University of Mississippi eGrove

Clippings Citizens' Council Collection

11-12-1961

Citadel of the Citizens Council

Hodding Carter

Citizens' Councils of America

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Recommended Citation Carter, Hodding and Citizens' Councils of America, "Citadel of the Citizens Council" (1961). Clippings. 75. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/citizens_clip/75

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Citizens' Council Collection at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Clippings by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. • , It -, / .... J '... #~ '/,",, .... \ . ~ . I . . 'I ,. ," , I ., " • • I ':"- I It) I """ '-_. I , ... , () , .,t'..,. ~.) , - I • • • "'-. t HODDING CARTER III is • young (Prince­ ita e 0 e I Izens oune ton -57) former Marine Corps officer who became the managing editor of The Delta While other Southern ' states move toward at least token desegregation. Democrat-Times in Greenville, Miss., last year. He is the author of "The South Strikes Bac"" ia Mississippi the diehard while-supremacists are firmly In control. I • NOVEMBER 12, 19.1 / I I By HODDIlfG CARTER m / I GREENVILLE, Miss. HE roll-call of Southern commu­ BR more ~portant to the Council'e Citadel of the nities which have begun at least purposes, however, and better illustra­ token pu bllc-school integration tive of its grip on the state govern­ in response to Federal court prodding ment, was the decision by the State was significantly lengthened this fall Sovereignty Commission in late 1960 to \ (Oontinued from, Page. 23) the. difficulties of collecting with the peaceful desegregation of donate $5,000 a month- from state tax ) same. One may screen new dues to the fornlulation of a schools in Dallas, Memphis and At­ money to support the Council'S radio members more rigorously plan to deal with a local white or Negro "trouble-maker." One lanta. In the last t\yo cities, massive and television program, Citizens Coun­ than another; sOine are rela~ will resistance on the secondary school level cil Forum. The members of the com­ tively inactive. Most hold an­ or two hotheads jump up in the Deep South was shattered for mission, formed by the Legislature in nual membership drives dur­ and let loose with impassioned •• speeches calling for ' radical the first time. While the number of 1956 "to protect the sovereignty of the ing which they make heavy and immediate. action-usually children involved was not impressive, state of Mississippi," include the Gov­ use of newspaper advertising. .. a midnight call on the · the psychological effect on the rest of ernor, and are nearly to a man Coun­ One Council advertised that a prospective member need offender. The conservatives the Black Belt South was immense. cil members. then will make themselves merely "walk into the bank." But one state, which shares with The grant,; combined with a lump'~ heard, calm down the fire­ • In another town, a member­ Alabama and South Carolina the dis- sum donation of $20,000, has brought brands and' smother the pro­ ship application could be filled . tinction of main taining total segrega­ the Council nearly $100,000 from the posal. tion at all levels in the public schools, out at the local hotel. In public treasury. Although an internal countless restaurants across shows no signs of yielding to a process power struggle in the Sovereignty a result of the perpetu­ most white Southerners have grudging­ the state, Citizens Council As Commission resulted in a $500-a-mon th literature can be picked up ation of conservative control, ly begun to accept as inevitable. The cut in the donation, no one seriously with the toothpicks at the no act of racial violence in state is Mississippi. After seven years belie.ves the commission will elin1inate cashier's coWlter. Mississippi has ever been di­ of mounting pressure, it is still vir­ it altogether in the near future. rectly connected to the. Citi­ tUally impossible to find any public The local organization's zens Council. Those incidents manifestations of the fatalism many There are many other examples of president is invariably a that have occurred may be in­ whites are privately expressing. the COlmcil's influence in the state gov­ prominent citizen, and the· directly traceable ' to the cli­ As the pressure has intensified, in ernment. Perhaps most significant is board of directors is drawn mate engendered by the Coun­ the fact that William Simmons, editor fact, Mississippi resistance has tended largely trom the community's cil, but it is a theoretical re­ , ,. of the Council's newspaper and ad­ to stiffen rather than crum·ble. It is Who's Who. When meetings lationship. The Council has -, . the one Southern state which showed ministrator of the state Council asso­ are held, which isn't often, found it doesn't need to oper­ , a completely unified front in defying Ciation, has become a constant com­ the same rough fonn of Rob­ ate that way to get results. • • . - the recent Interstate Commerce Com­ panion of Governor Barnett, traveling erts Rules of Order followed IniUaUy, the use of e.conom­ mission ruling on the desegregation of with him when he makes out-of-state in most civic clubs is observed. ic pressure against dissenting interstate facilities. State laws were talks (many of which Simmons reput-. The chaiI'lnan begins by call­ whites and Negroes was the ing on a minister-most to invoked in every city to preserve seg­ edly writes) and sitting in as an "ob­ main weapon, and some ex­ r • . regation in the local wa.ltlng rooms server" at most meetings of the Sov­ often a Baptist-for a prayer. tent it is st111 used. particular­ .. Committee reports, if any, r and terminal restaurants, anda.1though ereign ty Commission. ly against Negroes. But as the are heard, and the main busi­ the Justice Department promptly asked During the last regular session of Council has developed it has ness of the evening follows. found that the isolation ot Federal courts for a restraining order, the legislature in 1960, that body acted moderate and liberal whites there was little doubt that resistance , I as little more than a rubber stamp for often as not, the meet­ from the rest ot the white will be maintained untU the last legal bills which had Council endorsement. ing will be open to the public, community and the complete maneuver is exhausted. One gave local congregations the right and will feature a main destruction of interracial com­ " The observer would be hard pressed to se.cede from their parent churches, speaker and several lesser munication are infinitely more to find a major chink in Mississippi's taking church property with them, if . lights. The featured attraction productive and far easier to segregationist forces. There is a hand­ they found themselves in conflict with inevitably urges continued ad­ accomplish. ful of wl!ite diSSidents, and there: is a the national denominations' doctrines. herence to segregation and To a degree which is hard growing number of Negro militants, It was passed despite claims that it. states' rights, lashes the Su­ to convey to someone who does bu t neither is formed in to a strengtb violated the constitutional separation preme Court, the National not live in Missrssippi, the that can influence greatly. Support of church and state. And many of Gov- Association for the Advance- Citizens Council has managed ,. ,-. 1 ...... ,. __...... ______.:.. . ___-...-- ______...... ,...... ----- __' _, _ ' b___ t ...... -, _I._ .. ~_ w_ __.... _ .. ~-··_ ... __ .. :. _ .. _r._ ' ...... -- _._ .. _ ...... __ ._ ••

