The
EDITORIAL POSITION
.of the
IN THE LITTLE ROCK
SCHOOL CRISIS
•
September 7 - Octobe1r 25, 1957
Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries The following chronology sets forth the sequence of· €vents in the integration crisis at Little Rock Cen tral High School. Also reprinted here are the edi torials which reflect the reaction of the Arkansas Gazette at each stage of development.
The majority of the editorials were written by the Gazette's executive editor, Harry S. Ashmore, al though some were contributed by other members of the editorial page staff. They reflect the considered policy judgment of this newspaper.
J. N. Heiskell President and Editor
Chrono/,o,gy of Events
Here is a chronology of events leading to the present Little Rock school integration stalemate: 1954 1956 May 17-The United States Supreme .Tanuary 24 - Twenty-seven Negroes Court ruled racial segregation in the attempt to register in Little Rock public schools unconstitutional. schools but were refused. May 22 - The Little Rock School February 8-A suit filed by the Na Board issued a policy statement that tional Association for the Advancement said it would comply with the Supreme of Colored People charged that 33 Ne Court decision when the Court outlined gro children had been denied admit the method to be followed and the time tance to four Little Rock schools solely to be allowed. because of race. August 23-NAACP petitioned School March 1-The School Board called Board for immediate integration. the NAAOP demand for hasty integra tion "unwise, unworkable and fraught with danger." 1955 August 28-Federal Judge John E. May 24-The Little Rock School Board Miller dismissed the NAA:CP suit, de adopted a plan of gradual integration claring that the Little Rock School under which high school-level grades Board had acted in "utmost good faith" would be integrated starting Septem in setting up its plan of gradual inte ber, 1957, if a third general high school gration. He retained jurisdiction to see
September 4. 1957 An Edit,orial TheCrisisMr. Faubus Made Little Rock arose yesterday to gaze upon the incredible spectacle of an empty high school surrounded by National Guard troops called out by Governor Faubus to protect life and property against a mob that never materialized. Mr. Faulbus says he based this extraordinary action on reports of impending violence. Dozens of local reporters and national correspondents worked through the day yes- 5 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries terday without verifying the few facts the governor offered to explain why his appraisal was so different from that of local officials-who have asked for no such action. Mr. Faubus contends that he has done nothing that can be construed as defiance of the federal government. Federal Judge Ronald N. Davies last night accepted the governor's statement at its face value, and ordered the School Board to proceed on the assumption that the Na tional Guard would protect the right of the nine enrolled Negro children to enter the high school without interfer ence. Now it remains for Mr. Faubus to decide whether he intends to pose what could be the most serious constitu tional question to face the national government since the Civil War. The effect of his action so far is to interpose his state office between the local School District and the United States Court. The government, as Judge Davies im plied last night, now has no choice but to proceed against such interference or abandon its right to enforce its rulings and decisions. Thus the issue is no longer segregation vs. integration The question has now become the supremacy of the gov.. ernment of the United States in all matters of law. And clearly the federal government cannot let this issue remain unsolved, no matter what the cost to this community. Until last Thursday the matter of gradual, limited integration in the Little Rock schools was a local problem which had been well and wisely handled by responsible local officials who have had-and we believe still have the support of a majority of the people of this city. On that day Mr. Faubus appeared in Chancery Court on behalf of a small but militant minority and chose to make it a state problem. On Monday night he called out the National Guard and made it a national problem. It is one he must now live with, and the rest of us must suffer under. If Mr. Faubus in fact has no intention of defying federal authority now is the time for him to call a halt to the resistance which is preventing the car rying out of a duly entered court order. And certainly he should do so before his own actions become the cause of the violence he professes to fear.
September 6, 1957. When a handful of Negro chil dren prepared to enter white schools in three North Carolina Of Arkansas And cities Governor Hodges declared that there would be no emergency North Carolina 1 -and now all is calm in his state. This contrast is of telling signifi When a handful of Negro chil cance. These western and eastern dren prepared to enter Little Rock anchors of the northernmost tier Central High School under court of Southern states have much the order Governor Faubus declared same topography and racial com an emergency-and now one exists. position, and until this week they 6 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries had followed the same moderate who bear the direct responsibility approach toward the federal gov for maintaining law and order. He ernment's more recent rulings in did not assist these officials but in the field of race relations. fact defied them-just as he has It is no doubt true, as Governor defied the federal courts. Hodges said this week. that the This was the significant point majority of North Carolinians con made by Mayor Woodrow Mann in tinue to favor voluntary segrega his statement expressing deep re tion of the schools. sentment at "Mr. Faubus' unwar It is similarly true that the ranted interference with the inter· majority of Arkansas citizens con nal affairs of this city." And the tinue to prefer segregation of the mayor pointed out that his own schools, although the percentage police force had had no reports of figures Governor Faubus is con inter-racial strife even after almost stantly spinning out of his head a week of extreme statements from are without visible proof. the governor. But it is beyond this point that It is no answer to say, as Mr. the governor of Arkansas and the Faubus has said in effect, that governor of North Carolina quit peace has prevailed in Little Rock speaking the same language this only because he turned out the week. Guard. The Guardsmen are con Governor Hodges took no stand centrated at three isolated points. either way on the fact of limited The Negro and white citizens of school integration undertaken by this community are scattered all local authorities at Greensboro, over the city, and so far they have Charlotte and Winston-Salem. The quietly gone about their daily busi North Carolina governor simply ness without any friction. said that "North Carolinians do not No one can say now that this like lawlessness" and made it quite situation can continue indefinitely clear that anybody who had other -not so long as the National ideas would be promptly dealt Guardsmen in effect protect and with. The handful of irresponsi encourage the whites who assemble bles who have sought to cause trou daily at Central High School. Yet ble, as in the case of the white boy the terrible truth is that this un who threw a stick at a younger seemly spectacle is essential to the Negro girl at Charlotte. were im position Mr. Faubus has taken in mediately taken in hand-and by his calculated course of direct defi local authorities. ance of the federal government. So on the second day of school In order to sustain his position the in Charlotte there was no trouble governor must have a threat of at all. The Charlotte Observer re violence. If the impasse continues ported that the city had settled long enough the chances are he down again. "The matter is over will have it in fact. and done with and I do not believe We believe Mayor Mann spoke there is even a remote possibility the sentiment of this community of any further trouble," said the when he said: editor of the Observer. "I am sure a great majority of This is how it could have been the people of Little Rock share my in Little Rock had Governor Fau deep resentment at the manner in bus not taken it upon himself to which the governor has chosen to intervene in the situation with use this city as a pawn in what public statements expressing his clearly is a political design of his fear of violence and in fact incit own. If any racial trouble does ing it. When he called out the Na· develop the blame rests squarely tional Guard he did so without con on the doorstep of the Governor's sulting any of the local authorities Mansion." 