Box 17, Folder 13, Complete Folder

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Box 17, Folder 13, Complete Folder

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W
II GTON, July 18 (
giv n his blessi ngs to the ]at :
str ·on planned f~r the !1~~
look forward to bemg here.
This was the hi ghlight of a Kennedy news conference Wednesday
in which he app lau?ed peace_ful
racial protests while decrym.,
those which can lead to violence
and bloodshed.
THE SESSION with newsmen-:Ken nedy's firs t in Washmgton m
8 weeks- covered a wide range of
topics including :
-Business and taxes: The President said business is better than
e}..1)ected, tax receipts consequently have exceeded pred1ct1ons a nd,
as a result, last year's budget deficit totaled $6. 2 billion compared
with a J anuary fo recast of $8.8 billion He sa id thi s bolsters his
qrg~ ment that a $10 billion tax
cut would boost U1e eco nomy sti ll
further and eventually balance the
.
budget.
-Cold war tal ks: Kennedy a_1d
be is "still hopeful" u, at the Un_1ted Slates, Britain and the _Soviet
Union can achieve some kind of
nuclear lesl ban treaty in the current Moscow talks. But . he lh1~ks
talk of a possibl e summit meet111g
is prem ature, saying such a se~;
sion is not " indicated oi~ needed.
- Moon race : The chief executive wants a continued effort ~o
put an America!'\ on the moo~ m
this decade in order to show the
capacity to dominate _space.". !le
treated as inconclusive Br1t1sh
scientist Bernard Lovell's report
that the Ru ssians may be loSmg
interest in the moon race.
- Rail strike: Kennedy again
urged the railroads and operating
unions. to ettle their work rules
dispu te before a threa tened nationwide strike Ju ly 29. He sa id
bot.h sides \\oul d be " much better
off" to work things out themselves
"and not depend upon the government to do . If a stnke comes,
Kennedy said ile will ask Congress
to end il bf legislation.
IN T AL
·r. ABOUT c iv i I
rights, Kelllll1'!ii scoffed at a claim
by Alabama Gov. George C. \:Vallace that racial demonstrat10ns
have been Communist-inspired.
"We m e no evidence," he
said, "I.hat any of the leaders of
civ· r1 h movements in the
a re Commun ists.
evidence that the
s are Communist.in. I think it is a con vent to suggest that all
• 11... _, 1ties
are
CommuY said those who complam about orga nized protests
shou
"do something about the
grievances" tha t prompt them .
He s uggested it is illogical to say,
"Don' t protest," and at th e _same
time assert, "We are not gomg to
let you come into a store or a
resta urant."
He said he sees the situation as
"a two-way s tree t. "
AS F OR THE Washington demonstration, scheduled for Aug. ~~,
Kennedy aid it shapes up as a
peaceful asse mbly calling for a
redress of gri evances" and tmd~rtaken through cooperation with
tqe police.
Kennedy said "this is not _ a
march on th e Capitol" -somethmg..
he suggested ea rli er would ha rm
the cause of civil r ights advocates.
.
In prom isi ng to be in th e capital at the tim e, Kennedy added
wha t a mounted to a challenge to
Congress by adding, "I 8n:i sure
mem bers of Congress will be
here.
There has been some talk th a t
the legislators might take ~ long
Labor Day holiday - starling m
late August.
Kennedy contr as ted the planned
Washingto n demons tion with
at ·Camthose now in progr
bridge, Md., where th e has.been
rioting and bloodshed.
Speaking of C a m
said :
sight
" They have almos
of wha t the demon ation is
about."
.
In such cases, he said, "I think
the cause of advancing equal opportunities only loses."
ON OTHER TOPICS, Kennedy
said:
- There is no need fo r more
form al diploma tic contac ts with
the Vatican bec,use th ere is no
lack of two-way comm un ica tion at
prese nt.
-He hopes Sou th Viet Na m will
resolve its religious disputes beca use the military situa tion there
looks more hopeful and a stable
government is needed.
,
..
-A trip to the Far East 1s
something the President would
li ke to undertak e but he expects
to be busy enough a t home fo r
some months.
-Red China seems bent on promoting nuclear wa r but Kennedy
doubts the Soviet Un.ion is anxi ous
to face des truction by supplying
the weapons th at would be needed.
- The United States condemns
the raci al policy of the Republic
of South Afr ica but doesn't believ in expelling countries from
the United Nations.
-There is no
of peacefully coexisting with a oviet satellite, like Cuba, in the Caribbe an.
nesses.
