Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16—MARCH 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Congress Studies Eisenhower’s Civil
WASHINGTON, D. C.
resident Eisenhower sent con
gress a seven-point civil rights
program requesting legislation to
encourage school desegregation,
protect voting rights and promote
equal employment opportunities.
He asked Congress to authorize
some federal aid to help com
munities plan school desegrega
tion and proposed making it a
federal crime to interfere with a
court desegregation order. (See
“National Affairs.”)
The President’s recommenda
tions did not include any request
for authority for the government
to initiate court suits to force
school desegregation. Atty. Gen.
William P. Rogers said peaceful
desegregation in Virginia was an
“important factor” in the de
cision not to press for such “ex
treme” legislation now.
MIXED RECEPTION
The administration’s civil rights
package drew sharp criticism from
southern congressmen and a mixed re
sponse from northerners. Some hailed
the proposals as moderate and con
structive, while others charged they
did not go far enough. Senate Majority
Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Tex.),
whose civil rights bill agrees in sev
eral respects with the President’s rec
ommendations, said the administration
bills would be “considered on their
merits by fair-minded men.’’
Washington School Supt. Carl F.
Hansen announced plans to extend the
practice of grouping pupils by ability—
now in effect in the senior high schools
—to junior high and elementary
schools. The program will be presented
to the board of education for approval
this spring. (See “District Schools.”)
The school system will launch a
“talent search” project next fall to find
and develop potentially capable stu
dents in low-income neighborhoods.
The experiment is patterned on one
conducted by New York city schools
in cooperation with the College En
trance Examination Board and the
National Scholarship Service and Fund
for Negro Students.
President Eisenhower’s civil rights
program, sent to Congress Feb. 5, in
cluded seven bills which would:
• Provide grants matched by the
states or communities for a two-year
program to help furnish “additional
non-teaching professional services” re
quired by desegregation programs. Ar
thur S. Flemming, secretary of health,
education and welfare, said the funds
could be spent for supervisory or ad
ministrative personnel, pupil-place
ment officers, counselors and similar
staff additions. He estimated the total
federal cost of the program at $4.9
million.
STIFF PENALTIES
• Make it a federal crime punish
able by a $10,000 fine or two years in
prison to use force or threats of force
to interfere with court orders on school
desegregation. The Justice Department
now must rely on hard-to-prove con
spiracy charges or time-consuming in
junction and contempt procedures to
move against those who incite or par
ticipate in mob violence.
• Authorize the government to
provide schools for children of military
personnel in areas where regular
schools are closed by desegregation
disputes. Flemming said the govern
ment has a clear responsibility for the
education of military dependents who
have no control over their place of
duty. Service commanders now can
operate schools for children living on
military bases but not for those living
off the bases. The bill would authorize
commanders to provide on-post school
ing for all children of service person
nel.
• Make it a federal crime punish
able by a $5,000 fine or five years in
prison for a person to flee across state
lines to avoid prosecution for or testi
fying about bombing or burning of a
school or church. The FBI would be
given authority to help local police in
vestigate bombings.
• Extend the life of the Civil Rights
Commission by two years to Septem
ber 1961.
VOTING RIGHTS
• Give the Justice Department pow
er to inspect voting records in enforc
ing the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Gov
ernment attempts to seek court orders
to force communities to let qualified
Negroes register and vote have been
slowed by the refusal of most southern
states to permit federal inspection of
voting records. The administration bill
would also require voting officials to
preserve records for three years, pre
venting the destruction of rejected
Negroes’ applications.
• Provide a statutory base for the
President’s Committee on Government
Contracts, which tries to promote non-
discriminatory employment practices
among companies doing government
work. The committee was created by
executive order. The bill would not
increase its powers, but would make it
permanent and give it the prestige of
congressional endorsement.
The President’s program included
features of most of the other civil
rights bills that have been introduced
in this session of Congress, but the
proposed $4.9 million federal program
to aid desegregation contrasts with a
$212.5 million program backed by Con
gressional liberals (Southern School
News, February 1959).
ONE PHASE OMITTED
The administration package does not
include another provision in the liber
als’ bill, making the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare the
federal agent to help communities
draw up desegregation plans and if
necessary to draft them for unwilling
communities. Secretary Flemming told
reporters he was “unalterably opposed’’
to such a provision because it would
have his department take over the role
of the courts.