• I • • I . • I 4' I . . .. (COftU'U6"d /-,om Prec"dhlg Page) the Councll an Immediate shot r .,# ~, ...... ,. . • newspapers, its leaders and in the arm. . , most of its estimated BO,OOO In the past six months, , members. Since this slogan Mississippi has experienced touches a theme which has for the first time sit-ins. voter been central to Mississippi his­ registra tion drives. Freedom tory since. the Civil War. the Riders, Federal vote suits and approach Is highly successful. court action for the desegrega­ There are numerous exam· tion of the state university. pIes of the price demanded for The Council has hastened to failure to walk in the Coun­ capitalize on each. cil-enforced lockstep. Se.vera) Nothing, however, has been years ago, a mini~ter chose to as much of a godsend to the defend two whi te men accused Council as the. continued of being ·'integrationists" at foraY'3 ot the Freedom Riders. a Citizens Council-inspired Even while their exploits were m~ meeting held to demand focusing national attention on they leave the county. Within segregation in interstate facili­ a few months, the pastor was ties in the South, Council deprived of hi5 church by a leaders were singling out the unanimous vote of its govern­ "friction riders" as a con· ing board. Other ministers venient symbol of "outside in­ • across the state got the mes­ terference." The success with sage! which officials in the capital .~. ., .. , '. city of Jackson kept the "( Jo' ~/-:;" , :. ~ ~ ./' «y ~. :' .' segregation lid on while main­ IN the same county, the wo­ taining law and order as hun­ man editor of a small weekly dreds of Freedom Riders has battled the Council since poured into the. city was m-:\de­ the day it was organized. ~ f'K.' W '·~""; " to-order propaganda for the .. ~ ...... ~ ,.. - When a whispering campaign • Council, which has always CITIZENS COUNCIL-Meeting in J4IIc:hon, ib memben represent the "better people:- and advertising boycott failed promised that segregation to drive her out of business, could be preserved without a group of Ci tlzens Co\mcil violence. (Continued Iro"" Precedtflg Page) be continued fierce resistance in the election (ironically leaders started another news­ 'I a means of preventing Negro long after the first battle is enough by an opponent who paper. She has managed to civil-rights activity. lost. And in Mississippi, the was considered more "liberal" survive, thanks abnost entirely IN fact, from the ~oment Through it all, the Simple, final alternative of a state­ on the race issue). and the ad­ to ber own gutty determina­ it was clear · the Fre.edom single Council line has been: wide school closing in the face vent of the Freedom Riders Riders were coming to Missis­ tion not to go under, but again if we will only organize, main­ of a desegregation decree i~ were sufficient to blur the the point was made and duly sippi after their violence­ tain our solidarity and tight one which is most likely to be issue. noted by other newspaper men packed journey through Ala­ the good fight, we can still used. The spurt of cIvil rights ac­ tern pted to oppose the Council. bama, the Council took the • --·Tt".. ~". There is opposition to the tivity has had one positive The primary technique of lead in urging public order, Robert Patterson, a Delta Citizens Council in Mississippi, effect, of course. The Negro isolation is simply a variation while its spokesmen poured planter who was one of the and the total confonnity it community, which makes up of the big lie. Those who don't out a steady stream of founders and is now secretary would like is still far from almost half the state's popula­ go along with the Council are vituperation upon the organi­ of the Citizens Council, sound­ realized. But the white opposi­ tion , is far more militant. as