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PAGE 2—FEBRUARY—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS (Continued From Page 1) into the 12th grade in September will ask to attend present all-white schools. Court-ordered integration would cause the specific schools integrated to be closed. Judge Hooper has said that the closing of one school system would mean the closing of all school systems in Georgia. One key to legislative action is the attitude of the governor, who has fairly good control of the Legislature. In his State of the State address to the lawmakers, Vandiver said: “We are going to resist again and again and again . . . We will exhaust every legal means and remedy available to us . . . to keep the schools segregated. Later, Vandiver said he supposed fed eral intervention by troops in “over whelming numbers” could force token integration on Georgia. VARIETY OF PLANS But even as the legislators wildly cheered the governor’s opening day message, a variety of plans were in var ious stages of preparation. They in cluded: 1) A resolution introduced in the House to take a “straw vote” on the is sue over the state. Rep. E. Culver Kidd of Milledgeville proposed an election in June in which voters would vote for (a) closing of the public schools in event of any integration; (b) shutting down of public schools and sale or lease of facilities to private operators; (c) segregated schools but a preference for integrated public schools as to no public schools; (d) segregated schools only. If a majority of the votes were in favor of any of the last three choices on the bal lot, the governor would be asked to call the Legislature into special session im mediately to initiate appropriate legis lation, Kidd said. Rep. Frank Twitty and Senator Carl Sanders, floor leaders in the House and Senate, said they opposed a “straw poll”) 2) A recommendation that a state commission on school desegregation problems be established to study the situation. (Judge Hooper said he had “no objection” to the Legislature appoint ing an “able and fair” commission, but added that he had never said that such a group alone “would satisfy the court.”) 3) Legislation reportedly being pre pared by two influential legislators that would give Georgia voters an oppor tunity to repeal a section of the state constitution that forbids racially inte grated schools. 4) Bills by Rep. Smith to do away with the governor’s power to close in tegrated schools and to repeal a 1959 act prohibiting the use of taxing pow ers to support integrated schools. The first bill is not expected to pass. The second was amended by Rep. Ralph McClelland of Fulton and Rep. Twitty so as to “not tie the hands” of the school board on its taxing powers “until every segregated school is closed.” (It has a much better chance of being ap proved). 5) The “parent option” plan sponsored by Rep. James Mackay of DeKalb (Southern School News, January 1960) which gives parents of children in af fected schools a choice of accepting integration, closing the school or send ing their children to private schools. 6) A thorough study of the state’s school crisis and a summer session of the Legislature to consider recommen dations of the investigating commission, suggested by Rep. Hugh McWhorter of DeKalb. 7) A proposal by Rep. Joe C. Under wood of Montgomery County to have private schooling supported by aid for students based on federal welfare laws. 8) An appeal by Sen. J. Douglas Car lisle of Macon that the private school plan, authorized by the people in a con stitutional amendment approved in 1954, be tried out on a pilot plant basis. PUBLIC STATEMENTS As the tension increased, there was no demand for integration from any in fluential white individual or group. The demand was for continued operation of the public schools and almost every statement was preceded by an avowal of preference for segregation. Some prominent persons closely asso ciated with Gov. Vandiver, former Gov. Marvin Griifin or U.S. Sen. Herman Tal- madge have made statements of vary ing intensity along the line that it would be inconceivable for Georgia to close the public schools. James S. Peters, chairman of the State Board of Education, predicted that “some form of integration is inevitable” and that it indirectly may spell political doom for Talmadge. In a letter to Roy Harris of Augusta, a figure of statewide political prominence, Peters said he be lieved former Gov. Ellis Amall and “the proponents of integration” hope Van diver will close the schools and create an issue for the 1962 gubernatorial race. Amall might be difficult to defeat, Pe ters wrote, and Talmadge’s political power might be toppled. The letter was a personal one and both men denied making it public. Tal madge said he wouldn’t comment on a private letter, but others did. Amall forecast the 1962 election for governor would be decided solely on the issue of an “open school program." Harris said Peters had exhausted his usefulness to the state school board. And Rep. Underwood, assistant House floor leader, took the floor on personal privilege to assail the statement by Pe ters. Others rallied to the defense of Pe ters. Mrs. Bruce Schaefer of Toccoa and Francis Shurling of Wrightsville, mem bers of the State Board of Education, said Peters had a right to express his views. W. R. Bowdoin, prominent Atlanta banker and former purchasing agent in the Vandiver administration, urged “full consideration in this hour of crisis” of Peters’s proposal that the state reconcile itself to some form of integration. WAR OF WORDS CONTINUED Rep. Marvin Moate, House speaker when Marvin Griffin was governor, said “closing the schools would be the great est mistake we could make.” R e P. Herschel Lovett, influential leg islator and former member of the State Board of Education, said “it is time to make plans if we are ordered to inte grate.” Robert Patterson, executive secretary of the Mississippi Citizens Council, told a rally in Atlanta on the night the Leg islature opened its session that segre gated schools could be maintained if white citizens stand together. The grand juries in the