7 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries September 7, 1957. was justified in preventing by force of arms the carrying out of a federal court order. The School Issue It is a question that must be set tled if the impasse is to be re And the ,Courts solved. In his lengthy telegram to Presi We hope, therefore, that Mr. dent Eisenhower asking for under Faubus is prepared to accept his standing and support, Governor "day in court" if it is offered to Faubus said among other things him, and in the act of accepting that he had not had his "day in also indicate his willingness to court" to explain why his fear of abide by the court's final decision. possible violence was so great that If he refuses the only assump he had decided to call out the Na tion will be that he is embarked tional Guard to prevent integration upon a course deliberately de at Central High School. signed to test the powers of his We believe that the governor state office against those of the should have such a day-and that federal government. Having used it should be in federal court as force himself he would thus invite soon as possible. the federal government to reply in There is, as it happens, a clear kind-with consequences that defy precedent. In a Texas case in 1932 the imagination. the governor of that state called out the militia on the ground that the effort to enforce a federal law September 8, 1957. limiting oil production would pro duce violence. In a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice A Major Question: Hughes the Supreme Court re jected two basic contentions of the Is This Arkansas? Texas officials-first that the gov One major question which has ernor was personally beyond the arisen out of the issue of integra jurisdiction of the federal courts, tion at Central High School is and second that the reason for his whether the nation-wide publicity calling out the militia was not a the incident has brought will dam proper matter for the court to con age Arkansas's progress toward in sider. The Supreme Court held dustrialization. that the reverse was true in both Some authorities do not want to instances-that the governor was be quoted on any aspect of a con subject to injunction in any con troversy which has been so heated. stitutional matter and that his ac Some say there is yet no accurate tion in calling out the Guard to way of determining the effect of prevent violence where none yet this ugly spectacle on the minds existed was really the heart of the of people who have been eyeing matter. the nation-wide "This Is Arkansas" And the Court significantly noted advertisements. And some feel that further that in any event the only industrialists are more concerned proper purpose for calling out the with integration in their factories militia was to enforce the law, not than in their communities' schools. to prevent its enforcement. But Everett Tucker Jr., who as These are precisely the questions industrial director of the Little Governor Faubus has posed in the Rock Chamber of Commerce present case. Here as in the Texas should be counted high among action the heart of the matter is those authorities, did not equivo whether in fact the threat of vio cate on this question. Said Mr. lence was so real that Mr. Faubus Tucker: 8 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries "[The integration dispute) is go state for the past week and is due ing to set our industrial progmm to resume in full force a few hours back considerably. Such questions from now when Governor Faubus are being raised increasingly as appears before a national televi time goes on. This has been one sion audience to explain his posi sphere where we have had no tion and defend it if he can. hesitancy in answering. We could Sunday is a good day for calm make one of the best cases [for reflection, and we hope Arkansans good race relations) o.f any city in are so using it. Sunday is a good the South. day, too, to be reminded that in "Now-and for the unpredictable the current crisis there are ques future-whenever the subject comes tions not only of law and of poli to mind of an industry planning a tics, but of morality. Southern plant, it will immediately Somehow, some time the present think of Little Rock as a 'hotbed' impasse between Mr. Faubus and of segregation, which is not true the federal courts n,mst be re at all." solved. That is the problem, and According to reliable sources, it is an extraordinarily complex one enterprise is now watching one, that faces the responsible the Little Rock situation carefully leaders of the city, the state and and apparently wit·h concern. An the nation. We can assume that other one finally agreed to locate they are working on it, and we can at Little Rock only after satisfying pray that they will find a way out assurances had been given-as before the final show-down of they could be at that time-con force against force which Mr. Fau cerning racial conditions. bus has so far invited. The fact is that whatever the But it is also an inescapable feelings of any industrialist may problem for each one of us. Some be on the issue of integration, he how, some time, every Arkansan wants to settle in a well-ordered is going to have to be counted. We community which is not torn by are going to have to decide what strife, racial or otherwise. And the kind of people we are - whether fact that the current situation is we obey the law only when we ap confined to Little Rock, while prove of it, or whether we obey it other Arkansas cities handled the no matter how distasteful we may problem peaceably, is likely to find it. have little effect on the thinking And this, finally, is the only of those who read an advertise issue before the people of Arkan ment proudly announcing that sas. It is quite true that most of "This Is Arkansas." When he us would have preferred to con turns to Page One of his newspaper tinue segregation in the public these days, he may ask himself this schools. But it is equally true that question: we cannot do so lawfully except "Is This Arkansas?" with the voluntary consent of the Negro people whose children have been declared legally eligible for September 9, 1957. admission to schools heretofore re served for whites. Reflecfi,o,ns in A It is important to remember that for the most part the Negroes of 1 H urrica 1ne s Eye this community have volunteered not to exercise the new privilege This is written in a moment of guaranteed them by federal law. relative calm - something like the They have accepted a plan of inte eye of the hurricane of emotion gration that involves only a tiny that has beset this city and this handful of members of their race. 9 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries They have done so reluctantly on state power would be but impotent their side, but with good will - phrases, the futility of which the because they have recognized that state may at any time disclose by the School Board of Little Rock the simple process of transferring was proceeding in good faith to powers of legislation to the Gover work out the best practical solution nor to be exercised by him, be to what all parties agree is a prob yond control, upon his assertion of lem that cries out for time and necessity. Under our system of patience. government, such a conclusion is obviously untenable. There is no such avenue of escape from the * * * paramount authority of the Fed This is the spirit in which the eral Constitution. great majority of the white and This then is the law as inter colored people of this community preted by the Court whose voice accepted the School Board plan. on constitutional matters is final. Only a small and militant minority It is the law that in the end will of whites urged upon Mr. Faubus prevail - and on Sunday there the extreme course of interpos must have been many who prayed ing his state authority directly that its enforcement will not in against the order of a United States crease the already heavy damage Court. that has been done to the spirit of We believe the great majority of good will and brotherly love that whites supported the School Board prevailed before armed, uniformed last Tuesday-and still do despite men suddenly appeared unan the sensational events of recent nounced on our quiet streets. days. There are those, of course, who admire Mr. Faubus's courage, and September 10, 1957. in the calculated confusion of the hour have even come to believe that he may yet stand against the -And Now Time government of the United States. There were also those, we sup Is Running Out pose, who admired King Canute With each move and counter when he ordered the sea to turn move Governor Faubus has drawn back. But the sea did not turn closer to a final show-down with back -and there is no indication the federal authorities. And now that the federal government can time is running out. or will abandon the authority of The Justice Department has the United States Supreme Court. been brought into the case and The legal precedent is firm and directed to prepare injunctive clear. In the 1930's the governor procedures against Mr. Faubus, his of Texas called out the National adjutant general, and the local Guard to prevent the enforcement commander of the National Guard of a federal law. The unanimous units stationed around Central opinion written by Chief Justice High School. Hughes concluded: This means that unless the im If this extreme position could passe can be resolved in the be deemed to be well taken, it is meantime by negotiation Mr. Fau manifest that the fiat of a state bus will face his final fateful de· Governor, and not the Constitu cision-whether or not to accept tion of the United States, would be the jurisdiction of the United the supreme law of the land; that States Court and carry out its di the restrictions of the Federal rections, whatever they finally Constitution upon the exercise of may be. 10 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries It is a moment of terrible de day to accept a subpoena for his cision for all concerned. Judge appearance in United States Dis Davies has delayed it for more trict Court 10 days from now we than a week, but during that assume that he also accepted the period Mr. Faubus has given no jurisdiction of that Court and will indication of retreating from his abide by its decision. position that the Guard troops If this assumption is correct we were and are essential to the pres may once more be on the only ervation of order in this com path that can lead to an orderly munity. resolution of the impasse which So the Court is now prepared was created when Mr. Faubus to move with the full weight of called out the National Guard and the United States government be ordered them to prevent the entry hind it. No one could now predict of nine Negro children at Central what form its ultimate action will High School. take, but no one has any reason Those Guardsmen, the governor to doubt that whatever may be indicated yesterday, will remain in necessary to uphold the federal position outside the school-pre law will be done. sumably throughout the 10-day Behind the scenes informal, un waiting period the Court allowed official negotiation is under way. before proceeding with its injunc And there is still reason to be tive process. We would like to lieve that