Atty. Gen. Rogers said at a press
conference peaceful desegregation in
two Virginia communities the week the
President’s program was presented was
an “important factor” in the decision
not to press for such “extreme” legis
lation at this time. He said he hoped
the rest of the South would follow
Virginia’s lead without “punitive” leg
islation.
Rogers said he thought it would be
unwise to give the government further
injunctive authority now, though the
Justice Department will keep close
watch on the school situation and ask
for further legislation if needed.
“Force” may not be necessary, Rogers
noted, and enactment of such legisla
tion now might produce needless “acri
mony.”
On Feb. 19 Rogers told a meeting of
the National Conference of Christians
and Jews that “enforced action—action
required by law—is not the best way
to make progress” against racial preju
dice. A more effective approach, he
said, is for “responsible leaders to
come forward with plans best suited to
the needs of the community. Guided
by the spirit of brotherhood, the nec
essary adjustments in this difficult field
can and will be made.”
President Eisenhower complimented
Virginia officials responsible for the
orderly desegregation of schools in
Arlington and Norfolk and said he was
“very proud” of the way parents and
children performed their duties. He
called it “heartening indeed” to see
evidence that “we are beginning to
understand that we must have some
consideration for our fellow man if
democracy is going to work.”
JOHNSON COMMENTS
Senate Majority Leader Johnson,
author of a civil rights bill which coin
cides with the administration program
in several respects, said the proposals
will be “considered on their merits by
fair-minded men.” He added: “The
important thing is that there is an at
mosphere of reason.”
A major feature of the Johnson bill
(SSN, February) is missing from the
administration package — a proposed
federal conciliation service designed to
solve community conflicts arising from
desegregation decisions. In a Feb. 8
broadcast to Texas radio stations, John
son said the agency would have the aim
of gaining “voluntary agreement to a
plan acceptable to all parties that
would answer the needs of the com
munity and be consistent with the re
quirements of the law.”
DIXIE REACTION
Southern congressmen reacted sharp
ly against President Eisenhower’s civil
rights proposals. Sen. Richard B. Rus
sell denounced them as political and
said: “I resent and reject all such leg
islation because of the implication that
the people of the South must be es
pecial subjects of surveillance and
regulation.” Many other southerners
voiced similar views.
In a Feb. 11 speech Russell declared
anyone who contends the President’s
program is “mild . . . can tell that to
the Marines.” Russell said he was
ready to use a “plain old simple fili
buster” against civil rights proposals in
this Congress.
Sen. Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois,
the Republican floor leader, described
the Eisenhower proposals as a “mod
erate effort to advance the cause of
civil rights.” Sen. Kenneth B. Keating
(R-N.Y.) called it “a real step for
ward” and said “the votes are at hand
to enact these measures if the leader
ship of the Congress will allow them
to be brought to the floor of both
houses.”
CELLER CRITICAL
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.) called
the program excellent “as far as it
goes,” while Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-
N.Y.) termed it “an empty gesture so
far as the schools are concerned.”
Celler, who has introduced the liber
als’ civil rights bill in the House, said
Eisenhower’s recommendations provide
“a snail’s pace for enforcement.”
Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D-I1L), au
thor of the liberals’ bill, complained
the administration program “does not
give the attorney general the power to
seek injunctions restraining individuals
and groups from interfering with the
civil rights of citizens under the Four
teenth Amendment.”
CIVIL RIGHTS MEETING
The Governors’ Conference on Civil
Rights, meeting in Detroit Jan. 31,
called on Congress to “authorize broad
er federal action with regard to voting
rights, to facilitate orderly desegrega
tion of schools, to curb violence and
intimidation and to enact federal fair
employment legislation.” The 18-state
conference also asked President Eisen
hower for “strict executive enforce
ment of existing laws and executive
orders.” Gov. Orville Freeman of
Minnesota, named chairman to succeed
Gov. G. Mennen Williams of Michigan,
said the conference’s action was unani
mous. Six governors were present and
12 others represented.
VETS APPROVE
The national board of the American
Veterans Committee, meeting here Feb.
22, unanimously approved a resolution
backing the liberal civil rights legisla
tion sponsored by Rep. Celler and Sen.
Douglas. The group condemned Sen.
Johnson’s proposals as a “step back
ward” and called the administration
recommendations “inadequate and in
some respects harmful to the cause.”