The directors fou nd " part icular ly objectionable" the public accommodations section of the President's bill, which wou ld r equi re
businesses to serve all customers
withou t r egard to r ace.
" The bill is calculated to narr ow the role of voluntary action
a nd to substitute the for ce of the
federa l government," the resolution said .
This poses "a grave threa t to
local r esponsibility and personal
freedo m whi ch fa r ou tweighs any
possible improvement in the opportun ities o( minority groups."
THE DffiECTORS of the 3,000m ember chamber ca!Jed for volunta ry desegregation of Atlanta
b1,1sinesses in a May 29 policy
sta tement. Bu t they , ~ phasized
they were not "trym ~fu ;!~II any
proprietor how he shO\lld' conduct
his business."
The May appea l to encl discri mina tion "as expeditiously as good
judgm ent will dictate" came after a month of Negro demonstrations a nd arrests a t Atlan ta restaurants.
A number of res taura nts have
desegregated in the pas t month . ·
Fourteen hotels h2ve agreed to
accept a limi ted num ber of Negroes .
The boa rd of directors said its
resolution opposing the President's legislation is " consistent
with its earlier stand for local
and volunta ry elimination of discrimina ti on. "
The resolu tion was adopte<I: at
a meeti ng attended by 20 of the
27 dire ctors. The vote was not annou nced.
�l(ennedy Rights 13 ·11
Di,£t_!\torial--HerniiU-,
"Never In the h i ~ ~
igion or national origin,"
men and free women has a
blueprint for a federal dictator"Nothing in the history ofour
country that extreme has ever
ship more cunningly been con6-ived,"
been proposed," declared the
Thus declared U. S, Sen,
Georgia junior Senator. "The
Herman E, Talmadge In a recent
POR .\LA:\ Y ~l'O~TH S now busin ~ssmen in practically eve1..y
Constitution of the United Statt he f ederal g overnment, espe- a r ea or free enter p n se now to
television-radio report to the
es vests the power to levy
cially the judicia r y, has allowed run t neir artairs. .r'u n hermore,
people of Georgia in which he
taxes In the Congress, The
t
he
A
t
t
orney
Gener
al
would
be
-even encouraged-rowd y asConstitution
of the United Statdiscussed
President
Kennedy's
sault s on prh·at e p roperty by ,·estecl w1t n vast a ncl pot ent ially
rproposed civil rights legislaes vests the power to expend
a
bush
·e
power
in
tne
enfo
r
cemobs from t he street s 1
federal funds in the Congress,
tion. Said the Senator:
Racia l a gita t o1·s ,ri ha Ye been men t of the statute.
"Congressman AdamClayton
"Yet that provision of the
Thi. would ta ke t he federal
gh·en t he go-ahead by r ecent
New
York
contends
law,
if adopted by the Congress
Powell
of
goyernment
int
o
a
!'eas
wnich
cou r t r uling s,
e\"entuall y could lead to a police
that he rewrote more than half
and signed by the President,
and state a nd
i st at e a nd ul t imat ely dest ro y
of the President's civil rights
would enable some little burc it y law e n_
!
e\"er yone's li ber t ies .
message, Certainly certain
eaucrat in some federal agency
fo rcement offi:,
lncliYitlua l liberties, which
provisions In this message to
that has never . been elected to
cers haYe had
eYel'y citizen of t nis count r y is
the Congress and In the act that
any political office, and never
the ir h a n d s
g ua ra nteed by t he Con. t1tutwn,
tie d. H e n c e,
is nqw pending before Congress
could be, the right to wi"thhold
_I 1 ,,·oLild be sacl'ihced Ill tne name
these troubleIndicates that 11omeone as exa grant from any state, the
lt
would
mean
tile
of
equa
lit
y.
rn a k e rs h ave
treme as Con1ressman Powell
right to ca:;cel _a contract on
end of our free societ y.
g o n e u n pu ndid write the message,
any bank or savings and loan









ished for thei r inva ion.
"I favor the full enjoyment
association, the right to cancel
private p ropert y.
