub
licans May 30 nominated a slate of
candidates for state offices in the No
vember general election.
Calling for “continued separation of
the races,” the Alabama GOP named
L. Longshore, Jr., 33-year-old Bir
mingham attorney, as party candidate
for governor.
# # #
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-
Ike Won’t Forecast Virginia Role, Backs
WASHINGTON, D. C.
resident Eisenhower, at his
news conference May 14,
would not predict the role of the
federal government in school seg
regation-desegregation situations
developing in Virginia and else
where but he emphasized that
federal court orders must be
obeyed.
While deploring “the need for
the use of troops anywhere to get
American citizens to obey the or
ders of constituted courts,” he
stressed that “everything we do
must be to support the law of the
land as interpreted by the Su
preme Court whether or not we
always individually approve it.”
(See “National Affairs.”)
On Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary
Committee’s approval of the Butler-
Jenner bill to curb the Supreme Court
brought clashing statements—a preview
of the lengthy debate in store for the
measure if it is called up for Senate
action.
NO HEARINGS EXPECTED
Meanwhile, the Senate Constitutional
Rights subcommittee virtually shut the
door on any hearings on civil rights leg
islation this year.
The Civil Rights Commission, how
ever, finally was set up in business—
after an eight-month struggle to get
started—when the Senate confirmed
Gordon M. Tiffany as its staff director.
On the District school scene, the
year-long search for the best qualified
educator available to head Washington’s
school system ended May 21 when Carl
F. Hansen was named as permanent
successor to Hobart M. Coming.
At the same school board meeting at
which Hansen’s selection was an
nounced, his proposal to end regular
secondary class instruction at Arm
strong High School, once one of the top
Negro schools under the former segre
gated system, was approved.
Asked whether he intended to use the
“Little Rock pattern” in meeting future
school desegregation crises, President
Eisenhower, at his news conference,
asked what a reporter meant by the
“Little Rock pattern.” When the re
porter replied he meant the sending of
troops to enforce a federal court order,
Eisenhower replied:
“That is right, to obey a court order;
and that is the point. I did not send
troops anywhere because of an argu
ment or a statement by a governor
about segregation. There was a court
order and there was not only mob inter
ference with the execution of that order
but there was a statement by the gov
ernor that he would not intervene to
see that court order would be exer
cised.
“That is exactly what I did.
WON’T PREDICT
“Now I don’t know. I am not going
to try to predict what the exact circum
stances in any other case will be. But I
do say this: I deplore the need for the
use of troops anywhere to get Amer
ican citizens to obey the orders of con
stituted courts because I want to point
this out:
“There is no person in this room
whose basic rights are not involved in
any successful defiance to the carrying
out of court orders.”
Asked whether the government was
making any advance plans to deal with
the anticipated desegregation showdown
in Virginia in September, the President
replied: “Well I don’t believe that you
can start a Gestapo around here and
have a secret police going into every
place they can to worm out of people
what their evil intentions can be.
“Now what I think is this: Every
thing we say, everything we do must
be to support the law of the land as
interpreted by the Supreme Court
whether or not we always individually
approve it.”
NOT A SURPRISE
President Eisenhower’s May 8 order
to withdraw the troops at Little Rock
came as no surprise as it was not ex
pected that troops would guard an
empty school all summer. The signifi
cance of the order is that it marks offi
Year-End Summary
1) The public schools, complete
ly desegregated by September
1955, remained in that status.
2) Serious education lags in
achievement levels of Negro stu
dents were revealed.
3) A southern - dominated
House subcommittee’s attempt to
return the schools to integration
failed.
4) Substantial achievement
gains, through special educational
efforts, including a four-track
system of ability grouping, were
reported.
5) Negro enrollment, now 71.2
per cent of the public school stu
dent body, continued to increase.
cial withdrawal of federal control. (See
also Arkansas report.)
In an obvious reference to the Pres
ident’s action at Little Rock, William O.
Walker, president of the National
Newspaper Publishers Association
which represents the Negro press, pre
sented Eisenhower with a citation at a
“summit meeting” of national Negro
leaders here. The citation stated:
“When constitutional government in
this country was challenged by defiant
and reckless men, he did not hesitate to
use the full power and prestige of the
office of President of the United States,
disregarding personal favor and polit
ical expedient, to uphold orderly, judi
cial process, with the result that for as
long as our Union shall continue its
people will respect and obey the law
of the land.”
FIRST SINCE 1906
The “summit meeting” of 350 Negro
leaders was the first such meeting since
a 1906 parley in Niagara, N.Y., which
gave birth to the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple. The two-day meeting was called
by the National Newspaper Publishers
Association to assess Negro problems
and potential.
