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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY, 1963—PAGE 11
School Desegregation Major Issue in Deep South
(Continued From Page 1)
33 a strong supporter of school segre
gation and charged that Hill was “a
national Democrat” who spoke out too
slowly against the federal action de
segregating the University of Missis
sippi-
Almost breaking Alabama’s long-time
precedent of electing only candidates
bearing the label of Democrat, Martin
urged voters to “go to the polls with
a Rebel yell.” On election night Hill
said the Mississippi situation had given
Martin a major advantage.
Race Issue Dominates
Politics in Mississippi
In Mississippi, the segregation-de
segregation question dominated politics
and is expected to be a major factor
this year, when voters will choose state
and local officials from governor down
to constables in the 410 beats of the
82 counties.
Last summer, a race between two
incumbent congressmen to represent
Mississippi’s newly merged second and
third districts resulted in victory for
Rep. Jamie Whitten over Rep. Frank
Smith, a Democratic Party “loyalist.”
Whitten in 1960 backed the slate of
unpledged presidential electors spon
sored by Gov. Barnett, while Smith
openly supported the national Ken-
nedy-Johnson electors.
The Whitten-Smith campaign is
sues—policies of the Democratic Party
in the areas of civil rights, state sov
ereignty and “constitutional govern
ment”—are expected to be issues again
in the 1963 gubernatorial race. Gov.
Barnett is constitutionally ineligible to
succeed himself, but several candidates
are in prospect on the Democratic
slate, and one has announced as a Re
publican—a Mississippi rarity.
Gubernatorial Candidates
Democrats expected to seek the gov
ernorship are former Gov. J. P. Cole
man, now a state representative, who
spearheaded the 1960 Kennedy-Johnson
ticket; Lt. Gov. Paul B. Johnson, who
made no public disclosures of his pref
erence for President in 1960 but ac
tively assisted Gov. Barnett in seeking
to block Meredith’s admission to the
university, and Charles Sullivan of
Clarksdale, a former district attorney
who in 1959 ran for governor and in
1960 was one of the state’s successful
unpledged presidential electors; and
Mayor Allen Thompson of Jackson, a
critic of the national Democratic Par
ty s efforts on behalf of desegregation.
Rubel Phillips, a Jackson lawyer and
former Democratic officeholder, had
teen expected to seek the governor
ship in the Democratic primary but
severed his relations with the Demo
crats and announced as a Republican
candidate. He said he was placing
Principle above political label” and
declared that “for more than a hun
dred years, we have followed, with al
most blind loyalty, the Democratic na
tional party and today we find our
country on the brink of socialism.”
Phillips said “it has become quite
a PParent that the Democratic national
h®rty, and particularly the Kennedy
.^ministration, has written off Missis
sippi and in fact will continue to use
J lssi ssippi as a whipping boy in order
0 attract the liberal voter of the North
^d Northeast.”
National Democratic Party
h, ? ov ’ Johnson and Sullivan both
indicated that opposition to the
^ °nal Democratic leadership, largely
in r '§hts, will be the main issue
Gov cam P a *Sn next summer. Former
tack' *'°^ eman has refrained from at-
p r . *» the national party. During his
'tious gubernatorial tenure, Cole-
of P Was against “fanning the flames
tiiotionalism.” He has said he would
th e ° Unce his stand as a candidate “at
ci f p Proper hme and under the proper
cumstances.”
PqI^. e ~ emphasis to the Mississippi
tiom'u s h ua tion probably will come
n ett “f scheduled trials of Gov. Bar-
conto ^ ^ Gov. Johnson for criminal
Sn P f of the U ’ S ’ Fifth Circuit
its 0 ? Appeals in allegedly defying
Me re J^ s against interference with
e3t Pecteit S enr °hment. The trials are
theZ* 1 t0 he under way at about
r carK„ e . hme the political campaign
hes full stride.
^° Vernor of Georgia
( ei *ate on Race Issue
Wt y * Ca ' developments in Georgia
atte ntio received considerable national
Court h’ ^ghlighted by a Supreme
^tioer t- C ^ on w hich required that
°P a ft 10 Prhuary votes be counted
a long PU . basis rather than under
h?* 1 ^ count y unit system
10 rural a<a Siven political precedence
n - Carl Sanders was elected
governor of Georgia on a platform con
sidered “moderate” as to school segre
gation-desegregation and other racial
issues. He won Democratic nomination
last summer over former Gov. Marvin
Griffin, who campaigned as an ardent
advocate of resistance to desegregation.