THE SUPHEi\lE CO Ul{T in
of every American citizen of
a contract or loan on any house
Supposedl y, they a re demon- 188;j made itself clea r on t he
all rights paranteed him by the
or any other program, the right
strating a g a inst wha t t hey al- 1·ight of t ne Congress t o leg 1sConstitution 11 f the United
to cancel any insurance policies
lege t o be unjust treatment . In late a g a inst t he r ig nts of pdStates, I know of no citizen who
that was r elating to the federal
other inst a nces, when peo ple . vate busm ess, a nd its ru ling is
ha,·e p rot e t ed
what
t hey still in force. Heferring to the
government, any guaranty or contend11 del'i"ivation of rights
t hought t o be un just , f ede ral F ourteent h Amendment, the
otherwise, that any individual
that haa ,one itnto the very favt r oops a rmed wi t h ba yonet s ha Ye Court said:
orable court1"8fourcountry and
may complain that he had been
heen call ed out.
_" It does not inve~t Cong r ess
has not ~2111 right11 granted
di11criminated again11t,
T here a re la wfu l a nd orderl y with power . to legis late_ up on
to him in
,
"It would be 110 broad that if
•e ues open for re<lres of . u bJect which are w1thm t he
But In recent year11 there
11 om e citizen of California
a,
n
·
1 I
·
f
St
t
I
·
l
t
·
grieYance!. of t hose who clai m < oma m o
a e e1ps a ion · · ·
haa developed a tendency o r
thought he had been disc rimit o ha ,·e ha d their r i\'il r igh t!. Lt doe not a utho n z_e C.ong~·ess
··
philoaophy
of
some
of
the
more
nated
against in welfare bene\'iolate<l. T here are plent y of to create a code _o f n1;un1c1pal
extreme 1roup11 in our country
fits, 1ome bureaucrat could
p rntecth·e lawH now on the l_aw fo~·, t he regulat1oh of pnvate
that all other citizens ought to
deny to the State of California
hook. , and no new onPH a re ug? ts.
.
.
be denied their rights for the
all their welfare beneifts , It
needed. HoweYer, the p ressu re
Su~}1 a pu?IIc accommoda_t wns
particular and 11pecial benefita
would enable them, by the same
is on- not ju:-:t fo r so-culled law s~ep~ m to t he dorna m of
of a certain privileged group," , token, to withholdhighwayfunds
equa lit~·. hut fo r equa litr-plus. j loc.:al JU l"l prudence an d lays
It ,-pem:-: t o me ~hat ,,·_hat we ~lo\~'~- rules _fo r t~~ c1onduct _of
to Arizona or any other state
Sen, Talmadge then r ead Title
ha\"C' is ·i rc\·olution with the mcll\ 1dua ls m soc1et~ t owa1ds '", VI, Section 601 of the pending
if 11ome individual complained
go \
11 ;nt 011 the s i<le of the ~ach other," the Court hel~. "It
Civil Right11 Bill, It 1tate11:
that he did not receive a Job of
rrrnlutiona ri e,-;, wh ich I believe 1s repug na nt to t he 1 e_n th
11 Notwith11tanding
any procutting weeds on the highways of
i:-: unpre<"edented in the a nnals ~ me~c(ment of t he Const1tuviaion to the contrary in any
the State of Arizona,
of hi story.
t 1on, it added.
.
.
law of the United State11 provid"It would enable the bureau* ,.. *
It has been a long time smce
ing or authorizing direct or incrat, if he saw fit, to withhold
the
Supreme
Court
held
some:\OW A:\ ATTE.\IPT is being
direct financial assistanc e for
funds from any state because
made, despite its unconstit ut ion- t hing to be against t he Tent h
or
in
connection
With
any
prothey voted wrong and say that
Amendment,
whic
ides
fo
r
ulitr according to "the law of
if
gram or activity by way of discriminati
was the cause
th1.>
" on t he books Rince states righ ts.
a
grant, contract, loan, in11uranther eof, N
in the his tory of
188,
prh·ate prnperty this Amendnt
valid part of
free m ......_......,..,.e women has a
ce, guar anty or otherwtae. No
I i:tatute.
blueprlf
eral dictatorsuch law shall be interpreted
ubli<' ac·t·nmmo- ~
ship moM
ingly been conof the Admini. - 1
~
aa r equiring that 11uch financial
right. package,
trived,
'
a1111istance shall be fllmiahed
try to t ell priYutc
"I fNI that if die American
in clrcumstan
MMl,r
which
11 r, 1 11n 1,11 1 , ,I 111 11 , ·11, l1 tl ,11 •1or,· r11 111111 / , ·.r 11111.'11 1 I
peo9l•
alized
t w11 inIndividuals pardc tinJ in or
this program they
Hm or volvec1
benefiting fr
activity are d
d a• up and 11trUce do~
ese iniqultou progainst on the
e r ecited onl)> e,
color, religion
1 origin or are denied participation but l!IIIIIIIIWlilf'e several prevlaions
or benefits therein on the ground of thil itct that are equally as
extreme, and I shall discuss
them in the future,"
I
ern;
0
-
�Excerpt
s~ •eta I to The N• Tutt '1'flill
WASHINGTON, Jt'1'1/ 15 Foll.owing are e3:csrpfa
t1&e
testimony t oday by aou.