the federal officials will think that the jeering crowd oi avoid the show-down if they hon whites outside the High School will orably can. Mr. Faubus, we be disappear and that some semblance lieve, is of the same mind. of order can be restored to the So there is still hope, then, as area. the last hours tick away that this The war, of course, is not over, tragic dispute can remain a mat but this 10-day armistice may serve ter of law and therefore subject the useful purpose of allowing to orderly settlement by judicial all parties to consider the future action-and that it will not be re as well as the present. It is not, solved into a contest of force in any event, a pleasant prospect, against force. but if Mr. Faubus has now aban The matter of how and why this doned any plan he may have had impasse came about is no longer of for continued defiance of fed moment. The only consideration eral authority the present damage of consequence is that it must be can be halted and much of it re resolved-without further disorder, paired. without abandoning the structure The great need is for calm and of the law, and without lasting bit reason. We have a better chance terness if this is still possible. of obtaining it as a result of Mr. We cannot believe that in the Faubus' actions yesterday. end responsible men on either side of this great, constitutional crisis will have it otherwise. September 12, 1957. President Eisenhower September 11, 1957. And Governor Faubus Mr. Faubus Accepts It is, we think, proper that Gov Federal Jurisdiction ernor Faubus requested a meeting with President Eisenhower, and When Governor F a u b u s ap that Mr. Eisenhower agreed to see peared before the Mansion yester- him. 11 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries It will not be, of course, in any He could have stayed out of sense a negotiating session. The what is an obviously explosive po final resolution of the impasse litical situation-and most politi Mr. Faubus created when he called cians would have been tempted to out his state troops to halt the do so. Instead he followed the dic execution of a United States Court tates of his conscience and in order will come in the Court itself. itiated the process by which Mr. But some of the problems Mr. Faubus will confer with Mr. Eisen Faubus has raised clearly involve hower at Newport tomorrow. the executive branch of the gov There cannot be any final reso ernment. It is well that Mr. Eisen lution of the impasse at Newport, hower should hear personally Mr. or even in a real sense any bar Faubus' viewpoint. If, as Mr. Fau gaining in that direction. That set bus has insisted all along, his sole tlement can and will come as a re purpose was to preserve the peace sult of further action by the United he may even ask Mr. Eisenhower's States Court. But Mr. Hays in help--and we presume he will terprets the implication of the get it. meeting as one in which both par But perhaps most helpful of all ties are "consistently paying tri is that the meeting should serve bute to the rule of law." to bring the· controversy back into This, certainly represents a con the realm of reason and end the siderable gain. Arkansas, and for unseemly display of naked force that matter the nation, owes Brooks which has shocked and alarmed Hays a great debt. the nation and the world. It is this newspaper's faith that no problem is beyond resolution by September 15, 1957. reasonable men of good will. And, as has been demonstrated in this city in recent days, when the irre Go,vernor Faubus sponsibles rode high in the saddle, no problem can be solved by un Go·t His Answer reasonable men with hatred in In an effort to resolve a consti their hearts. tutional crisis which was wholly of his own making, Governor Fau bus has now flown to Newport for September 13, 1957. an emergency conference with the president of the United States. When it was all over yesterday Brooks Hays Has afternoon it was clear that Mr. Faubus had obtained no concession Do·ne His Duty from Mr. Eisenhower beyond a friendly smile. In a time of crisis a heavy per sonal responsibility rests upon And Mr. Faubus himself had to elected public officials. They can walk before the cameras and end betray their people by their ac the long train of double-talk with tions. And they can also betray which he has sought to cloak his them by their failure to act. posture of naked defiance of the In a real sense Representative federal courts. Stripped of their Brooks Hays was performing a face-saving phrases, here were his public service beyond the call of key words: duty when he intervened in the "I have never expressed any personal opinion regarding the Central High School impasse and Supreme Court decision of 1954 established contact between Gov which ordered integration. That ernor Faubus and the White House. is not relevant. That decision is 12 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries the law of the land and must subsides, the responsible, law-abid be obeyed." ing citizens of Little Rock can get Then, with Mr. Faubus' capitula on with their job of trying to heal tion safely on the record, Mr. Eis the wounds he caused. enhower applied the clincher when in his own statement he said: "The governor stated his in September 16, 1957 tention to respect the decision of the United States District Court and to give his full co Mr. Faubus Also operation in carrying out his re sponsibilities in respect to these Needs a Dictionary decisions. "I am sure that it is the desire Perhaps the most remarkable of of the governor, not only to the many remarkable statements serve the supreme law of the Governor Faubus has made in re land but to use the influence of cent days was his comment at New his office in orderly progress of port "that changes necessitated by the plans which are already the court orders cannot be accomplish subject of the order of the Court." ed overnight." The District Court, of course, is This, of course, is a statement the one in which Mr. Faubus has of fact. No one, including the been summoned to appear before United States Supreme Court, con Judge Ronald N. Davies to show templated that the shift from seg cause why he should not be en regated to integrated schools could joined from obstructing the law. be accomplished in any Southern community at one stroke. And the plan to which the presi dent referred is the one which the The real question here is Mr. Little Rock School Board worked Faubus' definition of "overnight." out and had every reason to be The essential facts in the Little lieve could peacefully be carried Rock case, which Mr. Faubus is through before Mr. Faubus threw obviously attempting to obscure his armed troops around Central are these: High School to forcibly prevent the ( 1). The Little Rock plan of in entry of nine Negro children. tegration was voluntarily evolved Many important questions re by the Little Rock School Board main to be resolved. Mr. Faubus over a period of three years. It has said nothing at this writing in was a legal design intended to ac regard to the possibility of keep complish the minimum integration ing the National Guard on duty over the longest period of time but with new orders to preserve permissible under the Supreme the peace against those who would Court ruling. thwart the law. (2). The plan was presented to But the big question that Mr. the people of Little Rock in these Faubus raised has been clearly an terms and fully explained. School swered. The federal government Superintendent Virgil Blossom will not back down. The law will himself made an estimated 200 be enforced. Mr. Faubus can join speeches in this three-year period his efforts to that end, or he can setting forth the plan in detail to sit it out. But he cannot expect interested white and colored par to longer halt the machinery of ent groups. the courts. (3). The National Association And so the peace that Mr. Fau For the Advancement of Colored bus shattered can be restored to People, objecting that the plan was this town and if he no more than too gradual, brought court action 13 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries against the School Board. In fed wake of his unwarranted action in eral District Cohrt, before an Ar calling out the National Guard, that kansas judge, the plan was held all he could do for his people was constitutional. On appeal to the weep for them. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals it was again upheld. ( 4). In its final working, the September 18, 1957 Little Rock plan would admit a grand total of nine Negro children Mr. Faubus' Poll and to previous ·all-white schools in this school year. Further integra Some Percenta·ges tion would be spread over a period of seven years and the actual over In pursuance of his preoccupa lap of white and colored sch.o~l tion with polls and percentage population would be held to a m1m figures Governor Faubus said dur mum. On a voluntary basis, all col ing his Sunday night TV turn with ored schools would be continued Mike Wallace that a poll of the for the foreseeable future. Little Rock area had shown that "82 per cent of the people agreed Is this by any rational defini that violence would have occurred tion, a p~ogram of "overnight" in had I not taken the action I did." tegration? The fact that our own informal It seems to us, on the contrary, poll has revealed not one person to be a sound design for meeting who was polled by Governor Fau a difficult educational problem bus' "scientific" pollsters is of no without any real change in the pat consequence, because the gover tern of social segregation which nor's 82 per cent figure is mean prevails here and will continue for ingless on its face: The man on the the foreseeable future. street has no source of private in Yet Mr. Faubus in effect has re formation on which to base such a jected this plan, carefully con judgment. trived by the local officials who Governor Faubus's numbers kick bear direct responsibility for the started in the Democratic primary public schools. Although he had last summer, when he announced never displayed