Box 16, Folder 3, Document 43

Box 16, Folder 3, Document 43

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
ATLANTA. GEORGIA 30332

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH September 7, 1966

Mayor Ivan Allen
City Hall
Atlanta, Georgia

Dear Mayor Allen:

Sitting comfortably in a chair after breakfast, I read.
about the trouble yesterday--the two first page stories in
the CONSTITUTION and Mr. Patterson's superb editorial built
mostly around your words and deeds.

As a moderately active liberal, I am saddened by the incident;
it should not have happened. Yet it was a small affair when
compared with Watts and similar outbreaks in northern and
western cities. Atlanta's image as a southern city which
manages to handle its problems is not seriously damaged.

You had some help from the police and from sensible negro
leaders. But it was your coolness,courage, and resourceful-
ness which saved the day. Yesterday you won a Congressional
Medal or its equivalent, and you also achieved the personal
stature in the minds of whites and colored which will enable
you deal effectively with the issues which remain.

Cheers and cheers for the Mayor!

Respectfully yours,
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Edward Foster
Professor of Enelish