M'fltl
O. Wallace of Alabama before
the Senate Commerce Conimi ttte on the bill to prohibit racial
discrimination in public facilitie&:
The leaders of the Federal
Government have so misused
the Negroes for selfish political reasons that our entire
concept of liberty a.nd freedom is now in peril.
We daily see our Government go to ridiculous extremes and take unheard-of
actions to appease the minority bloc vote leaders of this
country.
I was a p ~ and a.ma.zed
to read of
t statement
by Pentag~
cials relative
to proposed
rights investigations Qn
military install&tlons.
e was a. time
when mili
Installations
in accordwere estab
requirements
ance with '
of the nation defense posture.
Today these fficials use
the threat of
thdra.wal of
military bases to accompl sh
political purposes. Any officer or official who issues such
orders should have his background investigated.
Refers to Purple Hearts
The Air Force is encourag~ging its personnel to engage
m street demonstrations with
rioting mobs and is even offering training credits as an
inducement. Perhaps we will
now see Purple Hearts awarded for street brawling-heretofore they were awarded on
the field of combat.
I note that by way of further intimidation, one of the
President's committees has
recommended that any business be placed off limits to
military personnel unless they
surrender to current Federal
ideologies.
Is the real purj'ose of this
integration movement to disarm this country as the Communists have planned?
I personally repent the actions of the Fed I Government which ha.v
ated these
ya! Americonditions. As
I Southern
can and as a. I
Governor, who
never belated with
longed to or
any subversh,e
ment, I resent the f&,W llllllll":liUld pawing
. over I\ICII
as Martin
Luther
g
s pro-Comassociates.
munist f nd
Last
• [Ross D.]
Barnett.J
ssissippi]
ttee a. picshowed
ture of
tber King
and a.
Communist
a meeting
leaders
toge
ly reported
in tn P:!!111',1,n·~ he last two
months,
top lieutenant
in Alabama, Fred L. Shuttlesworth, a self-styled "reverend," was elected president of
the "Southern Conference Educational Fund" which is headquartered In New Orleans a.nd
active in seventeen Southern
states.
A&ks Bill's Defeat
This organization has been
described by both the Senate
Internal Security Subcommittee and the House Un-American Activities Committee as
an organization "set up
to promote Communism
throughout the South.
I come here today as an
American, as a Governor of
a sovereign state and as an
individual with full respect
for constitutional government. I appear to respectfully
ca.II upon the Congress of the
United States to defeat in its
entirety the Civil Rights Act
of 1963.
The President of the United
States stated in his message
accompanying Senate bill
1732 that enactment of the
Civil Rights Act of 1963 a.t
this session of Congress however long It may take
and however troublesome
it may be - Is Imperative."
The President might well
have further stated: "And
however many people it hurts
or businesses it destroys and
regardless of the eights of the
vast majority of our people."
In my judgment, the President of the United States
and the Attorney General of
the United States, by design
and political motivation, are
sponsoring and fostering a
complete and all-Inclusive
change In our whole concept
of government and society-
The President so much 1u1
admitted this In his nationwide telecast .which prefaced
.t he Introduction of this civil
rights legislation. He wooed
and ..von the minority· bloc
vote. Since then he has committed a. series of blunders
in trying to appease the mob
leaders.
These leaders have now
. pressured the President Into
the ridiculous position of placing his stamp ·of approval on
mob violence and rioting in
the streets of this country.
The entire handling of this
racial situation by the present Ad'm inistration has shown
an ineptness and total lack
of understan g in handling
Assocl&t•d P.r'5s
bich have been
Senator Warren G. Magnu- the prob
e political efson, Washington Democrat, created
to
these votes.
who is conducting hearings forts
·The pr
w Frontier
0111 civil rights legislation.
is a na.ti
strife and
turmoil
of civil
a revolution of goven1ment warfa
The
against the people.
tion i
ena.te Bili 1732-the so- and in
c ed Public Accommodations to reco
es of polis shifted
Bill - would, together with tical prestfj;e. It
ti\
President's full civil the burdliat oll i dl oss misriglits package, bring about takes i~itldeltelllidll! the Congress of the Uni ed Statesgovernment of the gov- all the .1t..vtilei t: ing to a
ch shows
ernment, by the government lawless nNIWt
utter disregar nd contempt
and for the government.