either knowledge that 85 per cent of the people of of or concern with, the Little Rock Arkansas were in favor of continu p;ogram until he suddenly em ing segregated schools, a bland as barked upon a course designed to sertion that invited comparison block it, he among other things as with a Little Rock radio station's sumed to himself the role of edu assertion that 86 per cent of the cational expert. people prefer country music. The According to the United Press temptation was to wonder how Mr. Faubus at Newport asked the much overlap there was. president for a year's delay, in re But by now the governor's magic turn for which the governor of 85 per cent figure has been firmly fered "to help prepare the people entrenched in Arkansas mythology. of Little Rock for integration." A great many of the people (pre And here, it seems to us, is the cise percentage figure indetermin final irony. Here is a governor, able) now firmly believe that 85 who not only refused to support per cent of the people voted last local school officials but in the end year for segregation. defied them, saying that he would The actual percentage figures on educate the people to obey the law. the election in question-the No On the record to date it seems vember general election vote on to us that Mr. Faubus was closer three separate segregation pro to the mark when he said, in the posals - break down this way: 14 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries Fifty-six per cent of the people around Central High with their supported the most extreme of the bayonets aimed figuratively at the proposals, the Johnson "nullifica nine colored children who were tion" amendment; 61 per cent sup denied entrance on Governor Fau ported Governor Faubus's own in bus' order. terposition resolution; 72 per cent All this, despite the fact that supported the most innocuous of there was real violence in Nash the proposals, the initiated school ville and none at all in Little Rock. assignment act, patterned after a Why the difference? The answer Virginia plan since declared uncon is in the attitude of the governor stitutional by a federal court. of Tennessee and the governor of Against those state-wide expres Arkansas. sions of sentiment, we have a more Governor Faubus says he has recent referendum on the specific acted in such extreme fashion to issue of the Little Rock School preserve order. Governor Clem Board's court-approved plan for in ent, however, has acted in the past tegration by stages. In that elec -and stood ready to act this time tion 62 per cent of the people vot -not only to preserve order but to ed against one of two School Board uphold the law. candidates pledged to try to upset the existing plan; 64 per cent vot Thus Nashville has peace and ed against the other. Little Rock has an impasse that has already done immeasurable harm From all these percentages, we to the community. submit that we and the governor may have been talking about two In a recent television interview different things. It seems likely Governor Clement noted that in to us that 85 per cent, and more, last year's Clinton troubles he call of the white adults of this state ed out the National Guard to quell would vote in favor of segregated the local demonstration and pro schools, if the question could be tect the right of the Negro children put to them without qualification. to attend school-as they had been However, we doubt that any sort ordered to do by a federal court. of majority would so vote in favor But, he noted, he did so only after of outright defiance of the federal a formal request for help from government-which remains the local authorities. And he did not only issue before the people of order out the Guard in Nashville Arkansas. because no such request was made, and in fact was not necessary be cause the local police acted promptly and efficiently to take September 19, 1957 the situation in hand.
Peace in Nashville, Mr. Faubus'* course * *has been di- Chaos in Little Rock rectly opposite in the Little Rock case. One week after the school's He refused to indicate, as did opened under Nashville's integra the governors of North Carolina tion plan the newspaper headlines and Tennessee, that he would sup said: Nashville Integration Crisis port local authorities in upholding Over; School Officials Expect No the law. On the contrary he took More Trouble. it upon himself to issue dire warn Two weeks after the schools ings of possible violence beyond opened in Little Rock the headlines their control- and then refused to around the world were still blaring divulge the sources of his informa news of the great crisis-and the tion. Then, with no request for National Guardsmen still stood aid and even over the protests of 15 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries responsible local officials, he called Yet at the same time Mr. Faubus out the Guard before the High has made it quite clear that he will School even opened. not himself contribute to an order In the intervening two weeks the ly solution. He will, he has said, Guard's mission has simply been to withdraw his forces from Central keep the Negro children from at High School if he is ordered by tending school. Neither the Guards the Court to do so. But he will men nor the State Police have fol do nothing to uphold the law and lowed the normal police procedure prevent the violence his flagrant of moving to disperse the dwindling actions have invited. crowd which has assembled there Here, then, is the naked political daily. It is fair to say that the design under which the governor presence of the governor's forces has operated from the beginning has simply constituted a standing and let no Arkansan forget it in invitation to the assorted hecklers the days ahead when the real issue and a guarantee that they could is clouded by legalisms. without molestation keep watch for possible re-entry of the Negro stu The good offices of Representa dents. tive Brooks Hays, who served as an honest broker between the It is true that there is a dif White House and the Mansion in ference in the Tennessee and Ar an effort to negotiate a settlement kansas laws governing use of the failed because Orval Faubus could Guard; Governor Clement is spe not bring himself to make the po cificially forbidden to move with litical sacrifice the reversal of his out a local request for aid while policy of defiance would have en Governor Faubus apparently is not. tailed. But it is abundantly clear that there is also a great contrast be The governor knows that he can tween the two governors' concepts retain the fickle loyalty of the ex of their public duty. Mr. Clement treme segregationists only by go has used his powers to uphold the ing all the way with them. To law and preserve the peace; Mr. deviate, to return to the course of Faubus so far has used his to reason and honor and respect for thwart the law and preserve a state the law, would be not only to lose of disorder. their votes but cause them to turn on him with all the fury they have unleashed against him in the past. September 20, 1957 So Orval Faubus has done what Jim Johnson promised to do in the Summer Will campaign which Mr. Faubus won
1 and Mr. Johnson lost. He has Come Ag·ain ... adopted the course preached be Now the scene shifts back to the fore the Citizens Councils by Amis federal court room, where it should Guthridge. He has defied the gov have been all along. ernment of the United States-and This in itself brings a sort of has gotten away with it so far. order to the unseemly proceedings In the end, of course, he will which have afflicted this commu not get away with it. But he is win nity. Governor Faubus' apparent ning now in the limited political acceptance of the jurisdiction of terms in which he deals. In those the United States District Court terms, indeed, this may be his means there can be an orderly finest hour; he is a hero to the resolution of the impasse Mr. Fau mob and behind his barricade of bus created when he called out the bayonets he is untouched by the National Guard to block the Court's shame he has brought to his more order. responsible fellow citizens. 16 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries But time passes and passions die These are the public officials and reason somehow is restored. who were directly charged with Summer will come again, and a carrying out a gradual plan of in new campaign-and Mr. Faubus tegration voluntarily evolved by will have to count what he has the elected representatives of this lost against what he has gained. community. These are the public It is too early to strike the po officials who were charged with litical balance. proceeding with their plan by the But the moral balance has been highest judicial authority in the determined. In a time of testing land-after the National Associa for all the people of Arkansas tion For the Advancement of Orval E. Faubus was found want Colored People went to law to pro ing. test that the program was too grad ual. These are responsible men, September 21, 1957 deeply rooted in this community, who had tried to do their duty as they saw it. Orval Faubus Vs. These are responsible public of ficials of Little Rock who believed The Law of the Land -and so testified under oath- that Yesterday afternoon Federal they could have resolved a diffi Judge Ronald Davies, after listen cult social problem in good order ing to competent testimony, held and with good will had not Orval that the people of Little Rock are E. Faubus refused their pleas for law-abiding citizens. support and instead embarked Last night Governor Faubus, who upon a course that invited violence refused the day in court he once and disorder. complained he had been denied, in effect held to the contrary. In his television broadcast Mr. * * * Faubus rejected the findings of a Carefully screened witnesses, Mr. duly constituted court of law and Faubus said. Who else should have substituted his own judgment. He been called upon except those did so, he contended, because of who live here, who have wrestled the Court's bias. And to sustain with the problem for more than this charge Mr. Faubus argued four years, and who bear the final that Judge Davies had issued his responsibility for the conduct of injunction on the basis of the testi local affairs? mony of "carefully screened" wit The truth is that the testimony nesses. before Judge Davies was in effect The witnesses who testified that screened by Mr. Faubus himself they had found no threat of vio who ordered his attorneys to walk lence in Little Rock and had not out of court before they were called requested the intervention of Gov upon to introduce the evidence of ernor Faubus and his state troops possible violence Mr. Faubus still were: says he has, but has refused to di ( 1) The mayor of Little Rock. vulge. ( 2) The chairman of the Little This could have been, as we have Rock School Board. said, Mr. Faubus' day in court. It was his opportunity to display for ( 3) The superintendent of the his own people, and for the world Little Rock Schools. to see the evidence of impending ( 4) The principal of Central disaster which he has repeatedly High School. said prompted him to call out the ( 5) The chief of Police of Little National Guard to thwart the or Rock. ders of the federal court. 