Speaking at the opening session,
President Eisenhower declared that
“better and more profound educa
tion” must be depended upon more than
“the letter of the law” in the civil
rights and anti-discrimination contro
versy.
Emphasizing that “patience and for
bearance” are necessary, the President
declared:
“I do not decry laws for they are nec
essary. But I say that laws themselves
will never solve problems that have
their roots in the human heart and in
the human emotions. It is because of
this very reason that I am more hopeful
that we will, as the years go past, speak
to each other only as Americans with
out any adjectives to describe us as spe
cial types of Americans.”
As the conference continued into its
second day, it almost was broken up
when Clarence Mitchell, head of the
Washington Bureau of the National As
sociation for the Advancement of Col
ored People, heckled Secretary of La
bor James P. Mitchell during a speech.
SPEECH INTERRUPTED
The labor secretary was interrupted as
he stated that persons who were pro
fessional civil rights advocates last year
deserted the House-approved civil
rights bill. This resulted, he said, in “a
weak, watered-down and ineffectual
civil rights bill.”
The NAACP official shouted, “That
is not true.” The labor secretary contin
ued his speech and offered to debate
with his critic. When the speech ended,
the NAACP leader sought to use the
microphone but was restrained. Then
he tried to speak to the group from the
floor and again was stopped.
At an impromptu press conference a
few minutes later, the NAACP official
said the labor secretary was trying to
give the impression that the NAACP
and other civil rights groups were re
sponsible for the weak bill. He insisted
that there simply were not enough
votes available in the Senate to pass the
controversial “Part Three” of the bill.
MITCHELL CRITICIZED
The NAACP leader’s conduct was “in
excusable,” said the president of the
National Newspaper Publishers Asso
ciation, Walker, who issued a statement
apologizing to the labor secretary for
the interruption.
The two-day meeting ended with the
adoption of “policy statements” calling
for improving the Negro’s lot in areas
ranging from civil rights to health to
international relations.
In the civil rights statement, the con
ference said it wants for Negro Amer
icans “every civil right which is en
joyed by every other American.” It
therefore rejected President Eisenhow
er’s appeal for patience in the civil
rights struggle.
FIRST MOVE SINCE 1868
It has been 90 years since Congress
has restricted the jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court. The Reconstruction
Congress in 1868 removed the court’s
jurisdiction in certain habeas corpus ap
peals.
Now the Butler-Jenner bill, approved
by a 10 to 5 vote of the powerful Sen
ate Judiciary Committee, would strip
the Supreme Court of review powers in
one field and reverse effects of three
of its security decisions.
Sen. Thomas C. Hennings Jr. (D-
Mo.) called it an “unvarnished attempt
to intimidate” the Supreme Court and
“one of the most irresponsible pieces of
serious legislation” reported to the Sen
ate in his eight years as a member. He
won a two-week delay in reporting the
bill to the Senate and pledged a month
long floor fight if necessary if the Sen
ate decides to act on it.
‘PARALYZING EFFECTS’
But Sen. William E. Jenner (R-Ind.)
said the bill gives “hope that Congress
will act to overcome the paralyzing ef
fects of Supreme Court decisions in the
anti-subversive field.”
The bill approved by the Senate Ju
diciary Committee is a watered-down
version of legislation introduced last
year by Sen. Jenner and consists of a
series of amendments offered by Sen.
John Marshall Butler (R-Md.). How
ever, in one section it preserves Jen-
ner’s idea that the court has abused its
power and should be curbed.
This section would take away the
court’s authority to review cases in
volving state regulation of admitting
lawyers to practice. It is a reaction to
two decisions last year holding that a
lawyer could not be denied admission
to the bar solely because of past Com
munist affiliation.
HENNINGS OVERRULED
Chairman Thomas C. Hennings Jr.
(D-Mo.) of the Senate Constitutional
Rights subcommittee was overruled
May 5 on his announcement that hear
ings would be held in two weeks on a
package of civil rights bills referred to
his subcommittee.
By a 3 to 2 vote, the subcommittee
ruled that no hearings shall be held
without formal approval by the sub
committee. Hennings then moved to
start hearings May 13 and was voted
down by the same lineup.
Hennings declared hearings should be
held because pending bills take differ
ent approaches to civil rights problems.
One would use the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare to try to
solve school integration problems before
they reach the courts. Another would
enact a modified version of a section
struck from last year’s bill permitting
the government to obtain injunctions to
protect all civil rights.
TIFFANY CONFIRMED
A 67-13 Senate vote finally con
firmed Gordon M. Tiffany as staff direc
tor of the Civil Rights Commission on
May 14. Southern members made two
hours of speeches opposing him al
though much of the opposition was
aimed at the Civil Rights Act which
created his job.