The free and uncontrolled for law
remedy
use of private property is the
This b1l
basic and historic concept of the situation. Ttrts bill will
Anglo - Saxon jurisprudence. inflame the majori,t,y of, the
One of the primary reas ons citizens o ~
·
y. When
i:.
you will
our forefathers came from you dete
private
Europe to carve this nation control an Be
out of a raw and savage wil- property rights-you invite
derness was the purpose of chaos.
If you intend to pass this
using, controlling and enjoying their private property and bill, you should make prep;trato pursue their chosen pro- tions to withdraw all our
fessions without fear of inter- troops from Berlin, Viet Nam
ference from kings, tyrants, and the rest of the world bedespots, and I might add, ca.use they will be needed to
Presidents.
police America. You are goGentlemen, I'll te]J you what ing to make the American peothis Senate Bill 173:>. does,-it pie law violators because they
places upon all businessmen are not going to comply with
and professional people the this type legislation.
No part of the Civil Rights
yoke of involuntary servitude,
~it should be designated as Act of 1963 is acceptable and
the "involuntary servitude act we people in the state of Ala.of 1963".
ha.ma and the South will take
The President, the Attorney the lead for all freedom-lovGeneral, and every member ing people of this countryof this Congress who has , black or white-in an all-out


sponsored this legislation stand effort to defeat any man who


indfcted before the American supports any feature of the
people.
· civil rights package.
r
-The Executive branch of
Score!l Negroes, Tactics
this Government has ignored
He [the Negro] no longer the Constitution of the Unitwants mere equal treatment, ed States and fostered the
he expects and apparently in- march toward eut?W\~ation
tends to bludgeon the major- and the ultimate ~
ction
lty of this country's citizens of our system.
i,
into giving him preferential
Tile judicial bran
treatment.
verted the Constit
He shows his sense of re- United States i
sponslbility by flouting law which shocks the
nscience
and order throughout this of the American people.
country, even th1·eatenlng to
The Congress of the United
intimidate the Congress of States is the las t rem aining
the United States.· And all of bulwark against the destructhis is done with the tacit tlon of our system of governapproval of the sponsors of ment.
Asks Referendum
Senate Bill 1732.
A President who sponsors
legislation such as the Civil
I challen.ge the President
Rights Act of 1963 should and the Congress to submit
be retired from public life. this· proposed·legislation to the
And this goes for any Gov- people as a national referenernor or other public official dum.
I promise you that you will
who has joined in this mad
bloc vote.
get the shoclt of your life beDoes not the present sltua- · cause the people will overtlon In Washington, D.C., give whehnlngly reject this enyou some idea, of th~ result croachment upon their right
you would obtain with this to own and enjoy private
legislation? The nation's cap- property.
ital is supposed to be the
I say tha,t It is high time
supreme example of what freedom-loving people of this
civil rights legislation can ac- nation stand up and be countcomplish. It's an example a.It ed and if the tree of liberty
r~ght, an example of a city needs refreshing by the politipra.ctlcally deserted by white cal blood of those who igpeople. If you in the Congress nore the heritage establishecl
are really sincere about this for us qy tl_1e founding fathers,
civll rights business, why don't then so be 1t. .
you give home rule to the
G~tlemen, I appreciate this
people of Washington? Let's opportunity to appear before
see how the local residents you today a.nd before leaving
I have a. request I would like
can run this city.
I believe In local self gov- to make. I have charged here
ernment. I challenge you to today that there a.re Commuvote for home rule in Wash- nist Influences in the lntegra.lngton, D.C. I suspect that If tlon movement. From t11e
you attempted to do this, the mountain of evidence availSecretary of State would have able everyone should realize
to testify behind closed doors that they are true. You hav.e
t hat this would result In dam- heard these charges before
age to our Image before the you-You have seen the evlrest of the world.
dence - Why don't you do
I thlnlt you gentlemen a.re something a.bout it ? Don't
well a.ware of the reason you sweep this matter under the
are having to consider Senate rug-Jet's expose these enf)bill 1.732. The President of mies ... they are enemies of
the United States arid the both black and white fn this
Attorney Genera.I of the Uni- country-bring them out in
ted States have used the the open.