17 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries He did not ,do so. Nor did he churches yesterday. They bespeak choose to subject those who testi the heart of the community. fied against him to cross-examina And they have a special mean tion. Instead he apparently has ing for the public officials and fallen back on the legalisms of peace officers who this morning states versus federal rights and has may be called upon to perform a launched upon a course of court hard duty. appeal-which, of course, is his They speak for the great silent, right. mass of our people who abhor vio But in the meantime he has lence, respect the law, and would called off his troops and apparent be ashamed for any child of any ly washed his hands of any re race to look upon the naked face sponsibility for upholding the law, of hatred. which at intervals and even in his Mayor Mann, the Public School broadcast last night he still says authorities, and the peace officers he accepts. As usual Mr. Faubus on duty at Central High School has not made it clear whether his are upholding not only the law but State Police will support local au the true conscience of this com thorities in case of trouble-the munity. We salute them. simple act of duty he refused to agree to undertake in the long ne gotiations through which the White House patiently sought a settlement September 24, 1957 out of court. Mr. Faubus last night for the Now We Face first time fell back on the final de fense of the demagogue. He sought Federal Troops to divert attention for his own role by charging that he is the victim The march of events in Little of an evil conspiracy. Rock over the last three weeks has now led to an inevitable The truth is that there is only one issue: climax. Yesterday President Eisenhower Orval Faubus versus the law of made the hard and bitter decision the land. he has sought to avoid. He will use federal troops to restore law and order to the City of Little September 23, 1957 Rock. The president's language made his meaning unmistakable. To the The C,onscience 01 White House reporters at Newport he read a statement in the num 1 This Community bered paragraphs of the old mili At Second Presbyterian Church tary man: yesterday the Reverend Marion A. "I want to make several things Boggs offered a special prayer: very clear in connection with the disgraceful occurrences of today "We pray that all persons in at Central High School in the authority be given wisdom, and city of Little Rock. we ask God to restrain the pas "1. The federal law and orders sions of violent men. We pray of a United States District Court that we will not suffer the spirit implementing. that l~w cannot pe of lawlessness to gain ascendancy flouted with impunity by an m in our community, and that all dividual or any mob of extrem persons have the patience to wait ists. the due process of law." "2. I will use the full power of These solemn words had their the United States - including echo in many other Little Rock whatever force may be necessary 18 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries to prevent any obstruction of the And so the reckless course the law and to carry out the orders governor embarked upon three of the federal court." weeks ago has raised old ghosts We can hope that we may yet and tested the very fiber of the escape the tragic spectacle of fed constitution. And, the greatest eral soldiers deployed on the irony of all, he has by his acts and streets of Little Rock for the first words dealt a major and perhaps time since the post-Civil War per a lethal blow to the cause of segre iod of Reconstruction. gation which he purported to up The decision is up to the mem hold. bers of the riotous mob which as We in Little Rock had perfected sembled yesterday at Central High a plan to meet the Supreme Court's School and finally passed beyond new racial requirements in educa the control of the local police tion gradually and largely on our who did their duty and did it well. own terms. The federal courts had If these reckless men force the sustained us. But now Mr. Faubus issue again this morning the fed and the angry, violent and thought eral troops will march-as they less band of agitators who rallied must march to restore order and to his call may well have undone end the intolerable situation in the patient work of responsible which this city now finds itself. local officials. We can still hope that this will not be the case. Unhappy though September 25, 1957 it may be, the action of the presi dent in using federal force will serve to restore the calm that is The High, Price essential to an orderly approach to any problem. In the days ahead 01 Recklessness we as a people will, we believe, regain our perspective and accept · This is a tragic day ~n the his~ the clear course of duty. tory of the republic-and Little That is the job for all of us now Rock, Arkansas, is the scene of -to restore the peace and sustain the tragedy. the law. In one sense we rolled back our history to the Reconstruction era when federal troops moved into September 26, 1957 position at Central High School to uphold the law and preserve the 1 peace. Who Will Build Yet there was no denying the 1 case President Eisenhower made Arkansa's .. . in solemn words on television last Who will build Arkansas if her night. own people do not? Law and order had broken down The floodlighted billboard leg here. end stood out in Gazette Chief Pho The local police could not restore tographer Larry Obsitnik's drama the peace with their own re tic night shot of federal troops sources. moving across the Broadway Governor Faubus had refused to Bridge toward Central High school. use his state forces to enforce the There were no state or commun law, and instead had used them ity builders in the crowd that had to defy the order of a federal court provoked this humiliation for the -and in so doing had made this law-abiding majority of Little Rock last, painful step inevitable. citizens. Among the adults in the 19 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries mob that had tlfronged around the once again went out of his way to high school for a number of days, point out that his own son is now there were no leaders of the estab attending a state college which has lished business community, no been integrated with his support philanthropists or sustained sup and approval. porters of worthy civic causes. The only significance of this Many of the crowd, by no means latest exercise in double-talk lies all of them from out-of-town, were in what the governor did not say. forced to ask directions to the School - a circumstance which gave some indication of their prior Mr. Faubus,* for * example, * claim- interest in educational matters. ed that all of this city's present These were not builders, but troubles stem from the imprudent wreckers. actions of an "imported" federal Among the teen-agers who join judge. ed the mob, there were no Student What he did not say is that the Body officers, no members of Hon Little Rock School Board is pro or Societies, no campus leaders of ceeding under the original order any kind. There were some who of Judge John Miller, whose roots had not bothered to complete the are as deep in the Arkansas soil as high school advantages that had are Mr. Faubus'. All the "im been offered to them, but who at ported" judge from North Dakota the prospect of violence had sud has done is direct Mr. Faubus not denly become mortally concerned to interfere with the action of with the state of education in Lit Judge Miller-and who could be tle Rock Central High. lieve that any federal judge, what "Who will build Arkansas if her ever his background, would have own people do not?" done anything else? Fortunately, the mobs in front of The governor also charged that Central High School have at no a group of local conspirators-in time been in any sense represen cluding the executive editor of this tative of the people of Arkansas. newspaper-were largely respon sible for the decision of the presi dent of the United States and his September 27, 1957 administration to send federal troops to Little Rock to restore peace and order. 