GRIFFIN SANDERS
Sanders, who was one of the few
key people in the administration of
Gov. Ernest Vandiver to advise him in
1981 to accept desegregation rather
than close the University of Georgia,
won over Griffin both by popular votes
and by the now-abolished unit votes.
He also received the most votes in
precincts with all-white or predomi
nantly white populations.
Nine candidates ran for lieutenant-
governor, and two who took strongly
pro-segregation stands went into a
Democratic runoff. Peter Zack Geer,
former executive aide to Gov. Van
diver, was winner over Lester Maddox,
an Atlanta businessman, after both had
toned down their segregationist
speeches during the runoff campaign.
Maddox earlier had lost to Ivan Allen
Jr. for mayor of Atlanta.
Negro Vote Important
Georgia Negroes pushed voter regis
tration campaigns, and the Negro vote
was considered important in several
local campaigns as well as in state
elections.
An Atlanta Negro businessman, Le-
Roy Johnson, this year will become the
first Negro to sit in the Georgia State
Senate since Reconstruction. He was
elected from a predominantly Negro
senatorial district over another Negro
who had been nominated by the Re
publicans.
There were developments indicating
further moves toward a two-party sys
tem in Georgia, as well as in several
other states of the once “solid” South.
Ed Smith, a Columbus lawyer, was
nominated for the governorship by the
Georgia GOP, but he was killed in an
automobile accident while campaigning
and no one was nominated in his place.
1962 Highly Active Year
In Louisiana Politics
The past year in Louisiana politics
was highly active, although there were
no major state offices at stake. U. S.
Sen. Russell Long was re-elected. New
Orleans was the principal scene of ac
tion throughout much of 1962, with
school desegregation and related is
sues continually in the limelight. A
congressional primary and a school
board race in Baton Rouge also had
segregation overtones.
Victor H. Schiro, who served as in
terim mayor after the resignation of
deLesseps S. Morrison to become U. S.
Ambassador to the Organization of
American States, was nominated for
the mayoralty over eight other candi
dates early in the year and then easily
defeated a Republican in a general
election. Schiro, who promised to co
operate with the state administration
in seeking to preserve segregation in
the schools, received little support from
Negro voters. However, he had pointed
out that his administration preserved
RIECKE
RITTNER
EARHART STEVENS
order during expansion of New Orleans
desegregation and that he ordered a
police raid on a Citizens Council office
in search of allegedly obscene cam
paign literature bearing on racial ques
tions.
Toward the end of the year, an elec
tion to fill two seats on the five-mem
ber Orleans Parish school board grew
into a contest involving school segre
gation-desegregation. Six candidates
ran. Incumbents Lloyd J. Rittner and
Louis G. Riecke, running as a team,
were the winners after pointing to the
difficult times they had helped guide
the schools through. They noted the
extended court battle that the board
had waged against school desegrega
tion.
Two other candidates running as a
“team,” James L. Earhart and Rayon
Stevens, charged Communist infiltra
tion of the public schools and con
tended that Rittner and Riecke chose
to ignore some racial laws while obey
ing others. Earhart and Stevens were
openly supported by the segregation
ist Citizens’ Council. A court challenge
by Earhart of the vote count for Ritt
ner was dismissed following a retabu
lation.
The other two Orleans board candi
dates, running independently, were
Charles J. Gendusa and Theodore W.
George, the latter a Negro.
On Dec. 13 Gov. Jimmie E. Davis an
nounced the appointment of Daniel A.
Ellis to the Orleans board. Ellis re
placed Emile A. Wagner Jr., who sub
mitted his resignation in August after
objecting to the agreement by the other
four members under court direction to
formulate a school desegregation plan.
The new board member is a guidance
counselor at the T. H. Harris Junior
High School in Jefferson Parish, but
he lives in Orleans Parish.
Rep. Boggs Re-Elected
In a Democratic primary in July, U.
S. Rep. Hale Boggs of Louisiana’s sec
ond congressional district, who is Dem
ocratic whip of the House, won with
out a runoff over three opponents who
made an issue of his support for the
Kennedy administration. In the No
vember general election, Boggs de
feated a young Republican, David
Treen, who made the same challenge
and noted Boggs’ silence on the situa
tion at the University of Mississippi.
Boggs’ margin of victory, both in the
primary and in the general election,
was smaller than those of other Louis
iana congressmen who faced opposi
tion, but it still was considerable.