·-"'""1-
i:int
I
�A
/,<J .
House Conferences
. 7-/
To Report O n
I
143.215.248.55..-~-Grace day, July 22, 7 •p.m., a t S tou~feur's p bli~ is invi ted. Reservations for ton
·Abernathy, R estaurant, Hearth Room (Peach Hollowell, a nd Dr. tr ee Level) .
report on t h e
Ot'her Atlantans wh o atten ded
t'he : onferen ::es called by Presiden t
K ennedy have been invited to attend the meetings a n d particip3.t e
in th e infor mal discussion. The
~ ===;::::~=::::::-=---;:;-------....:.,
cees ,.(JWi
·1 .ffe
H iffman, Council ch ail'man
t he dinner <$2.40 ) can .be 11111-de by said. "Figures p rovided b y the U.S.
calling the ol flce of t he Gr ea ter Qensus Burea u sh ow tbe following
At lant a Council on H_uman R ela - con ditions of Atlanta N r oes as
tions 523- 1581.
c ompared wit con
of Ne"I n spite of the progress m ade in . gr ::ies thrO'Ughout t he . coun~ry a s
Atlanta , Negro citizens still have far 1 r eported by the Pr esiden t m tus
less chan ~e fo r success," Mrs. Clif- r a dio a nd television speech :
-
"All Atlanta
. ., :nc~
llke
oth er
,L


1-.;r,- - - -- -- ---~-- ----


Atia nta
high of one-seventh , as mu~h cl:.,n:!e
mu
At n
of earnin g
0 ,000 a y
. The
a nd one-fourt h instead of
third as mu Jh
1/JV
The Atlan ba. Junior Chamber of
Commerce h as voted ·to op.pose all
-of Pre3ident Kennedy's cimrent cival · rights ,legislation but made it
clear i t would continue to suppor t
0
wh a t it called ",a ll justified demands for equal •opportuhi ty for all
c itizen s."
or the public a1~::omodations biJ.l
t he chamber said it den!'es the ba sic prin::iples of free enterp1·ise forbidding a business man from ch oosing his own customers. To d!.~c-riminate on color, ra::e, or any oti:er
iteason are i.;:sues of moral and b!Miness judgement to be left up t o t he
,WASHINGTCN• - (UPI) - E.en .
jndivldual, sa id tJ11e ch qmber irt a H erman E. T almadge, D-Gu. said
t wo-pa-ge statemen t r ele:isect 1his :Thursd ay t h a t en actment of President Kennedy's civil r igh ts proweek.
The Junior Chamber of C::im- gr am
would
produce
"terror
m er ce a lso said looa.l legisla tion throughout the land" and require
sh ould
ncourage ,lhd ~nforced federal troops for its enforcemen t
in the
tter ot v~ri righ ts because it would create a "police
thr,
' hastily pas - stat~."
.
He sa id t h at if th e Presiden t's
o=:a..-:-:id it was
Jer r esolu - omnibus civil righ ts bill com es beAtlanta Cham- fore th e 1Sen ate in its presen t
eaWng for the form "all who ch er ish our system
a,atlon or private of government will r e !st it ." But
h e said "no plans" h ad ~ en made
I'
for a Southern filib us ter. Talmadge,
appearing on a r adio program
CBS ,capi tol
asked
if th e S outh wo
the
plied :
bill If · b ecomea
· •·If
t)1l1 is p
t ,p resen t t
tt .N>ul tat e tr s all
over A rtca to
oroe it. Th e
law-abidpeople of the SOtlt
ing-th ey abide by I.he la,w as t h e'.Y
see it .. . but tr u tel1
t h ey
ople
h ave got to associate wlt
th ey don't . wan t t o assoc!
with ,
Sen. Talm~..
Speaks Again
.R.ights.Bn s
Pf
Cloal,was
nC)
t
they
Ls with
vie terror
,"'2.
It would
r equire !oroe Q enforce."
T alm adge also said it is doubLful that action can be completed
t his year on a tax reduction bill.
He sa id t h e civil rights <proposals
"greatly complicate" the likelih ood
of t ax action.
S imilar ly, h e said h e was "not
optimistic about passing a coLLon
ill."
Although P resident K en nedy h as
'lost con iderable :p pularlty" in
eorgia and th e South, h e said,
political t rends ch ange rapidly"
nd it would be foolhardy to prcict t h e situation In 1964.
n ational scene) but white citizens irl
only one- th irtieth, instead ing a profession :;il man."
