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ALABAMA-
southern SCHOOL NEWS—JULY 1958—PAGE II
NAACP And Folsom Foe, Wins Gubernatorial Primary
Patterson,
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
tty. Gen. John Patterson,
who ran on his record as an
opponent of “Folsomism” and the
NAACP, won a sweeping victory
in the June 3 run-off for Ala
bama’s Democratic gubernatorial
nomination.
Patterson’s 315,353 votes — a
record for a candidate for gover
nor—gave him a 64,902-vote lead
over his opponent, Circuit Judge
George Wallace of Barbour Coun
ty. Both had pledged unyielding
opposition to integration, but the
public image of Patterson as a
segregationist was said to be
stronger because of his court ac
tion which led to the banning of
the NAACP in Alabama two
years ago. (For another round in
Patterson’s fight against the
Negro organization, see “Legal
Action.”)
The charges of Klan support for Pat
terson apparently backfired on Judge
Wallace, though he did get a heavy
Negro vote which probably helped him
take Mobile County. Patterson had won
Mobile in the first primary May 6. (See
“Political Activity.”)
STATES' RIGHTERS WIN
States’ righters, for the first time in
eight years, won control of the state
Democratic executive committee. At
issue was the party’s “loyalty oath,”
bom of the 1948 Dixiecrat revolt, which
banned from the ballot candidates who
had voted Republican in the last gen
eral election. The oath also bound all
candidates to support of the national
ticket, thus preventing a recurrence of
the ’48 revolt when Alabama cast its
11 electoral votes for the Dixiecrat
ticket. (See “Political Activity.”)
In Birmingham, a Negro leader an
nounced that the attack on the state’s
school placement law (Southern
School News, June 1958) would be car
ried to the U. S. Supreme Court. (See
“Legal Action.”)
The Rev. F. L. Shuttlesworth, Bir
mingham Negro leader, announced
June 3 that Negroes seeking to enter
Birmingham white public schools
would carry their fight against the
school placement law to the U. S. Su
preme Court.
A three-judge federal court ruled
May 9 that the assignment law was not
unconstitutional “on its face” though it
might prove unconstitutional in “appli
cation” (SSN, June). Shuttlesworth
said this ruling would be appealed. His
daughter is among the Negro children
in whose behalf the action was filed.
However, a “class action” ruling was
asked by attorneys for the plaintiffs.
Shuttlesworth is president of the Ala
bama Christian Movement' for Human
Rights, a pro-integration group also at
tacking Birmingham bus segregation
laws.
Texas
(Continued From Page 10)
gun over an alleged uncomplimentary
remark made by Harvey to Bowles’
wife. Bowles was credited with fom
ing the National Association for Ad
vancement of White People before
moving to Texas several months ago.
He has been active in segregation ef
forts in Southeast Texas since coming
here.
At Houston, four Negro dentists filed
suit in U. S. district court seeking to
enjoin Harris County commission
ers court from adopting segregation
Policies regarding use of Sylvan Park
Beach, a public facility. This is the
second case filed by Negroes claiming
they have been denied use of the park.
The Texas Methodist Conference by
passed a possible dispute by omitting
rom its report to delegates a six-mem-
er study committee’s recommendation
o allow Negroes as well as whites to
^ tend Lakeview, a church camp near
alestine, in East Texas.
Joe Z. Tower, president of the board
governing the camp, said there had
been no request from Negroes to use it.
In Montgomery, Atty. Gen. John Pat
terson, govemor-nominate, went back
into Montgomery Circuit Court June 20
to renew his attack on the NAACP in
Alabama.
Two years ago—June 1, 1956 — the
Montgomery court enjoined the
NAACP from operating in Alabama.
The presiding judge in that case, Judge
Walter B. Jones, subsequently fined the
NAACP $100,000 for refusing to sub
mit its membership lists and other rec
ords.
Patterson, who initiated the action,
said the documents were essential to
the case. NAACP attorneys said the
information could be used to intimidate
or harass NAACP members. On June
30, the U.S. Supreme Court unani
mously overrode the Alabama court
fine.
ALTER EGO’
In his latest action, Patterson con
tends that an organization incorporated
last tail, tne Alabama State Coordinat
ing Association for Registration and
Voting, is the “alter ego” of the
NAACP and is carrying on its work
in the state. Patterson charges that the
goals and purposes of the organization
are the same as the NAACP, its lead
ership is the same and it is in fact
directed by NAACP national headquar
ters.