In the parish (county) of East Baton
Rouge, a race for school board seats
brought defeat for three of the four
members who had been appointed in
1961 by, Gov. Davis after the legisla
ture had enlarged the board from
seven to 11 members in the midst of a
controversy over possible desegrega
tion. Davis’ fourth appointee did not
seek re-election.
Primary in 1963
Louisiana’s next Democratic primary
for Governor will be held in December,
1963, to be followed by a general elec
tion in April, 1964. Gov. Davis, strongly
pro-segregation and highly active in
the New Orleans school desegregation
issues, cannot succeed himself under
the state constitution, and already a
number of prospective candidates are
in sight. It appeared clear that segre
gation-desegregation will be a major
campaign issue.
Last month, Sen. Long and his cou
sin, U. S. Rep. Gillis Long of Alexan
dria, disclaimed intention of running
for governor. There had been specula
tion that a member of the politically
strong Long family might seek the seat
in Baton Rouge once held by the late
Huey P. Long and later by his brother,
Earl Long. Gillis Long last July de
feated incumbent Rep. Harold Mc-
Sween, a conservative, who gained his
second term in 1960 only after the
death of Earl Long, who had just de
feated him in a party primary.
Most S. C. Candidates
Soft Pedal Race Issue
South Carolina had intense political
activity in 1962, but school segregation-
desegregation issues played a smaller
role in public political discussions there
than in other Deep South states. The
state’s segregated school policy was not
prominent in the contest for governor,
which drew five candidates.
However, State Rep. A. W. (Red)
Bethea, one of the candidates, said he
would “close the doors of (lie Uni
versity of South Carolina so tight you
won’t be able to get a crowbar in” if
the school were ordered desegregated.
He repeatedly challenged the other
candidates to take firmer stands in
segregation, and he said he would go
into other states to fight governors who
were not “four-square” on segrega
tion.
Three other candidates, who said
they favored separate but equal educa
tion, reacted only slightly. Donald S.
Russell, a lawyer and former president
of the University of South Carolina,
said school desegregation cases under
scored the need for a keen legal mind
in the governor’s office, and he claimed
an “inflexible commitment” to segre
gation. Lt. Gov. Burnet R. Maybank,
also a lawyer, said he had always stood
for segregation, and he questioned
whether Russell was the best-trained
lawyer in the race.
A fourth candidate, the Rev. Milton
Dukes, said it would be “foolish” to
close the schools in the event of a de
segregation order. A fifth, Dero Cook,
made no reference to the subject.
Russell the Winner
The winner was Russell, with May-
bank second and Bethea third. In an
accompanying race for the U. S. Senate,
incumbent Olin D. Johnston defeated
Gov. E. F. Hollings in the Democratic
primary and went on to victory in the
general election against Republican
nominee William D. Workman Jr., a
Columbia newsman.
The segregation issue arose briefly
in the race for state attorney general
when State Sen. J. Marion Gaque, op
posing incumbent Daniel R. McLeod,
complained that the state in the past
had had to hire outside lawyers to
argue its school desegregation cases.
Republicans challenged South Caro
lina Democrats for several offices in
addition to that of U. S. senator. These
included the Second District congres
sional seat, state legislative seats from
Richland and Charleston counties and
a State Senate seat from Florence
County. All Republicans were defeated,
although they showed considerable
strength in some areas.
Negro leaders were disappointed that
only about half of South Carolina’s
90,000 registered Negroes voted. Heav
ily Negro precincts generally sup
ported the Democratic winners. Last
May, the chairman of the South Caro
lina Progressive Democrats, a Negro
political group, charged that the GOP
in the state “is definitely controlled by
the White Citizens’ Councils and called
for defeat of candidates “hostile to the
Negro race.”
Faubus Avoids Race Issue
In Winning Fifth Term
In Arkansas, Gov. Orval Faubus be
came the first Arkansan to win elec
tion to five straight two-year terms—
but in 1962 race was overshadowed as
the main campaign theme by the fifth-
term issue itself. Faubus stood as a
“moderate” on racial issues, taking the
position that he was under attack by
“extremists” on both sides. He ex
pressed opposition to use of force on
either side.
Faubus split with the Capital Citizens
Council, a foremost pro-segregation or
ganization in Arkansas. The council
said the Governor had abandoned the
principles it upheld, and charged he
had become a “toothless tiger.”
He won renomination in the Demo
cratic primary July 31 without a run
off over five opponents including for
mer Gov. Sid McMath and U. S. Rep.
Dale Alford, the latter an ophthalmol
ogist who had defeated former Rep.
Brooks Hays on a pro-segregation plat
form.