�A
n
tes··l
Reuth
WASHINGTON (IP}-Atty. Gen. Robert •. Kennedy told the Senate Judiciary Committee tha t those who preach states' rights are
nf\t "seeking the protection of the individual citizen, but his exp,vitation."
Jn pleading Thursday before to ask many questions about, Erthe Southern-<:lominated group for vin said, is the one that would espassage of the administration's tablish a communi ty relations
civil rights program, Kennedy service to help conciliate rasaid: "The time is long past- if cial disputes.
indeed it ever existed- when we
should permit the noble concept
However, ·E rvin said he would
of states' rights to be betrayed like to note that : "The Civil
an<l corrupted into a slogan to Rights Commission agita tes, the
hide the b-ald denial of American civil rights division of the J usrights, of civil rights, and of hu- tice department aggravates, and '
man rights. "
now .there would be a commu-·
ni ty relations service to concili, T~E MOST GOOD
·
ate."
,,Kennedy told U1e co'mmittee
that passage of the controversial
public accommodations part of
the program is essential.
" It is the part whose prompt
enactment will accomplish the ,
most immediate good in stamping '!
out the fires of" racial discord in I
our Janel," he said.
,
"Even as we sit here to- !
· clay, National Guardsmen patrol ·
the streets of Cambridge, Mel., to
' prevent violence. Unrest is hail. ing in Savannah, Ga.; in Dan,· ville, Va. , and in countless other
~ cities in the North as well as in
':· the South," Kennedy said.
.. "This is what happens when


long-standing legitimate griev:! ances are not remedied under


.law."


QUESTIONED BY ERVIN


· Under questioning by Sen. Sam ·
J . Ervin Jr., D-N.C., KennedY.
said it is "not correct" to say the ·
administration · program was submitted to Congress because, as
Ervin put it, "we now a re having troublesome times" with racial· demonstrations.
The attorney general said the
program was submi tted " because
there are injustices that should
be remedied, not because demonstrations are taking piace."
y
-i~·
7 -1
WASHINGTON - (UP
qbor l~ader Walter Ra,ther told Congress Fridar. tho .f
dli1B;tur"answier Negro pleJc;ts.for full citize nship, "desp
search for . . . answers in bitterness
and bloodshed."
"The hour is much later th an
you realize," the red-haired preident of the United _Auto Workers
\ t'Old a House Judiciary su,bcommit1 tee.
The UAW, he said. ihas a "size.
'.l,ble number" of Negroes. Reuther
insisted tha t President Kennedy's
civil rights program must not be
"compromised" or weakened in a ny
wa y as it moves through Congress.
He said it was a "very modera,te
'
bill" and that his un!o wanted it
Gov. Carl Sanders took a milit- 1 str engthened, if ppssib
ant stance Friday on the eve of an. iHe yolunteered th a
I do not
expected battle at Miam i Beach to· kno w how long responaibl_e leaders
keep_the civil rights issue fro m dis. ~f tl~e .. NPgro .. commun~ty ca n
their
fol1nwe1s. Con.
ru ptmg the National Governors 1estram
conference
gress m ust provia :nal means
Sanders is a member of the· con- of providin~ "
·opportunity
rt.he a postles
ference
resolutions
committee for -all our peopl
which will be the testing ground of hate w!ll ta ke o'#Jlt• fie add_ed.
for an expected civil rights pro,
·As . ls his custom
ther 1gn~rposal by backers of New Yor k Gov. ed ~1s preparded te;it In dfllivermg
Nelson Rockefeller a po·ential a n impassioned ~ for strong cf.
Democrat.le contend~r for the" pres. vii rights leglslfJOorf. He spbke off
idential nomination.
the cuff for 1almol'IJ afi hour fterIn Sanders' view IROckefeller ward, there were---no hostile questforces are planning this purely he- ~ons. Pe~er RqdiQq.. D -,N.J. s actcause of h is presidential aspirations m~ _cha1r~an: '-presided
er . the
and disapproves of making a cam- hea.rmg which was a tte
Friday
pa ign arena of the conference.
only by northern me
"lf he tries to ram it down our
throats - violate the rule - I think
there are enqugh governors who believe in a qpnstrm, Ive conference
to do sometblng,jlbout it," Sanders
told United PreS& I n ternational.
"I hope there will be no figh t.
But if he backs us in a corner I
believe be ~ ill find there are some
of us willing to respond. I think it
is ridiculous that the governors
conferenc&- be used as a political
' battle gr.:iund."