1 The 'C.ase For What the governor did not say is that the Arkansas Gazette is one Orval E. Faubus· of the last remaining Democratic Governor Faubus added very newspapers in the country. Nor little to his own case in his tele did he add the obviously pertinent vision address last night. He sim information that the executive edi ply reiterated the position that he tor of the Gazette, on leave from has taken from the beginning his newspaper duties, spent more that school integration is possible than 10 months of the 1955-1956 at Little Rock if only it had been campaign year trying to defeat conducted on a time schedule de President Dwight D. Eisenhower vised privately by the governor and and elect Adlai Stevenson-the never yet revealed to the public candidate Mr. Faubus, incidentally, school officials charged by a fed also supported. eral court with admitting nine Ne It is, of course, human nature to gro students at this term. try to find someone to blame for The governor, indeed, sounded our troubles. All we can say is very much like an integrationist that in his hour of desperation, himself - particularly when he Mr. Faubus, who obviously has 20 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries more than his share in the wake record with expressions of their of his reckless actions of the last views and statements of their posi three weeks, has nominated some tions. But they should ask them unlikely candidates. selves just what could be achieved This newspaper deplores the in the light of experience else presence of federal troops on the where in the South. streets of Little Rock far more We don't think there is any use strongly than Mr. Faubus did in to talk about abolishing public his speech last night. schools. As a matter of fact the And the truth the governor is Arkansas Constitution provides now using the demagogue's tools to that: obscure is that this newspaper has · Intelligence and virtue being drawn Mr. Faubus' unprincipled the safeguards of liberty and the and unfounded condemnation not bulwarks of a free and good gov ernment, the state shall ever so much because it has criticized maintain a general, suitable and his actions but because from the efficient system of free schools, beginning of this fiasco it has told whereby all persons in the state him and his frenetic followers the between the ages of six and 21 simple and terrible truth-that if years may receive gratuitous in Mr. Faubus persisted in his course struction. of naked defiance of the law of We must also seriously doubt the the United States there could be constitutionality of severely perial only one end result-and all of us izing schools that integrate, espe would suffer under it. cially if they integrate under or The day Orval Faubus put armed ders of the courts. and uniformed men around Cen We believe these considerations tral High School under his per should appeal to the calm and con sonal order to nullify the order of sidered judgment of Governor Fau a United States District Court he bus, of members of the General invited a show of federal force. Assembly and the public as a When he refused to accept the con whole. ciliatory gestures of a mild and patient president he made such a show certain. Now we have it. September 30, 1957
September 29, 1957 Governor Faubus
And the Rec 1ord What End Results It seems unlikely that the rest In Other Sta'tes? of the country was too much in terested in the primitive cam Before any final action is taken paign techniques Governor Faubus in the matter of calling a special brought to a national TV network session of the legislature Governor Thursday night, or in the gover Faubus and his advisors should nor's private, local feuds, for that amass a detailed report on what matter. has actually been accomplished by However, the American Broad the segregation legislation which casting Company did a real pub has been enacted in other South lic service in bringing even that ern states, in much the same at tragic spectacle before a national mosphere in which a meeting of audience. The mere fact that Gov the Arkansas General Assembly ernor Faubus was being permitted would be held at this time. to speak his piece in such fashion Many members would no doubt was enough to dissipate the notion welcom~ the opportunity to go on he sought to peddle that Little 21 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries Rock was anything like Budapest October 1, 1957 under the Communists or Paris under the Nazis. To complete the The Power 01 analogy the governor would have had to be broadcasting by clandes The Presidency tine shortwave transmitter in the fashion of the French FFI or the President Eisenhower cannot af Hungarian partisans. ford to get into any running argu ment with Orval Faubus or any As it was, the Arkansas governor of the other Southern political was given full rein for his cal leaders whom the Arkansas gov culated distortion of the facts in ernor has dragged out on the limb the Little Rock School integration with him. case. Because it said nothing new, However, some of the things Mr. Mr. Faubus' TV pitch was, perforce, Eisenhower has already said badly much more notable for what it needed saying. didn't say than what it did say. As to the "Hitler" example, In holding up newspaper photo which both Governor Faubus and graphs which he said would dem Senator Russell of Georgia had onstrate that federal bayonets were been unwise enough to allege harassing white students and in against Hitler's conquerer, the president said with some under nocent white adults, Mr. Faubus standable asperity: was careful not to hold up the earli "I must say that I completely er photographs of a Negro news fail to comprehend your compari paperman being kicked in the face son of our troops to Hitler's by a member of the white mob, or Storm Troopers. In one case, the still earlier one of the duly military power was used to fur ther the ambitions and purposes qualified Negro girl being threat of a ruthless dictator; in the ened by the same white mob while other, to preserve the institutions Governor Faubus' state guardsmen of free government. * * * When a looked the other way. state, by seeking to frustrate the order of a federal court, en At one point in the Thursday courages mobs of extremists to night broadcast Mr. Faubus looked flout the orders of a federal up in pain to ask imploringly: court, and when a state refuses to utilize its police powers to pro Must the will of the majority tect against mobs persons who now yield, under federal force, to are peaceably exercising their the will of the minority, regard right under the Constitution, as less of the consequences? defined in such court orders, the oath of office of the president He did not mention that the Ar requires that he take action to kansas National Guard had been give the protection. Failure to used to thwart the will of the act in such a case would be tan 2-to-1 majority of the electors of tamount to acquiescence in an archy and dissolution of the the Little Rock School District, Union." as expressed less than six months It cannot be said often enough before the court-ordered opening in this tragic situation that the in of schools under a plan of grad dividual states, so far, have lost ual integration. The governor's no "right" that they possessed be action was, by his own version, fore President Eisenhower moved taken as a result of the threats, federal troops into Little Rock and not mere opinion, of a small mi removed the Arkansas state guard nority of the people. It is reason from Governor Faubus's control. ably clear by now that the gov It is quite true, as Mr. Faubus says, ernor's action was taken "regard that next day or next year, the fed less of the consequences." eral government might have to 22 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries move in similarly direct fashion in October 2, 1957 a Northern labor dispute. Indeed, it already has. What Mr. Faubus apparently did 'Delay' and Some not realize until too late is that every president from Washington Background Events forward has lived with the knowl In saying that President Eisen edge that, if pressed, he had to hower first was disposed to grant assert the supremacy of the fed "more time" to Governor Faubus, eral authority, as Washington did but was "overruled" by Attorney in Pennsylvania's so-called "Whis General Brownell, U. S. News & key Rebellion." The result of that World Report has merely repeated first test of the federal executive's what had been publicly stated resolution, the historians are earlier by the governor himself. agreed, was to strengthen the cen tral government. The two reports obviously come from a common source, Mr. Fau Only the relative infrequency bus, and there is no reason to of such similar tests as Governor doubt their accuracy. Faubus's act of defiance has served to keep the federal government at The task which Mr. Brownell such distance from direct control faced was to demonstrate to the of state affairs as it still maintains. president that the courts of prop It. has been often remarked that er jurisdiction already had dispos the United States, unlike Britain, ed of the Arkansas governor's plea operates from a written Constitu for "more time" and that there tion, "a government of laws-not was nothing the executive on his men." However, even the United own could do about it, even if he States must operate from a body of were so disposed. unwritten constitutional law: A The chronology of the back governor does have the power to ground events that led inexorably call out the state guard to preserve to the stationing of federal troops the peace, at his own instance and around Central High School can for his own reasons. However, it not be examined too often by any is understood that state governors one really desirous of getting at will use that power wisely, as a the facts. president must learn to use his far From that detailed chronology, greater power wisely. two dates, almost exactly a year It is this awareness of unwrit apart, stand out in glaring contrast. ten limitations that accounts for On August 28, 1956, the NAACP much of the genius of the Ameri served notice of appeal from the can political system, as a far great United States District Court's de er reliance on the unwritten law cision upholding the Little Rock accounts for the genius of the Eng School Board's plan to begin limit lish system that gave it birth. ed integration of Central High A president may use his power, School in September of the follow prayerfully, and reluctantly. (Mr. ing year, 1957. There was at the Eisenhower has told Senator Rus same time no protest or notice of sell that few times in his life had appeal in the other direction from he been as "saddened" as he was any group which felt that the by the necessity