a tarred over and over, in public zations and individuals con­ ed the call for all Council sup­ tion tor the most part has been result of the events of the past and private, with the same old nected with the group. As porters after Memphis de­ belated, isolated and in­ half year. phrases which most Southern­ each new busload arrived in segregated. In a letter to the effective. Every Um.e there has ers still dread. The dissenter Jackson, Councll membership editor of a Memphis news· been a chance that internal litl' it Is just this spirit, is a "nigger lover," a '·'nest efforts intensified and, if its paper, Patterson wrote: opposition might coalesce, y when it is publicly expressed fouler," a "scalawag," or a leaders are to be believed, "To be subjected to integra­ events, usually originating by words or deeds, which feeds "renegade white." When the Council membership grew. tion is one thing, but to $Ub­ from outside the state. have the Council's mill. Here, at charges are repeated often The same was true in south mit to it is quite anoth.er. If diverted public attention and enough in Mississippi's pres­ Mtssissippi after Negro regis­ we are subjected to it, we can home, is the very threat its exerted strong pressure for spokesmen have been warning ent cUmate of opinion, they tration attempts resulted in resist it, contain it and .. white solidarity- as in the of for seven years. White begin to stick, and the non­ - beatings recently. In counties eventually expel it, bu t if we case of the Freedom Riders. If Mississippians may be unable conformist becomes the local where the Council had been submit to it and accept it, the Council was ,one of the either donnant or nonexistent, in my opinion the destruction to see the obvious point that pariah. chief beneficiaries in Missis­ the process of change had new units sprang up over­ is likely to be permanent and sippi of their efforts, the Lately, a new weapon has reached the state despite the night. Revitaliza tion was re­ irrevocable.' , moderates were the chief been added to the Council's ar­ CounCil, but they are quick to ported in other areas where losers. enal. P rofessional anU-Com- (' A \vh'c .. #0', H' ~ "" "' ~" i"~ ' ne t~ . h t. - . , ...... ,. ... ''' . -- . """ . '~--.. -.-...... - ... - '-' - ~ \. ~ ...... "'\..- '-'H.. ~~U~ Counci h as m anaged , :. "' ...... uu...... vL 6 UOLl ll.L-.. -'-J--.•_ . -~.i. ~~ ~ L..LV~! ~ 6 ~ ernor. . Barne~t: s .. ,. m ajor ._. appointments ---...... ~~ - ..... ~- _me~t ._ of _ Colored - People, .. -. to divert the. antipathy ·of most- _~_ ... .. t :" . " were of men who were on the Council's church groups, "liberals" and . white Mississippians for inte­ Mississippi is pervasive., sometimes sub­ , , tle and immensely strong. To a high, state board of directors. ··modera tes," and invariably gration into a mold which in .. degree It is vested in the Citizens \ Individual Councils vary from town ends ~ith a call .for a united eludes the total rejection of Council. to town, but the general pat tern is front of dues-paym~ members any deviation from the status much the (Continued on Page 125) to stem the tide o~ ch'ang·e. quo. Blind adherence tq ··our t ~t a closed ~eeting, the way of life" is the unending re .. • I T is dtfficillf 'to explain to !Ul put­ main order of busIness may be frain of the Citizens Council's sider just how powerful a force this anything from a discussion of fCO,tttitu,ed on Following Page) white-supremacy group has become. I is • Perhaps the hardest point to grasp . - I I that the Cl Uzens Council in Mississippi .. ". -no matter how dubious its aims, re­ pugnant its methods or despicable its philosophy-is not made up of hooded figures meeting furtively in back alleys. Its leadershIp is drawn not from , the pool hall but from the country