two counties across which Atlanta sprawls—Fulton and DeKalb—urged that the public schools be kept open. The DeKalb grand jury endorsed the “parent choice” plan and rapped “dis regard for the law.” The Fulton grand jury asked the Leg islature to find a way to insure that Georgia schools will never close. This prompted Superior Court Judge Dur- wood T. Pye, who received the term- end presentments in which the declara tion was made, to say that one way to keep schools open is through “unified public sentiment” against integration suits. Mills B. Lane Jr., prominent in Geor gia banking, said that obviously the so lution in the school crisis would not be to shut them down. SAYS SUPPORT GROWING A. C. Latimer, president of the At lanta Board of Education, said support for keeping the schools open was grow ing. Mayor William Hartsfield of Atlanta urged the people of Atlanta to get “squarely behind” the effort to keep schools open. Sen. Robert Culpepper of Camilla, Vandiver’s Senate floor leader, said 90 per cent of the people of Georgia ap- The Shore Dimly Seen? ‘Happy New Year!” ' * . S&riPSB —Atlanta Journal qi>o nrrfm r* prove the position the governor took in the controversy. An appeal to make necessary changes in Georgia laws “to allow our public school system to continue” was sent to Vandiver by a group of Georgia church- women of all major faiths. The Christian Index, a Georgia Bap tist Convention publication, said loss of the public school system is inevitable without compromise in the integration crisis and school closing would be sec ond only to closing the churches. Rep. Twitty, of Mitchell County, said a straw vote in Fulton County might surprise some of those wh'- local option on integration The Atlanta Chamber t and Atlanta Jaycees were : paring to make a statemen amid other reports that tl office had asked the Atla not to endorse a proposed resolution. Peter Zack Geer, the gc ecutive secretary, told a r Vandiver administration h tion of “knuckling under” to integra tion. SEEKING CHAPTERS Hope, Inc. (“Help Our Public Educa tion”) continued to attempt to organize chapters over the state to fight off clos ing schools. The Metropolitan Assn, for Segregat ed Education, an Atlanta organization, asked the plaintiffs in the Atlanta de segregation suit to withdraw litigation and cease integration efforts in the in terest of both white and colored chil dren, and to preserve good race rela tions. James Cherry of DeKalb County, su perintendent of the largest county school system in Georgia, urged local control to avert integration. Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Assn, for Advancement of Colored People, said in New York that if any school is closed in Georgia, it will be the fault of state officials and not the NAACP. Lt. Gov. Garland Byrd said Georgia laws upholding segregated schools would remain inviolate during this ses sion of the Legislature. Gov. Vandiver said he was getting a splendid reaction to his segregation stand, with only a few letters of dis agreement. Noting statements on the situation by those close to him, he as serted that he alone spoke for his ad ministration on the issue. Sen. R. E. Cannon of Clayton, a segre gationist who favors doing “whatever it takes to keep the public schools open,” said he was bombarded with telegrams supporting his stand. SWAMPED WITH MAIL Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook and Lt. Gov. Byrd said they were being swamped with letters urging that they not relent THOMPSON iL _ C-Li # XBd # XBd # auoqd # auoqd °0 Jdaa/oo UIOJJ Pi ◄ S ^ G * d 01BQ U.9L 910N XBd il! _ l s °d Daily newspapers in the larger cities of the state have generally taken an editorial line insisting that the pub’ic schools must be kept open. More smaller city dailies and country weekly news papers are now editorializing in the same vein. The Vienna News said the alternative to token integration would be closing the schools. The Cobb Coun ty Times said Georgia can take no other course than to preserve public educa tion. The Cartersville Tribune News urged readers to talk to legislators in appeals to save the schools. One bill introduced in the Legisla ture did not touch on the looming school crisis but was related to racial matters. Aimed bluntly at the Civil Rights Com mission by its authors. Rep. Marvin Summers of Crisp and Rep. Buford Carr of Dooly, it would permit a board of voter registrars to dispose as it saw fit of voter registration application forms that are rejected. Desegregation of the school systems of Cobb County and of the city of Mari etta was asked in petitions by an Statements By Governor, Mayor VANDIVER Gov, Ernest Vandiver delivered his annual address and budget message to the Georgia Legislature at Atlanta on Jan. 11. A portion of the speech covering Georgia schools follows: “During recent weeks events have moved us closer and closer to the threat of open conflict between Federal author ity and State authority over operation of Georgia’s public schools ... It can be avoided by the exercise of good judgment and common sense by our people—with the races in Georgia working in harmony and voluntarily under our traditional pattern of segre gation—for concrete advancement in those programs which I have outlined to you today. “I call upon the responsible people of this State through unified public opinion —both white and colored—to make it certain that Georgia will not be the victim of conditions like those which exist in Washington, D. C.; Detroit, Mich.; New York; Chicago; that even now are plagued by racial tension, con flict, hatred, bitterness and violence . . . “Let me assure the mothers and fathers of Georgia that this General Assembly and the Vandiver administration are dedi cating their full talents and energies toward permitting the continued education of your children in segregated schools and, if it should become necessary, I will keep this Legisla ture in session constantly to help me in protecting the wel fare of our children . . . “Let there be no mistake about this on the part of anyone: “The Georgia Constitution and the laws of this State re quire that if the