Token Opposition
Gov. Faubus had only token opposi
tion from the Republicans in the No
vember general election. He had less
success, however, in his advocacy of
Amendment 51 to the state constitu
tion—a proposal that the state’s basic
instrument contain a guarantee of seg
regated education to any person un
willing to attend school with a member
of another race. The amendment,
which got little public discussion while
proposals on other subjects stirred con
siderable controversy, was defeated in
a referendum by some 16,000 votes.
Provisions substantially the same as
that of the proposed amendment exist
in four state laws enacted in 1957,
1958 and 1959.
In Little Rock, meanwhile, a Negro,
Dr. W. H. Townsend, finished second
in a contest with two white candidates
for the City Board of Directors. Racial
issues were not raised in the campaign.
In December, Negro candidates were
defeated for seats on school boards in
Little Rock, Star City, Camden and
Hot Springs.
Segregation Gets Little
Attention in Other States
In Tennessee, school desegregation
never was mentioned as an issue in
the 1962 Governor’s race, won by for
mer Gov. Frank G. Clement. Clement
was endorsed by several Negro organ
izations who worked to get out the
Negro vote, and during one meeting
with Negro leaders, Clement said he
would consider naming a Negro to the
State Board of Education.
Five Negroes were elected to the
Nashville and Davidson County Metro
politan Council, to take office in April
with consolidation of the city and
county governments. The present
Nashville council has three Negro
members. In the race for Metropolitan
Mayor, both County Judge Beverly
Briley and County Tax Assessor Clif
ford Allen made strong bids for Negro
support. Briley won.
Negroes were candidates for Tennes
see legislative seats in some metropoli
tan areas, but none was elected.
Republicans continued to show in
creasing strength. They elected their
third Tennessee congressman from
East Tennessee and got sizeable sup
port in Memphis. The reapportioned
legislature has several more Republi
can members than in the past, but the
Tennessee GOP has long been an
established organization, having carried
the state in the past three national
elections.
Segregation and desegregation of
schools proved generally to be no is
sue in Texas politics last year. Many
Texas districts voted to desegregate,
although sentiment for segregated edu
cation continued to be strong in rural
areas with large Negro populations.
Texas Republicans made their best
showings of this century in local and
legislative races, giving further indi
cations that Texas has become gen
uinely a two-party state, but liberal
Democrats had a good year with gen
eral support of Negro voters. Accord
ing to one estimate, 125,000 Negroes
were among the 1,600,000 Texans who
cast ballots.
Negro supporters of Democrat John
B. Connally, the winner of the race for
governor, pointed to his tie with the
Kennedy administration which had
sent federal marshals to Mississippi to
enforce court-ordered desegregation.
On the other hand, Democrat Joe Pool
of Dallas was elected congressman-at-
large by a larger margin than Con-
nally’s despite the fact that advertise
ments in Negro newspapers called Pool
a segregationist. Pool denied after the
election that he had campaigned as a
segregationist, and said he favors fol
lowing court rulings which he consid
ers irrevocable.
Republicans elected one Texas con
gressman and won all contested offices
in Dallas County, and they scored simi
larly in Midland County in West
Texas. They also ran unexpectedly
well and won two offices in usually-
Democratic segregationist East Texas.
In Virginia, the only major political
aspect of the school segregation-de
segregation situation during 1962 was
the fight over former Gov. J. Lindsay
Almond’s nomination by President
Kennedy for a federal judgeship.
Almond, who as governor ultimately
dropped a policy of “massive resist
ance” to school desegregation in the
face of federal court orders, was ap
pointed by the President last spring
to the U. S. Court of Customs and
Appeals, but the Senate throughout its
1962 session did not confirm the ap
pointment. No recommendation came
from the Senate Judiciary Committee,
of which Sen. James O. Eastland of
Mississippi is chairman and Sen.
Harry F. Byrd of Virginia is a mem
ber. Byrd and Almond parted politi
cally when Almond as governor de
cided to abondon “massive resistance.”
The President gave Almond an in
terim appointment to the bench after
Congress adjourned, to last at least
through the current congressional ses
sion. If confirmation comes this year,
the appointment will be for life. Other
wise, any further interim appointments
would be without compensation.
School issues did not figure ma
terially in Virginia congressional elec
tions last year, and voters approved
repeal of a voter registration restric
tion which indirectly was involved in
political actions involving Negro or
ganizations.
From the political standpoint, there
was little or nothing having to do with
school segregation-desegregation in
Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky,
Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Okla
homa and West Virginia.
ALMOND
BYRD