He seeks a contempt ruling against
the association for violation of the 1956
injunction. The association has been
doing “indirectly what it cannot do di
rectly,” the attorney general charged.
In a preliminary response to the at
tack on the association, Negro attorneys
demanded that Judge Jones disqualify
himself because of prejudice. The re
spondents cited recent campaign state
ments by Judge Jones and his support
ers (he won renomination to the bench
May 6) which, they said, indicated a
“personal bias and prejudice” against
the NAACP.
CAMPAIGN STATEMENTS QUOTED
The respondents pointed to a tele
vised campaign statement by Judge
Jones in which he said: “I intend to
deal the NAACP and its counterpart,
the Montgomery Improvement Associ
ation, a blow from which they shall
never recover.”
The Negro attorneys also introduced
copies of political ads by supporters of
the judge in which his stand as a seg
regationist and relentless foe of the
NAACP was frequently referred to. In
addition, a copy of a column Jones
wrote for The Montgomery Advertiser
last year was introduced. Captioned “I
Speak for the White Race,” the column
strongly supported continued segrega
tion.
JUDGE JONES REPLIES
Judge Jones rejected the demands
that he disqualify himself. In a pre
pared statement he said: “I stand
legally indifferent between the parties
and have neither bias for the state nor
prejudice against the respondent.”
In reference to his televised remark
about the NAACP, Judge Jones said:
“. . . The statement does not indicate
bias or prejudice concerning any pend
ing or future litigation. It is but a
simple statement that an intelligent
electorate will not permit a person or
organization which may be aggrieved
at a decision of a court to remove from
the bench the judge who rendered that
decision.”
County commissions studying ways
to improve Texas public schools—part
of a statewide survey ordered by the
legislature—generally are recommend
ing that base salaries for teachers be
boosted from $3,200 to $4,000 a year.
This report came from L. P. Sturgeon
of the Texas State Teachers Associa
tion.
$6,000 RECOMMENDATION
Some county commissions recom
mended starting pay as high as $6,000
for teachers holding bachelor degrees,
Sturgeon added.
The county surveys showed an aver
age recommendation of $6,000 annually
as the guaranteed maximum salary for
a teacher. Some recommendations
ranged to maximums of more than
$10,000.
Sturgeon noted that most counties
reported they can provide ample build
ings without outside assistance. Only
six counties of 253 reporting said they
need federal aid on building.
# # #
CORRECTION
In the June issue of Southern School
News, the Rev. Carey Daniel, who is
sued a pro-segregation statement on
behalf of 330 Dallas ministers, was er
roneously listed as pastor of the First
Baptist Church of Dallas. He is pastor
of the First Baptist Church in West
Dallas, a suburb of Dallas.
Among the witnesses subpoenaed by
the state is Roy Wilkins, NAACP exec
utive secretary in New York, and W. C.
Patton of Birmingham, an officer in the
new association and state president of
the NAACP at the time of the 1956 in
junction. Patterson claims that Patton
conferred with Wilkins at a southwide
conference on Negro voting in Atlanta
last fall.
Circuit Judge Will O. Walton of
Lafayette dissolved an injunction June
21 which had been directed at the Ne
gro boycott of Tuskegee white mer
chants.
RETALIATORY BOYCOTT
The boycott was Negro retaliation to
an act of the legislature last summer
which gerrymandered virtually all Tus-
kegee’s 410 Negro voters outside of the
city limits, thus denying them any
voice in municipal political affairs. The
bill did not affect any of the city’s 600
white voters.
The boycott is still in effect. Atty.
Gen. Patterson had asked for a per
manent injunction. Judge Walton
denied this June 21 simultaneously with
his dissolution of the temporary re
straining order. He said:
“Thus far in this land, every person
has a right to trade with whomever he
pleases, and, therefore, the right not to
trade with any particular person or
business.”
EVIDENCE INSUFFICIENT
Judge Walton said no evidence had
been presented to show conclusively
that the civic association was part of a
conspiracy to boycott white merchants,
in violation of a state law which pre
vents such a conspiracy to boycott
“without just cause or legal excuse.”