to take such a School Board's plan was too hasty, step as the one he now has taken.) rather than: too slow, as the NAACP But use it he must when he is had alleged in filing its appeal. challenged head-on. The alterna It was not until August 27 of this tive, as Mr. Eisenhower has duly year, just one week before the noted, would be "anarchy and dis scheduled entry of nine Negµo solution of the Union." students into Central High School, 23 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries that the Mothers' League got into The record shows how empty the court or, indeed, had even been threats really are. Perhaps the formed. most remarkable single fact in this Governor Faubus has said re whole tragic episode is that there peatedly that he was not seeking to has been no real inter-racial vio prevent integration at Little Rock; lence-and that all of us, white only to delay it until a time when and colored, have continued to go the decision to go ahead would be about our normal business without his rather than the School Board's rancor even with troops in the or the United States courts'. streets. · The Central High mothers who But the threats serve their pur do not belong to the Mothers' pose. Any man is shaken by an League, which is to say, the great anonymous telephone call threat majority, might fairly ask the mili ening him or his family with bod tant League organizers where they ily injury or economic destruction. were during the year since the Lit And when the anonymous calls are tle Rock plan had been upheld by multiplied by what is an obviously the federal District Court or even well-organized conspiracy they can since last April, when it was up become deadly. held on appeal in the Eighth Cir This is how many decent citizens cuit Court of Appeals. of this community have been, for the most part, silenced and to their shame portrayed to the world as a October 3, 1957 people who are willing to use anv resort, including violence, to defy an unpopular law. The War of Nerves It is, we know, hard for any of us to retain his perspective when In Little, Rock the air is filled with rumors care fully designed not only to distort Yesterday some of the leading the truth, but to promote panic. citizens of Little Rock spoke out on behalf of law and order. They But we know, too, that we are a were, we believe, giving voice to people who cannot be finally in the views of the vast, silent ma timidated-a people who will not jority. let a minority rule them by terror. We in Little Rock believe in law And there is, of course, a reason and order, and when we speak out why the majority heretofore has for it again we shall have it. been silent. This city has been subjected to what can only be called a war of October 4, 1957 nerves. A small, determined and mili Now Tell Us Who tant minority, aided and abetted 1 1 by the extreme posture of Gov Are My People ernor Faubus, has set itself up as the voice of the community. And GQvernor Faubus dodged the anyone who has dared to dissent basic question of whether he had from its violent views has been reneged on the language of truce subjected to overt and covert terms with the White House when threats of reprisal. he said in his Wednesday press conference: The weapons are the familiar "They want me to take troops ones-the threat of boycott against and put bayonets in the backs of those who are in business, the the students of my state and threat of personal violence against bludgeon and bayonet my peo those who are not. ple." 24 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries Nobody, of course, wants the broadcast that the program has governor to do anything of the been badly damaged by the inte kind, but it would be interesting gration crisis at Little Rock. if he would attempt to identify No one who has seen the head "my people." lines, or read the editorials in the The mob at Central High School nation's press over these past never numbered more than 1,000 weeks could question the accuracy persons at the largest, many of of his statement. them the idle curious and others drawn not only from the corners We know, and doubtless many of the state, but from out-of-state people outside Arkansas under as well. Does "my people" in stand, that the news of violence clude the unemployed salesman has been made by a tiny handful of who came more than 200 miles, our people. from Springdale, to help superin But we also know that these tend the affairs of the Little Rock headlines are the direct result of School District? Or does "my peo the negative posture of Governor ple" include the more than 100,- Faubus-who so far has declined 000 people of Little Rock who have to offer adequate assurances that never been in the crowd in front the law will be upheld and carried of Central High School at any out. time? And so, in that very important And who are the "students of sense, we cannot complain that the my state" for whose safety from picture of Little Rock and Arkan bayonetting the governor professes sas has been distorted. to be so mightily fearful. Are these the fewer than 75 students It is here, in this area of law and who rashly walked away yester order, that the industrial develop day morning from their opportun ment program can be most harmed. ity for a free public education? Most of the corporations consider ing locating plants here have no Does the governor's select com particular concern with the matter pany include the youngster who of integration or segregation in boasted Wednesday that he was en public education. What they are gaged in a conspiracy to physical concerned with are guarantees ly harass the Negro students in against disorder, and at the mo defiance of a federal court order? ment they are without assurance Or should we-and the governor that the state of Arkansas will pre be more concerned about the more serve the peace if a handful of than 1,500 students who by their citizens decide to defy a law they conduct throughout the mess creat don't like. ed by their elders have continued to demonstrate that they, at least. As Mr. Rockefeller says, it will have read their civics texts? · probably take six months to ap praise the damage. Moreover, we share his hope that the damage October 6, 1957 can be undone, and that the nation can once again look upon the true face of our people instead of the Dam.age to The distorted image displayed to them Industrial Program in recent weeks. But that, of course, depends Winthrop Rockefeller, who has upon Mr. Faubus. The tide will devoted much time and money to turn when the governor is willing the program of the Arkansas In to state as his own conviction the dustrial Development Commission, essence of Mr. Rockefeller's state said bluntly in a national television ment on television: 25 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries "I believe fi.rst and foremost everywhere in the world where in the Constitution of the United people of color hold the balance of States and the law and order which it establishes. It is that law political power. and order which gives the United Along with it, the Russians now States a position of leadership in the troubled world of today,. have another frightening symbol When constitutional government in the basketball-sized gadget whir was challenged in World War II, ring around the earth some 400- we all rose to defend it ,:, * * odd miles above its surface. The and I spent six years in the serv ice during that war. satellite means many things too but most of it all it means that the "I respect the people of Ar kansas and . have faith in their Soviet scientists have proved their good will and moderation. I am claim to perfectihg an interconti proud to be one of them. I firm nental ballistic missile. What they ly believe that this spirit of good will and moderation is beginning can send up into outer space, as to assert itself and Arkansas will our scientists have soberly recog once again go forward. nized, they will soon be able to "There comes a time when bring down again, with a warhead every citizen of the state and attached. country who believes in the American Constitution must sub So the Russians are winning, for ordinate individual feelings to the moment at least, on two essen the common good and unity of tial fronts. They have outstripped the country. And that time is here now." us in the armaments race that has preserved the peace under a bal ance of power since the advent of October 9, 1957 the atomic age. And they have moved far ahead of us in the con current struggle to control the In the Skies and minds of men. There wasn't much we here in On the Streets Little Rock could have done about If we had to apply one word to the armament race. We have no the events that have wracked this satellite factory, and few inter town for the past month we would planetary scientists are domiciled choose "improbable." among us. And somehow the improbability But there was much we could of the federal troops around Cen have done on the other front-had tral High School has been in Orval Faubus done his duty and creased by the not entirely unre contained the mob instead of en lated appearance in the night skies couraging it. And there is much of a Russian-built satellite which we can still do if we can, by our bemuses the ham operators of Ar kansas with its reiterated "beep own efforts, restore the peace and beep-beep-beep." present to the world once again the face of decency that is really The federal troops at Central ours. symbolize many things- but most of all they symbolize the fact that But we'll need the governor's Arkansas (and the South) has a help, and we don't seem likely to problem of race relations that our get it so long as he is bent on best efforts over almost a century spreading unverified horror stories have failed to solve. in an apparent conscious effort to That symbol is a prime asset to keep the passions of the moment the Russians, and they are using it ahead of the restraining truth. 