Federal Courts should finally order integra tion in any Georgia school—State funds for operation of that school would be shut off . . . “If those few who are agitating so vigorously, and so voci ferously, for mixed schools—would join us and would work just as vigorously for separate schools—we would have segregated education in Georgia without any conflict. “But if they do persist, mark this and mark it well: “It is my duty to—and I will—uphold the Constitution and laws of Georgia. We are going to resist—and—We are going to resist again and again and again . . . We will exhaust every legal means and remedy available to us—And when I say, every legal means and remedy, I mean every legal means and remedy!” # # # Church Head Says Attacks Are Unfair AUSTIN, Tex. D r. Ernest Trice Thompson of Richmond, Va., moderator of the General Assembly, Presbyte rian Church U.S. (Southern), said in Austin that much criticism of the church’s role in integration is “unfair.” “We are not lagging, or dragging our feet,” said Dr. Thompson. “The fact is that church fellowship constitutes an intimate social relation ship, more so than sports or athletic events and even more so than in school areas. “The churches have taken a po sition of quiet leadership in in tegration. Protes tant churches have not done as much as they should to further integration, but they have done more than most people realize.” on said that white and and others now work rod organizations outside h, and that some church e integrated. The church- opposition exists to in- ;h activity, and said in families have refused to ildren to an integrated r camp. en Southern and North ern Presbyterians has been stalled, Dr. Thompson said, by the U.S. Supreme Court decision on school integration. Before racial feelings were stirred by the school decision, negotiations to ward uniting the Presbyterians were far along. Many southern churches re fused to go along with the program, mainly because of the northern group’s all-out advocacy of integration. # # # NAACP chapter to the school boards concerned. Both systems are in the Atlanta met ropolitan area. They became the sev enth and eighth systems to face deseg regation demands, earlier compliance having been asked in Atlanta, Chatham County, Waycross, Bibb County, Val dosta and Muscogee County. The NAACP petitions to the Cobb and Marietta boards reportedly cited in stances in both systems where Negro students lived near white schools and had to attend segregated schools some distance away. A three-man committee from the Cobb County Board of Education pre pared to study desegregation possibili ties but Marietta School Supt. Henry Kemp said he didn’t plan to do any thing about integrating classes. HARTSFIELD Atlanta’s mayor, William B. Hartsfield, urged preservation of public education in his annual message to the Atlanta Board of Aldermen on Jan. 4. These are excerpts from his report. “As the regional capital of the southeast, and as the great distributing center of the South, Atlanta has a close com munity of interests with the balance of the nation. We are in the mainstream of American life. What happens in At lanta profoundly affects the nation. It is for these reasons that we cannot afford to abandon for one moment public education in our midst. Such a futile and anti-social act would brand us as doubly foolish, in the light of plain experience elsewhere. “Atlanta is now so big and so much of its growth depends upon federal policies, that we, not only in Atlanta but all Geor gia, must find a way to become, not less, but more a part of the nation, taking part in, and influencing the great decisions upon which the future of our nation rests. The Deep South has too much at stake to become a little isolated section ig nored by those of all national parties who shape the decisions of our nation. “If our schools are closed, we can no longer boast of our great material progress. It will do little good to brag about more brick, stone and concrete, or of our advantages in dis tribution or culture, while a shocked and amazed world looks at a hundred thousand innocent children roaming the streets. “Therefore, I regard the vigilance and support of our citi zens to the cause of continued public education, as the most important thing which confronts us during the fateful year of 1960 . . . “I know the people of Atlanta, who are proud of their city, its marvelous growth and good reputation, will rise to this challenge. There are those who will, as usual, shout hatred and confusion, but the great majority will live up to the best traditions of our town. “I, therefore, urge that the entire city government and all our citizens in every walk of life place themselves squarely behind the preservation of public education and make the same known to the members of the Georgia Legislature.” # # # U. S. District Judge Boyd Sloan or dered Dobbs House Restaurant at At lanta Municipal Airport to stop seg regating customers. The decision came in a suit filed by H. D. Coke, a Birmingham Negro in surance executive who claimed he was discriminated against by being placed behind a screen to eat at the restaurant. Officials of the U. S. Klan, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., said the organi zation planned to establish segregated private schools in Atlanta, Macon, Sa vannah, Columbus, and Moultrie. A campaign to register 1.1 million additional Negroes to reach a total of 2.5 million in urban and rural areas throughout the South was announced in Atlanta by the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Confer ence. Atty. Gen. Cook said state investiga tors had uncovered Negro plans to or ganize a mass “civil disobedience” dem onstration in Atlanta, seeking to inte grate public places and public trans portation without violence. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who Cook said would lead the demonstration, denied such protests were planned now or in the future. Gov. John Patterson of Alabama, an swering a Georgia newsman’s question about Alabama’s pupil placement plan, said Georgia should abandon public schools rather than accept desegrega tion. # # #