(~ , club. Its membership generally ex­ " .. ' ' . .. ' : .... . :',' ,. ., hibil the attitudes of the middle and , . , s . '. ....' ",' . upPer classes rather- than of the poor , , white. And its aims are not couched in violent language but in the careful embroidery of states rights and con­ '. stitutionalism. In fact, when the first Council was - .. formed seven years ago by a group of community leaders, in the Delta town of Indianola, one central purpose was to retain control of resistance to desegregation in the hands of the "bet­ •. • ter people." Then, it was a semi-secret society. Today, membership in the Cit­ izens Council has come to be akin to ' membership in the Rotary or Lions Club. It is such an accepted mark of distinction, in fact, that many candi­ dates for public or organizational office

carefully add their participation in the , " " Council to their listings of civic enter- I ' prises in which they, have .engaged. The Council's control of the state was formalized in August, 1959. In that month, Ross Bamett-against the op­ position of Mississippi's two living ex.. Governors and all but one of the state.'s da~ly newspapers, but with the all-out su}>port of the Council-won a landslide victory in the Democratic primary run­ off for Governor. Since then, the Councll has all but completed the construction of a polit­ ical machine whose power is publicly unchallenged by any major state official.

One of its dramatic accomplishments ,oa . " . . . . Negro. atudent and NatWflol G"~rd8?nGtl Oft 4 ,reedom RUJe throu.gh MU84aatppi. was the narrow victory scored last M.... "'pp. shows "0 Ilsns of Yielding to a procell most white Southerners have grudgingly besun to accept a, inevitable." November by a slate of Presidential hfree electors" who eventually cast the .. 23, state's eight Electoral College votes for • Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia. rove,) • • A lI ' t: ~.... y uup c the r e - were no ill loents, U (. Per haps the best chance. the _ munJs ts have been brought HE Council is infinitely ' where Cotlncil leaders spurred 1 Council's opponents had for an promises a reversal of the Into the state, usually under strengthened in Mississippi by trend. This promise the Coun .. . organization or activation 8.8 issue around which they could Sovereignty Commission aus­ the fact that the state is still cit supplies. (Ce»tUflu6d on lI'ollo-wt-ng Poge) rally involved Billy Barton, a. pices, and while they deal • basically agrarian. made up of University of Mississippi There are several reasonable chiefly with the alleged Com- ' : ~ small communities and towns undergraduate, and native of conjectures about what the munist penetration of every in which the dissenter can find future holds. There can be facet of American Ufe, they few allies. There is no large the state, who disclosed last spring that the Sovereignty little doubt , that the Citizens' earn their fee in Mississippi me.tropolitan center here, no Council in Mississippi is going by implying that those who Memphis or New Orleans or Commission had built up a secret dossier on his private to,get s~ronger before it gets challenge the segregationist Atlanta. The largest city is weaker. The peak of the c,risis line are members of the Com­ Jackson (population: 145,000), Ufe which contained a number o·f lies and innuendoes about has not been reached. and the munist apparatus. This, too, and there the Council has been Council feeds on crisis. Al­ has been effective in neutral~­ most successful at organizing. his alleged role in the "integratIonist apparatus," ready it is marshaling its ing the Councirs opponen ts, The ci ty' s three dallies P,! ther forces to support school for Mississippians are no less echo the Council's beliefs or most of them supplied by a high Citizens Council source. closure when the inevitable .prone to ~e a Communist be­ remain silent. It is almost im­ court decree is handed down. hind every demand for change possible to find a business or Barton charged that the mis­ than are many of their fellow professional man who is not information was being used by Whether it can rally as wide support once the defeats begin Americans. at least a nominal Council state officials in an attempt to to is if • member. It just isn't good insure his defeat in the register doubtful, and business not to belong. campus election for editor of violence develops on a large TOD.A:Y. after and scale the Counc~l is sure to :M~mphiS • N one of this is to. say that the university newspaper. Atlanta and Dallas, the Coun­ I as the reverses begin, as the lose many of Its supporters cil is stronger than ~v~r in , from the upper economic and , , , Federal courts strike down one . OST Mississippians were Mississippi. Paradoxically, It • after another of the state's shocked by the Barton case, social strata. But with tradi.. has Men reinvigorated a5 the segregation laws, the Council which ob­ tion behind it, and with the " carried with it the , , struggle has moved closer to j ~ .:. political influence it now .e, will be able to stem the tide. vious implication that other has, , ~ : .. the state. And certain events ~ : It has not been able to do so files were being compiled by only the most optimistic could within the state, although they " elsewhere and will not be able the commissionts agents in a contend that the Citizens will lead in the long run to to here. What this does mean, manner reminiscent of a po­ Council will not be a potent the destruction of the cause ho~ever, is that in Mississippi lice state. But the combina­ force in Mississippi in the the <:=OuncU supports, also GOVERNOR-RoSI Barn~tt won of. as in no other state there will tion of time, Barton's defeat foreseeable future. have. had the effect of giving fic~ with Citizens Council support. NOVEMBER 11, 1961 '.,..J ' ,,~-"'" " . ' . ,~".. - .' ~~