26 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries October 10, 1957 his own actions brought to Little Rock. But still, with all this, the gov Mr. Faubus Is ernor contends that all he wants is delay. He says that Negroes Where He Was cannot attend Central High School peaceably now, but he suggests Governor Faubus said at his that they can at some indefinite press conference yesterday that future date. At one point or an the Little Rock crisis now hinges other he has suggested that this upon the withdrawal of the nine might be possible next semester, Negro children who are presently or next fall-the last date being, peacefully attending Central High in our judgment, the significant School under federal court order one since it comes after the next and federal military protection. gubernatorial election. This, of course, is one answer. But what the governor never ex plains is why he thinks it will be It happens to be the answer the any easier to carry out the court Citizens Councils have been offer order then than it was this time ing ever since the United States around-or any easier, that is,.than Supreme Court ruled that Negroes it would have been had he not could no longer be barred from recklessly chosen to disrupt the any school solely on the basis of patient and careful work of the race. If the Negroes voluntarily responsible local school officials choose not to attend white schools who had every reason to believe then there is no problem. And if that their limited and gradual plan they do not voluntarily so choose, was acceptable to a vast majority but can be coerced or intimidated of the people. into withdrawing, there is no prob lem. Could the governor guarantee that no mob would form next se But the federal government has mester, or next fall, if the Negro said that these nine children can children again presented them not be so coerced or intimidated, selves under court order? He and has used the full weight of probably could, as a matter of fact, both the judicial and executive de but he has repeatedly indicated partments to guarantee that they that he will not do so-as indeed shall not be. he cannot do without sacrificing So what Mr. Faubus is saying is the temporary political advantages that the federal government must he has gained. And so there is no abandon its position and let him valid reason to assume that delay have his way on his own terms. will resolve the impasse which Mr. There is no indication that the fed Faubus has made. eral government will do so. The point which the governor So we are back where we started consciously seeks to obscure is that when the governor called out the the order of the United States National Guard before school Court still stands, the means for opened to defy an order of the enforcing it are available, and the federal court. Mr. Faubus has re federal government has demon fused to abandon the position he strated for all to see that it will took then in the face of repeated use those means if necessary. efforts at compromise and con ciliation. And now he is attempt We doubt that Mr. Faubus can ing to sustain his posture of de simply wear the federals out fiance by peddling dubious rumors although he is doing a pretty good of misconduct by the federal forces job of wearing out his own people. 27 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries October 20, 1957 law and use force if necessary to prevent the entry of Negroes to any school heretofore reserved for The Moderates vs. whites. A "moderate" is one who will obey the law, no matter how The Extremists distasteful it may be to him person In the emotional atmosphere of ally-and who under no circum these last few weeks, some impor stances will condone violence tant words have lost their real against any person for any reason. meaning. If we divide the population of There are those, for example, the state on this basis-as ultimate who attempt to reduce the Little ly we will have to do-we believe Rock school impasse to a conflict the extremists would account for between "segregationists" and "in only a small minority. tegrationists." We only wish the matter were * * * that simple. The problem of the moment is If "segregationist" means one that they have at least the tacit sup who would prefer to keep the white port of a fairly substantial number and colored races separate in all of citizens who are still bemused things social the term would em by the false fear and the false hope brace practically all the white pop that have beset the South for the ulation of Arkansas and a substan last century-and there are dema tial portion of the black. gogues abroad in the land who are deliberately playing one against the If "integrationist" means one other. who believes all the legal and ex tralegal barriers between the races The false fear is that the striking should be dropped overnight it down of the legal barriers of seg would apply to only a small minor regation and the rising aspirations ity of the colored population. of our Negro people will bring about a vast and sudden social The truth, deliberately obscured change in the South. Our own ex by those who have been loudest in perience should prove to anyone arguing the case, is that neither of who will consider the facts that this these concepts is or was really at is not even a remote possibility issue at Central High School. that the barriers of the mind have For example, the members of the never needed to be sustained by Little Rock School Board, would the strictures of the law. Does any without exception qualify as segre one who has considered the matter gationists. Indeed, they felt (as do dispassionately believe that the cas we) that they were working to pre ual proximity of a few Negroes and serve the existing pattern of social a few whites in our classrooms is segregation when they evolved a going to change the social pattern plan which would, in compliance we have always lived by? If so, we with the new federal law, result in invite an examination of the record the admission of only a few, care of our state university and colleges fully screened Negro students to a which began desegregation some single white high school. eight years ago. Yet these conscientious men are The false hope is that the rest of now under attack as "integration the United States, by persuasion or ists"-as is this newspaper for its force, can be brought to abandon consistent support of their position. the declared public policy of the Perhaps the only terms that now nation and let the South alone. The have any real validity are "ex presence on our streets of a detach tremist" and "moderate." An ex ment of the lOlst Airborne Infan tremist is one who would defy the try, ordered here by the most con- 28 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries ciliatory president in modern times, published about Mr. Faubus' con should disabuse us of that notion. duct, or may print-the oldest tool The point is that sooner or later of the demagogue. The governor we have got to make some adjust charged that the Gazette had "mis ment of our legal institutions to represented, slanted, distorted and comply with the public policy of colored the news in reference to the United States-or once again me and the Little Rock situation." secede from the Union, which no The fact is that the Gazette has one seriously contemplates. We printed in its entirety the text of were given a chance to make those every important speech, press con adjustments largely on our own ference, or public statement Mr. terms; we lost it the day the ex Faubus has made since the begin tremists took over and persuaded ning of the controversy with the Governor Faubus to embark upon federal courts. Indeed, the chances a course of defiance of federal au are that if the governor himself thority. But there is still a chance wants to find out what he actually to regain it-if, in time, we also re said on some of these occasions he gain our perspective and begin be will have to consult the files of the having like the moderates most of Gazette, which is the only complete us really are. source of record in existence. The governor also came up with another one of those remark October 25, 1957 able private pieces of information, source unidentified, which he de lights in dropping into the political G,overnor Faubus pot when it shows signs of simmer Mounts the Stump ing down. This one had to do with an alleged plot by the publisher Governor Faubus' speech to the of the Gazette to plant a psychia county judges the other night can trist at one of the governor's press only be regarded as the formal an conferences and have him write nouncement of his campaign for a his findings "in the form of a news third term as governor-the cam release to be used by this paper." paign for which he has been cal The plan, the governor alleged, lously Laying the groundwork in didn't come to full flower - al the recent weeks of school crisis though he didn't say why. in Little Rock. The reason, of course, is that Back on familiar ground and un there never was any such plot. Al inhibited by the peering lenses of though a few of our readers have national televi$ion cameras, the governor aimed his pitch straight suggested in letters to the editor to the homefolks. It was an ad that Mr. Faubus may be suffering dress distinguished by some re from some aberrations, this news markable untruths. paper has never been that charit He took off, first of all, from a able in its own view. garbled version of a speech made We believe Mr. Faubus knows by the publisher of the Gazette~ exactly what he is doing-and we conceding that the publisher may suspect we have earned his wrath well have been misquoted but go because through accurately report ing on nevertheless to read the ing his devious course step by version publiished by the opposi step, we have shown precisely tion Arkansas Democrat in its en where he is taking the people of tirety and interpreting it for his his state in the furtherance of his own ends. political ambitions, and the terri This was a preliminary to dis ble price all of us are going to counting any fact the Gazette has have to pay as a result. 29 Source: Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries