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rn A JT N0 ' S ""° SNofjn's?no3» "SSHVs'XM 8002 — y —1>9 N/)r INrVJI I T lUUk., News Objective MARCH, 1964 >fo Compromise On Rights Bill, j Johnson Says WASHINGTON R umors that the administra tion may be willing to com promise the civil-rights bill in order to obtain early passage in the Senate “are strictly Repub lican in origin,” President John son said at a news conference Feb. 29. Johnson said the bill, which the House of Representatives passed by 290-to-130 vote on Feb. 10, should be approved by the Senate “exactly in its present form.” The measure contains provisions to speed the pace of school desegregation, as well as to promote racial equality in employment opportunities, public ac commodations, voting rights and public facilities. It also would extend the life of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission by four years and give the federal government authority to withhold aid funds from racially segregated or dis criminatory programs. President Johnson said he under stood some senators favor strengthen ing the bill and others would like to weaken it. “But so far as this administration is concerned,” he said, “its position is firm and we stand on the House bill.” Long Debate Expected The Senate was expected to begin debating the measure during the first week of March, with a Southern fili buster stretching the debate out for weeks and perhaps months. “We intend to fight this bill with all the vigor at our command,” said Sen. Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.), leader of the Southern forces. He announced Reb. 19 that 18 Southern senators were prepared to debate the bill 24 hours a day, if necessary, to prevent passage. Rut Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) said Feb. 28 that the Senate would hold ’round-the- elock sessions only under “extreme” circumstances. Mansfield said the Sen ate would meet early and stay late, aud would sit on Saturdays, once the civil-rights debate was joined. Mansfield announced that four sen ators would serve as floor managers •or the civil-rights measure. They are Majority Whip Hubert H. Humphrey w-Minn.), Chairman Warren G. Mag- nuson (D-Wash.) of the Commerce ommittee, Sen. Joseph S. Clark (D- a.) of the Labor Committee and Sen. . P A. Hart (D-Mich.) of the Judi- CBr y Committee. Over the strenuous objections of the uthern senators, the Senate voted . -to-37 on Feb. 26 to place the civil- n *ts bill on the calendar, bypassing “ 6 Senate Judiciary Committee headed y Sen. James O. Eastland (D-Miss.) jj more than five hours of debate, ussell repeatedly accused the leader- bv' P °*. try * n ? t° “gag” the opposition w av ?iding the customary referral to ®oUttee. The 17-vote victory margin ur P r ised the leadership, which had (See JOHNSON, Page 2) h* This Issue tatc Reports ^? b ama 1 ^ ansa s 7 In ,j Ct of Columbia 1 l lon da ..4 v .. " 5 , nt uckv ? Jf^a 14 S**nd .... 3 w^Ppi ... 1 Missouri .... 9 J^ahoma ... 15 Vn 1 Carolina i6 ^nnessee S“iia 8 to 6Uua .... in 681 Vir ginia 12 j^ial Articles ft* Picture 1 CL We gion 1 Hill’s Problems 10 ^ Ide the South 16 Meeting Adjourned gl ^ I 4, ||| Brooks, Birmingham News ALABAMA Laws, Actions May Be Probed By U. S. Judges MONTGOMERY A three - judge federal court panel indicated Feb. 22 that it intended to take a broad look at Alabama’s school laws and administrative actions. At the conclusion of a two-day hear ing growing out of the court-ordered desegregation of Tuskegee High School last September, presiding Judge Rich ard T. Rives of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called for briefs from both sides addressed to the following questions: • Whether Gov. George C. Wallace, State Supt. of Education Austin R. Meadows and the State Board of Edu cation should be enjoined from inter fering with desegregation in any local school system in Alabama. • Whether an order should be issued desegregating all public-school systems in Alabama based on claims that the governor, the state board and the su perintendent of education had assumed central control in ordering Tuskegee High closed Jan. 30 and in authorizing tuition grants Feb. 4 for children to attend a private institution. • Whether the Alabama Pupil Place ment Law should be declared uncon stitutional in application. • Whether the Alabama grant-in-aid statutes should be declared unconsti tutional in application, or whether their use is unconstitutional when used in perpetuating segregation in the state. • Whether an existing restraining order preventing Gov. Wallace and the state board from interfering with de segregation in Macon County should be broadened into a preliminary in junction. • Whether any public funds have been used to the extent that the private Macon Academy in Tuskegee had been made a party to the Macon County desegregation case (Lee et al vs. Macon County Board of Education et al), on the contention of petitioners that it has become a public institution and a part of the Alabama public school system. Speculation on Outcome Most observers believed that the court would enter some kind of state wide desegregation order, but the con sensus seemed to be that the court might not go so far as requested by the petitioners and order