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'WE MUST }om THE COMMON MAftIET.' I, Eric 'ok ...... , II ART lMJTATES THE PARTY Lnn: • . ' .• , . . • . . • •. . . 20·11 MARX TO KHRUSHCHEV. A rOu.·ACT DIAMA By Hurry Schwarm ' • . '. U . "'l't " , CITAJ)EL OF THE CITIUJtS COPClL. I, Boddl_. Ccn_ m n AGADI KOREA IS BEING TDfLD. I, A. M. aoeellfhcal .. • ' . ~ . ' 2 S Ai ~- ' • ." CAI.IFOIUfIA: STATE or COffTUSfO". Qlactwia Kill • . . ' ' ."/ . " , /'~'. . ' , I., I, " ,' " . ' i:::.,; ti SHADOW OF CATASTftOPH.E ova CAlCUTTA. I., ' 0-.) CIi... . n . , ,, " ~ .'1 .", .,,,, . ~ I . ., ' . THE CASE FOB TOP·JU.oWllfC. I, Lee 101'4 Wcallo oe . leil( I • II . . ~ . , .

, , .., ON DUTY IN GHANA II , . .. • .. ',: ... .~' . AS OllfEll.L SAW THE THEA n t.. " ArUt ., ••• a.a. n .. . ~ " . . • f ...... : :,,~ TIlE SHEIK STILL RIDES! I, ' oc" •• •• - . • . . .1 THE WAY AMElUCA W~ . I, J • c.~ " . .. , -A ...... u A n LYSIS· OF THE ANAL Yin Wlrt.. I., Ie •• • • , FOOTBALL SCHOOL FOI NON ARt> DAD OPEJOIfG RIGHT OK I£VOIH AYDOE .,. . .. "," ... •

~ ...... : ... i ~: LETtERS ...... , . .. . '" , II rooD •• ~ '" . ' ..... " . ". : \ 'N t ."'!: .~, ., :rf~ ::.:t~' ; F ASBIOIfS ' .. " . , ...... -" • , .. c . ~ t. ~ . ~ . ~ • ...... -. ~ . .,. :~ ...... ''0 • ", tI. , -1101 \ n ~ ." • It ~~~, .,..~, . .... to ,u,,,n . I . .' PARENT AIm CHU . IU ." ~ • • I ,I DAY ~ T THE FAIR-J ac~son , Miss., police (one with a leashed dog) daspene Negroes who protested segregation at the st. t"· f air. . Co ve,)