At a Civil Rights Commission meet
ing the following week, nine-member
“grass roots” citizens’ advisory commit
tees were appointed in Texas and In
diana. “Without reservation,” Tiffany
said he and the six-member Commis
sion were “encouraged” by the re
sponse of citizens in several states who
have expressed enthusiasm for serving
on the advisory committees.
By September, the commission hopes
to have such committees at work in all
the states. They will pass on to the com
mission word of voting violations and
suggest ways to solve local civil rights
problems.
A revised version of the old Part HI
of the Civil Rights bill was introduced
May 6 by Sen. Hubert Humphrey
(D-Minn.).
The chief difference between Hum
phrey’s bill and the one introduced by
a bipartisan group of 16 senators in
February is that the new bill confers
powers only on the attorney general
without any provision for participation
by the new secretary in local deseg
regation efforts or grants by him to
local school districts.
While the bill would allow the attor
ney general to seek injunctions against
any civil rights violations based on ra
cial or religious grounds, he may do so
only after a signed complaint has been
filed and an investigation by him indi
cates the existence of illegal practices.
“The attorney general, therefore, will
have no roving commission but must
Up Courts
await the filing of signed complaints,”
Humphrey said.
nr*i» s: limii
:j m 1
DISTRICT SCHOOLS
The board of education’s vote was
unanimous in selecting as superintend
ent Carl Hansen, an officer of the Dis
trict school system for 11 years and its
acting head since Hobart M. Coming
retired March 1.
Mrs. Frank S. Phillips, chairman of
the board’s personnel committee, which
recommended Hansen’s appointment,
said the committee regarded him as “an
outstanding educator, an able adminis
trator and a man with the interest of
the school children primary in his
heart.”
Unanimous approval of Hansen’s se
lection was proposed by Rowland F.
Kirks, one of two school board mem
bers who voted against Hansen’s ap
pointment as acting superintendent.
HANSEN’S ROLE
Hansen played a leading role in plan
ning and executing District school de
segregation and wrote a pamphlet,
“Miracle of Social Adjustment,” about
Washington’s compliance with the Su
preme Court’s desegregation decision.
Now 52, Hansen began teaching when
he was 19 at the Wolbach, Neb., High
School where he taught English, Latin
and speech two years after he had grad
uated from the same school. He holds
A.B. and M.A. degrees from the Uni
versity of Nebraska and a doctorate in
education from the University of
Southern California.
The District school board voted to
discontinue regular secondary class in
struction at Armstrong High School
upon the request of the school admin
istration which cited dwindling enroll
ments and deterioration of the physical
plant. A public hearing, held previously,
had shown little agreement among 13
speakers discussing the school’s future.
The 58-year-old building will remain
open as a Veterans’ High School Cen
ter and some of its shops will be used
by students of a nearby high school.
In recent years, Armstrong has
served as a remedial instruction center
for slow learners. Its student body of
about 460 boys will be transferred to
neighborhood high schools where shop
programs similar to those at Armstrong
will be available.
PLAN REMEDIAL WORK
Earlier last month, school officials an
nounced they would repeat and ex
pand the summer remedial reading pro
gram which helped many elementary
pupils to score notable gains last year.
An innovation this year will be the in
clusion of some remedial arithmetic
work in the reading program.
About 1,900 youngsters in grades 3
through 6 are expected to enroll in the
program at 12 elementary schools. Last
year 1,300 children at six schools took
part. The six-week reading course re
sulted in an average gain of six months
in reading ability.
The Joint Congressional Committee
on District Fiscal Affairs on May 6 re
stored $4.5 million of the $19.3 million
it cut from school construction pro
gram and left the door open for spend
ing the authorized funds during four
years instead of six as originally
planned.
CAN REDUCE RATIO
This action caused Washington school
officials to express confidence that they
can reduce pupil-teacher ratios to 30
to 1 if Congress authorizes the con
struction program approved by the
committee.
Walter N. Tobriner, president of the
district Board of Education said the
restoration “goes a long way toward
meeting our school needs.” The com
mittee's action, he said, was “far from
being a repudiation of the 30 to 1 prin
ciple the board has so long sought.”
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington,
meeting in annual convention here May
5, took the first formal step to integrate
white churches. Each congregation, del
egates from 96 congregations agreed
unanimously, will undertake a study to
determine how it can minister to the
“diversity” of people living in its area.
The convention also directed the dio
cesan Department of Social Relations
and four other departments to “en
courage and aid” the study program
and to prepare a resolution, to be acted
upon next year, which would propose
how to “actualize” the principle of non
discrimination. # # #