desegregation of all school districts in the state on the basis of the state board’s inter vention in Macon. More likely, it was thought, the gov ernor and the board would be directed not to interfere with desegregation — this and perhaps a ruling on the eligi bility of private schools, such as the Macon Academy, for state assistance. To a large extent, the State Supreme Court and the board itself rendered both questions moot. On Feb. 18, the state’s highest court ruled, in an advis ory opinion requested by Gov. Wallace, that the board has no control over local systems and no authority to close them. The same day, the board met in emergency session and rescinded its (See COURT, Page 6) MISSISSIPPI First Public-School Desegregation In State Ordered for September JACKSON P ublic school desegregation — the first in Mississippi since the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court de cision—was ordered March 4 by U.S. District Judge Sidney C. Mize for the cities of Biloxi and Jackson and rural Leake County. The order was a temporary injunc tion for desegregation of the schools sought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on behalf of 64 Negro children. Judge Mize’s order was in conformity with a U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals mandate that he give the in junction petition “prompt considera tion.” The court of appeals order, issued at New Orleans Feb. 13, was in a deci sion reversing Judge Mize’s earlier dis missal of the three suits on grounds the plaintiffs had not exhausted administra tive remedies on the local level. At the same time, Judge Mize set May 18 for a hearing on the merits of the suits. In the meantime, he or dered officials of the schools to submit plans by July 15 for desegregation of the schools in at least one grade during the school year beginning in the fall (August and September). Judge Mize noted that issuance of the temporary injunction is not final and could be affected by the May 18 hearing of the issues on their merits. He ruled that the school boards in volved “are temporarily restrained and enjoined from requiring segregation of the races in the schools and that stu dents must be assigned to classes on a nondiscriminatory basis with all de liberate speed.” Judge Mize said the desegregation plans he called on the boards to submit by July 15 “shall include a statement that the maintenance of separate schools for the Negro and white children shall be completely ended in at least one grade during the school year commenc ing in September.” He also said they must provide for desegregation of at least one additional grade in each school year thereafter. Meanwhile, the Jackson Municipal Separate School District board an nounced it would “continue to resist and oppose public school integration.” The board, through attorney Thomas Watkins, said the preliminary injunc tion “was issued without permitting counsel for any of the parties to offer evidence.” The court, however, assured all parties that full opportunity would be given to present all relevant and competent evidence at the trial on the merits. Relative to attorney Watkins’ request for postponement of the temporary in junction order, Judge Mize said: “I consider it my duty under the mandate of the Court of Appeals to grant the temporary injunction. There is no necessity as I see it, for further delay.” He told the parties that “integration should be made fully without any vio lence and discord.” “I have given thorough consideration to this procedure (for grade-by-grade desegregation) and as much tranquility should be sought as possible,” he said. In refusing to hear testimony in the cases at the March 4 court session, Judge Mize said the Court of Appeals decision “makes it compulsory that I proceed now.” At the May 18 court session, Judge POLITICAL PICTURE School-Race Issues Get Less Campaign Attention By TOM FLAKE S chool SEGREGATiON-desegrega- tion continues to diminish as an open political issue in South ern and border states, although the subject is known to receive major political consideration in many state capitols, county court houses and city halls. “There is no popular position on the race issue,” Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. of Atlanta said last month, observing that it is a major challenge to mayors of large cities nationwide. Political campaign positions in the 17 state still range from those advo cating expanded school desegregation to those pledging efforts for mainte nance of separate schools. In West Vir ginia, Democratic gubernatorial candi date Bonn Brown has promised his efforts toward complete desegregation of schools which remain uniracial, and Republican candidate Cecil H. Under wood was an outspoken advocate of desegregation while governor in 1957- 61. In North Carolina, Dr. I. Beverly Lake is campaigning for the governor ship on a pro-segregation policy al though opposing use of force to prevent or deter court-ordered desegregation of schools. Issue Omitted In Mississippi, where Paul B. John son won the governorship last year in a campaign which stressed resist ance to desegregation of education, the incoming governor omitted direct ref erence to the subject when he deliv ered his inaugural address in