The boycott was discussed at weekly
meetings of the civic association, Judge
Walton found, but the law has long
recognized the right of any person to
“say what he pleases at any public as
sembly, subject to being held liable for
a violation of the law.”
Atty. Gen. Patterson declined to say
whether he would appeal the decision.
Negro leaders expressed gratification.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgom
ery Negro leader who had given sup
port to the Tuskegee leaders and the
boycott, said the ruling was “one of
the most wholesome and encouraging
decisions rendered in Alabama courts
in recent years. Judge Walton will be
commended by all men of good will for
his forthright courage and broad vision
in rendering a decision which is both
legally and morally right. It is a revela
tion of the fact that not all judges in
the South will use their judicial
authority to interpret' the law in the
light of attitudes of these reactionaries
who are guided by prejudice and big
otry.”
Tuskegee Civic Association President
C. G. Gomillion also expressed pleasure
over the decision and the Rev. Ralph
Abernathy, vice president of the Mont
gomery Improvement Association, said
the decision renewed his faith in
“southern justice.”
There was no immediate indication
that Judge Walton’s action had any ef
fect on the boycott.
The Macon County Abolition Com
mission met in Montgomery June 12
for the first time in months but could
reach no agreement on what future ac
tion to take.
The commission was authorized in a
statewide referendum last December.
The abolition of Macon County (Tuske
gee) was proposed by State Sen. Sam
Engelhardt last summer in retaliation
for a Negro boycott of Tuskegee mer
chants.
The boycott was itself a retaliation to
Engelhardt’s earlier bill gerrymander
ing all Negro voters outside Tuskegee
city limits (see “Legal Action”).
OPPOSITION GROWING
Earlier testimony revealed some op
position, which may be growing, to
outright abolition. The six surrounding
counties which would receive a slice of
Macon have, for instance, expressed
concern over the legal and economic
problems which would ensue. Similarly,
some Tuskegee attorneys and business
men are reported in opposition to abo
lition.
The commission must make its report
by Oct. 1, the recommendations then to
be offered to the 1959 legislature. So
far, there seems little agreement on
what these recommendations would be.
Atty. Gen. John Patterson broke all
records for a gubernatorial candidate
ALBERT BOUTWELL
Nominated Lieutenant Governor
June 3 when he received 315,353 votes
—almost 10,000 more than Gov. Folsom
got four years ago in establishing the
previous record.
The huge vote gave Patterson a 64,-
902 majority over his runoff opponent,
Judge George Wallace, who had been
the predicted winner. Both had pledged
themselves to maintaining segregation
—as, in fact, had all 14 candidates in
the first primary. Wallace won state
wide attention with his threats to jail
FBI or Civil Rights Commission in
vestigators who might inquire into vot
ing or the jury system in his judicial
circuit.
But Patterson was closely identified
with a court order banning the NAACP
from Alabama. (See “Legal Action.”)
And, more importantly, perhaps, he
stood out in the public mind as the
most anti-Folsom of all the candidates.
Wallace had been a leading campaigner
for Folsom in 1954, and his efforts to
divest himself of the association appar
ently failed.
ANTI-FOLSOM SENTIMENT
The anti-Folsom sentiment of the
voters was evident in both primaries
and they systematically picked out and
rejected virtually all candidates, for
state or local offices, identified as past
or present Folsom supporters.
According to many candidates and
observers, the chief grievance against
the governor was the memory of his
receiving and entertaining Rep. Adam
Clayton Powell at the governor’s man
sion in November 1955.
As one observer said of the visit by
the Negro congressman: “That may
have been the most expensive Scotch
and soda in the history of Alabama
politics.”
The charge that Patterson was backed
by the Ku Klux Klan (Southern
School News, June) seemed to have
little effect on the outcome of the run
off.
MOBILE COUNTY CHANGE
It may have accounted for the fact
that Mobile County went for Wallace
by about 800 votes, whereas in the first
primary Patterson led Wallace in the
county by about 1,000 votes. Mobile has
relatively large Negro and Catholic
votes which may have been influenced
by the Klan issue.
On the other hand, three Black Belt
counties which Wallace won May 6
voted June 3 for Patterson. Many ob
servers believe this switch, too, was in
fluenced by the Klan charges, but with
reverse effect. Wallace’s campaign man
agers sensed that the Klan charges
were backfiring and pleaded with him
to discontinue them. He complied.