On Feb. 11 the administration offi
cially confirmed reports that the may
or of Little Rock had urgently asked
for federal troops before President
Eisenhower ordered them into the city
18 months ago. Reports that the then
mayor, Woodrow Wilson Mann, had
sent a plea for help in handling the
mob at Central High School had cir
culated at the time.
The text of Mayor Mann’s telegram
to the President was included in a
summary of events and legal advice to
the President during the Little Rock
crisis compiled by former Atty. Gen.
Herbert Brownell Jr. and released last
month by the Justice Department.
Mann’s telegram was sent Sept. 24,
1957—the day after a mob had closed
the school and the President had issued
a proclamation ordering the mob to
disperse. The President ordered troops
into the city to maintain order on that
day after receiving Mann’s request.
Mann wired in part: “The immediate
need for federal troops is urgent. The
mob is much larger in numbers . . .
than at any time yesterday. Mob is
armed and engaging in . . . violence. I
am pleading to you... in the interest
of humanity, law and order and the
cause of democracy worldwide to pro
vide the necessary federal troops with
in several horns.”
BROWNELL SUMMARY
Aside from Mann’s telegram, the
Brownell reports summarized known
facts and advice. It contained the legal
arguments in behalf of the federal
court’s power to order Gov. Orval E.
Faubus to remove state troops which
had been used to block desegregation.
It also set forth Brownell’s contention
that the President had power under
the Constitution and specific laws to
send in troops to put down resistance
to federal law.
The Justice Department announced
Feb. 2 the FBI is investigating com
plaints about alleged violations of fed
eral law in the “write-in” victory of
Rep. Dale Alford (D-Ark.) in Little
Rights Plan
Rock elections last November. The de
partment said the inquiry was ordered
by the Civil Rights Division after it
received complaints that violations of
the Federal Corrupt Practices Act were
involved in the election.
As a segregation candidate and
former member of the Little Rock
school board, Alford defeated former
Rep. Brooks Hays, a “moderate” in the
school integration dispute.
BLASTS FBI
Alford took the House floor Feb. 11
to complain that “at this moment” FBI
agents “are engaged in an invasion of
the fifth congressional district of the
state of Arkansas in what can be de
scribed only as a politically-inspired in
vestigation.” He charged the probe was
“political persecution” aimed at “polit
ical retribution” because he opposed
use of federal troops in Little Rock and
defeated Hays. Asst. Atty. Gen. W. Wil
son White said it was a routine elec
tion investigation similar to several
others now under way involving mem
bers of both parties.
IMPEACHMENT PETITION
A group of about two dozen men
and women filed a petition at the House
clerk’s office Feb. 4 to impeach mem
bers of the Supreme Court. They said
the petition was 1,500 feet long and car
ried names from all over the nation.
The position bore the address of the
Christian Nationalist Crusade, P.O. Box
27895, Los Angeles 27, Calif. It charged
members of the Supreme Court “vio
lated their oath by substituting legis
lation decisions for legal precedent.”
Five members of Congress announced
Feb. 20 they have created a special
job for James A. Johnson Jr., 14-year-
old Chicago boy who lost a bid to be
come the Capitol’s first Negro page. Be
ing a clerk-messenger one day a week
for each representative will make the
boy eligible to attend the Capitol Page
School.
James arrived here Jan. 28 believing
he had been appointed a page by Rep.
Barratt O’Hara (D-Ill.), only to dis
cover O’Hara lacked the seniority to
make an appointment. His new job, ex
pected to pay about $65 a week, does
not have to be cleared with the House
patronage committee, where the page
nomination was blocked.
Though James would have been the
first Negro congressional page, two
Negroes are employed as pages at the
Supreme Court.
District School Supt. Hansen an
nounced plans are being drafted to ex
tend to elementary and junior high
schools the sort of ability grouping now
practiced in Washington’s senior high
schools. Hansen said at a Feb. 6 press
conference he will present the program
to the board of education this spring.
District high school students are now
grouped in four “tracks”—a tough hon
ors program for outstanding students,
a regular college preparatory program,
a general program for students not
planning to go to college, and a re
medial basic curriculum. Hansen said
the program now being drawn up
would assign elementary and junior
high students to one of three programs
—a rigorous honors course, a compre
hensive academic program for average
students and a basic course for slow
learners.
The superintendent said ability group
ing at the elementary level would not
supplant the present remedial reading
classes but would allow teachers to
tailor an intensive program for slow
pupils. At the junior high level, he
added, ability grouping would allow
increased remedial work in mathemat
ics and reading.