January. Johnson also by-passed the issue later in presenting his program to the legis lature. However, Mississippi legislators made several moves last month, including introduction of a segregation-by-sex bill, that emphasized continued deter mination to resist or counteract fed eral-court orders for admission of Negroes to schools with whites. The state’s new lieutenant governor, Car- roll Gartin, said in his inaugural ad dress that he was “ready to make any personal or political sacrifice” to maintain Mississippi’s prosegregation position. Ross Barnett, who was succeeded by Johnson in the governor’s office, has announced that he has no intention of seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by John Stennis, who is expected to seek re-election this year. Barnett and Johnson, formerly lieutenant-governor, are awaiting further court action on (See SCHOOL-RACE, Page 13) Mize will begin testimony on the merits of the Jackson case, followed by that of the Leake County (Carthage) board. The Biloxi hearing on the merits of the case will take third place and will be heard at Biloxi. Derrick Bell, NAACP attorney, ob jected to the July 15 date for filing desegregation plans, asking that they be submitted earlier. However, Judge Mize said the date allows ample time for any objections which may be raised to the desegregation plans. White Parents Intervene Two white parents of Jackson filed as intervenors in the Jackson case ask ing for an injunction against the school board’s desegregation of the schools. Judge Mize allowed the petition to intervene to be entered “because the white parents also are entitled to their day in court.” The cases are styled Evers et al. v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District Board et al.; Mason et al. v. Biloxi Municipal Separate School Dis trict Board et al.; Hudson v. Leake County School Board et al. In appealing the lower court dismis sals, attorneys for the NAACP said they had not attempted to utilize provisions of the state pupil-assignment act for a transfer to white schools because “the exhaustion of remedies provided in the act would prove futile and inadequate in view of the state policy of segrega tion.” Asserting that the petitions to the school boards provided “ample basis for the grant of relief,” the Court of Appeals ordered Judge Mize to give the suits “prompt consideration.” The Court of Appeals said “the premise for the theory” that no ap pellant had sought and been denied entrance to any particular school “is that any segregation in these school systems is purely voluntary in light of the Mississippi Pupil Assignment stat ute and that appellants cannot be heard to say to the contrary without at least applying for assignment to schools be ing attended by members of the white race. “This is particularly so, the argument goes, in view of the absence of com pulsory school attendance laws in Mis sissippi and the resulting necessity to apply for admission and assignment an nually,” the court said. “This premise is buttressed by a line of authorities that require exhaustion of administra tive remedies and denial of constitu tional rights to appellants individually before relief may be granted. “However,” the Court of Appeals said, “the difficulty in sustaining this position lies in the fact of other Mis sissippi laws. For example, and without (See COURT, Page 11) THE REGION Private-College Policies On Race Before Courts r I 1 he legal status of segregated private colleges was the prin cipal issue of two cases in the courts in February. A U.S. District Judge in Florida dis missed a desegregation suit against the University of Tampa on grounds that the private institution was not subject to court mandates requiring desegre gation. A state district court judge in Texas is considering the verdict of a jury that ruled in favor of Rice University trus tees, who want to end the all-white restrictions placed on the school by the will of the founder, William Marsh Rice. The Tampa suit, Hammond v. Uni versity of Tampa, was filed in March, 1963, by two Negroes, who charged that the university should be required to desegregate because it received large federal grants and loans. The school has maintained a segregation policy by a formal vote of the board of trustees. U.S. District Judge Joseph P. Lieb ruled Feb. 4 that “the university is a private academic institution whose ac tivities have been carried on without significant state participation.” Texas Judge William M. Holland, of the 127th District Court, indicated he would rule in March on the jury’s ver dict that held “impracticable” the re strictions placed on Rice University by the founder. The school’s trustees, in Rice v. Carr, sought permission to ad mit Negro students to the all-white school and to charge tuition. Rice officials testified at the hearing that the university could not get fed eral funds or hold top staff members without desegregating. The school lost a $10-million research grant from the Ford Foundation and is threatened with the loss of the Navy ROTC program, they said. The chancellor, Dr. Carey Croneis, said the campus might be come “an intellectual desert” unless the court permitted the school to admit Ne groes and to charge tuition. (See THE REGION, Page 11)