Except for these four switches, the
June 3 runoff left the county-by
county picture unchanged from May 6
except in the size of Patterson’s margin.
BOUTWELL WINS
Nominated as lieutenant governor
was State Sen. Albert Boutwell of
Birmingham. Boutwell headed a special
legislative study commission which
recommended such legislation as the
“freedom of choice” amendment, which
removed mention of segregation from
constitutional requirements for public
education.
In the runoff, Boutwell beat State
Sen. E. W. Skidmore by 313,401 to 201,-
031.
MacDonald Gallion, a former assistant
attorney general under Patterson, will be
the next attorney general. He worked
with Patterson on the NAACP and
Tuskegee cases and was closely identi
fied with the Phenix City crime clean
up.
The trend established in the May 6
primary to put states’ righters back in
control of the State Democratic Execu
tive Committee (SSN, June) continued
June 3. States’ righters won 39 of the
72 seats, giving them a majority, for
the first time in eight years, which they
are pledged to use to repeal the party’s
“loyalty oath.”
DISPUTE BEGAN IN 1948
The oath grew out of the 1948 race
issue dispute between southern Demo
crats and the national party. The na
tional Democratic nominees weren’t on
the ticket in Alabama that year and
the state’s 11 electoral votes were cast
by electors pledged not to vote for
Truman, for the Dixiecrat ticket.
The party loyalists returned to power
in the state a couple of years later and
invoked the oath which binds all can
didates in the primary to support the
national ticket in the general election,
whoever the nominees might be. The
oath also denies a place on the ballot
in the primary to any candidate who
voted Republican in the previous gen
eral election.
The states’ righters’ victory June 3
left open the possibility of another
third party movement in 1960, although
leaders of this faction are minimizing
this as their intention. They say the
first order of business is to free “Eisen
hower Democrats” for candidacy in
Democratic primaries. (For more de
tails, see SSN, April.)
Because of a continuing decline in
state tax collections, school funds in
Alabama will be slashed 10 per cent in
the last four months of the current fis
cal year, State Finance Director Ed
Pepper said June 13. The fiscal year
ends Sept. 30 but a cut may also be
necessary in the upcoming 1958-59
school year.
The declines in school revenue have
been in sales, income, use and tobacco
taxes, Pepper said—all of which are
“sensitive” taxes, fluctuating with eco
nomic conditions.
During the 1956-57 school year funds
were pro-rated 2.75 per cent for simi
lar reasons. The record school budget
for 1958-59 ($119 million) was based
on the assumption that sales tax reve
nue will rise 5 per cent. So far the in
crease has been only 1 per cent.
The current proration will have no
effect on teachers’ salaries, as this fund
cannot be prorated. The reduction will
be taken from current expenses and
capital outlay, meaning local school
boards may have to borrow money to
pay for work in progress.
Official reaction in Alabama to Judge
Harry Lemley’s decision on delaying
integration in Little Rock was imme
diate and jubilant. However, Negro
leaders expressed concern.
Sen. John Sparkman: “The experi
ence [at Central High] shows clearly
the futility of the federal government
trying to legislate people’s habits and
customs. [Judge Lemley] acted wisely
and correctly.”
Atty. Gen. John Patterson, govemor-
nominate: “The decision was evidence
that some federal judges “are finally
coming to realize that integration . . .
will not work and that the people of
the South will not tolerate it. ... As
for Alabama, I don’t believe the people
of this state will ever tolerate integra
tion of their schools. . . . There would
be chaos and disorder which might . . .
result in the destruction of our school
system.”
GALLION ON LEMLEY DECISION
MacDonald Gallion, former chief as
sistant attorney general under Patter
son and now the attorney general-nom-
inate: “I was indeed gratified to see a
federal judge ^ake the mystic cloak
of domination i. Washington and the
NAACP and, f. a change, act with
some degree of common sense in deal
ing with the practical aspects of the
integration problem. ... A suspension
of the order is hardly questionable after
the Little Rock turbulence. . . . Even
another extension might be in order
after the current one runs out.”
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Montgomery integration leader: “. . .
an unfortunate decision which is natur
ally disappointing to all people of good
will. It can only aid those people who
approve and live on violence. If such
decisions continue to be rendered .
the whole South will be plunged into an
abyss of anarchy and mob rule.”
# # #