A select group of 480 seventh-grade
pupils is paving the way this year for
extension of ability grouping to junior
high schools. They are enrolled in a
special course of advanced study which
school officials say is proving success
ful. Hansen said the group’s median
score in reading shows lOth-grade skill
and the median score in mathematics
matches the second half of the ninth
grade. The median IQ of the seventh-
grade honor students is 131, with indi
viduals ranging from 120 to 162, Hansen
said.
‘TALENT SEARCH’
On Feb. 9 Hansen announced a “tal
ent search” program to find and develop
potentially capable students in low in
come neighborhoods will get under way
next fall at one of the District’s junior
high schools. The school system has re
ceived a foundation grant of $26,000 a
year for three years to launch the pro
gram, which was approved by the
school board last spring but stymied
for lack of funds.
The Washington project is patterned
after one started 18 months ago by the
New York city school board system in
cooperation with the College Entrance
Examination Board and the National
Scholarship Service and Fund for Ne
gro Students. New York educators
have reported favorable results from
the pilot project and proposed its ex
pansion to five additional schools.
Beginning next September, Hansen
said, seventh-grade pupils at Washing
ton’s Macfarland Junior High School
will be tested thoroughly to select
those with potential scholastic ability.
He noted that youngsters from eco
nomically and culturally deprived
homes may have poor school records
and even low intelligence test scores
and still have the “innate ability” to do
good academic work.
INDIVIDUAL GUIDANCE
Those selected will receive intensive
remedial instruction in small classes
and will have the benefit of individual
guidance. Efforts will be made to pro
vide them with cultural experience not
normally available to children in low-
income neighborhoods. Hansen said he
hopes funds will be provided to con
tinue the project for six years—long
enough to bring the first group of stu
dents through high school. If it shows
results, he added, efforts will be made
to establish it as a regular program
in the District school system.
Seven out of eight high school teach
ers in Washington “agree in principle”
that final examinations should be re
quired in academic subjects, a survey
by the High School Teachers Associa
tion disclosed Feb. 11. Many of the
teachers think the proposed examina
tions should be standard and citywide.
UNIFORM STANDARDS
The association’s survey was under
taken at Hansen’s request. He recently
commented that institution of a city wide
examination system would be a “step
forward” for the school system. No sys
tematic program of final testing now
exists in the city schools. Teachers gen
erally base grades on day-to-day and
periodic quizzes. An effect of citywide
final examinations would be to demand ,
uniform standards throughout the '
school system. A committee of teachers
and principals is now studying pro
posals for a testing program.
The District Congress of Parents and
Teachers urged school officials to estab
lish a specific program to teach ele
mentary pupils how to study. In an
other resolution at the Feb 7 meeting of
the PTA Board of Managers, the school
system was criticized for permitting a
shortage of textbooks in the elementary
schools. School officials said the lack of
books was due to unanticipated enroll
ment increases.
FREE LUNCHES
The school board agreed unanimously
Feb. 12 that a tax-supported free lunch
program should be set up “at the
earliest possible date” for needy chil
dren in the city's grade schools. Hansen
and a committee of three board mem
bers were instructed to work with the
District commissioners in drawing up a
program to be presented to Congress.
The school officials met with the com
missioners Feb. 24.
Last December, Hansen invited pub
lic contributions to provide lunches
for almost 1,000 needy pupils in 11
downtown grade schools. School offi
cials estimated $30,000 would be needed
to supply lunches through the end of
this school year. Only about half of the
total has been raised. In addition to the
1,000 pupils in the downtown schools,
some 6,000 in other parts of the city are
in need of a free lunch program, ac
cording to a school survey.
Junior and senior high students un
able to pay for school cafeteria lunches
now receive them free. Congress voted
last year to pay for these lunches out
of appropriated funds. However, no
lunch program exists in the elementary
schools. The school board voted 5 to 3
Feb. 18 to reject a proposal to Hansen
that cafeterias be installed and lunches
sold in some elementary buildings.
MORE BRISTLES
Sen. Wayne Morse (D-Ore.) an
nounced Feb. 20 he would conduct an
investigation of “hungry children” in
Washington. Morse, who heads a Sen
ate District subcommittee on health,
education and welfare, said it was ‘ a
frightful thing that in the capital of
this nation there are hungry children
and that a school board . . . does not
provide for school lunches. It is inhu
manity to man.”
# # #