The "rule" Sanders referred to
is one that needs a two thirds vote
of the resolutions committee mem bers to get an issue such as civil
r_igh ts 0n the floor. Sanders and a
number of other governors want it
changed to require a unanimous
vote,
Governors Contab·
Ervin's questioning hardly had
got under way when the Senate
convened, forcing a recess in the
hearing until . some til)'le next
week. Ervin told Kennedy he was
"not trying to filibuster" but he
said, "Some of us see this bill as
a .very drastic assault on the principles of constitutional government and the private righls of
individ'uals."
' " I understand ," Kennedy said .
Ervin told newsmen he does not
lmow how long his questioning will take, when Kennedy returns next week. He noted that
the bill has. seven different sections and contains " an awful lot
of legal _gobbledegook."
One section he does not expect
[I .
'
.
-
- - -
'"


a
I
�CIVILa~~RIGHT
1
tty. Gen. Says
Legislation Can 1\1
alt Oppression
'
brother, appea,rSen-ate Judici~y
questione d those
on grounds
LOIT
most frequent _
ts today
are not
ctlon of the in-
ut his ex,p loit-atgeneral said.
t member, La1bor
illard .Wirtz, told
erce Committee
that
vor a proposal by Sen.
Barrv Goldwater, R-·Ariz, which
would deny federal certifica tion _to
any labor union practicing racial
discrimination.
"I believe in doing all things necessary to prevent discrimination in
.
labor unions," Wirtz sa-id.
'Kennedy, in pintponting ra,c1al
barriers that face 'Negroes, said
tha t tour ist guidebooks list only
one establishment with overnig~t
acommodations for >Negroes . m
Mon tgomery and none in_ Danville,
where racial demonstrations have
occurred.
DOGS WELCOME
"But a dog, provided he is tra veling with a white man, is welco!l1e
to ST'end the nigh t in at least five
establishments In !Montgomery and
four in Danville, Kennedy asserted.
This was the attorney general's
third appearance before a. congres1<ional committee studying his bro.
ther's civil righ ts proposals.
Be showed un to testifv at the
J udicary Committee two days ago,
but hsd h l,i a,ppearance postponed
until 'I'fl!.nda,T.
•S paald~ beforP a standing room
only andienoe. Kennedy said the
Prealdent's civil rights package is
no a "curp all" for the racial oroblem<: thst fece the nation. But he
said the le1dslatlon 'co,n a nd will do
more toward riehtln'!' the wrongs
of racial opm-Psc;lon t han anv other
me-asure possible at this time."
�PRE
T SENDS
CIVIL RIGHTS PLEA
SCHOOL BOARDS
' Continued trom P age 1, Col. , llshlng a F air Emplo ment Practices Com
~ uded
youth and the explosive .1itua- in the om~
tlon in many of o
reat cl A separate bill '
The Prsldent met
ently at a comrnlssion has
the White House with represen- proved '1117 another-M
tee.
all level.a of educa- Mr. Reuther said, llmlll&, Its
' tatlves f
tion. H e
as
at that chances of final passage- would
time t o. write
nally to be better if it were placed in
school board pres nts.
the over-all bill.
Meanwhile, at a hearing of Mr. Reuther discarded a. prea House Judiciary subcommit- pa red statement and s poke f or
tee, Walter P . Reuther urged more than an hour on Negro
Congress to create Federal reg- rights, human freedom and the
ist rars who would be able to meaning of democracy. At one
sign up "millions of Negro vot- point he said:
ers In the South."
"Each of us must understand
Mr. Reuther, the head of the that humBll freedom is indivisUnited Uatomoblle Workers Ible. Every American's freedom
Union, said he favored "the ls jeopardized when the free- ,
wholesale approach to voting dom of any American is denied. '
righ ts r ather than the retail ap~ "We cannot defend freedom I
proach taken by President Ken- in Berlin as long as we deny
nedy."
It .in Birmingham. No one will
The Administration's seven- take us seriously.
·
point civil rights bill Includes a "We must measure progress
provision for appointment of in ·the field of civil rights not
temporary voting referees to from where we have come, but
speed cases brought by Negroes from where we have to go."
who charge they are unable to ".I f Con~ess has the constiregister because of racial dis- tuttonal right t? regulate . the
crimination.
·
color of margatme served m a
restaui;\bt how can anyone say
Would Strengthen Bill
ft does rlot Have tile· right to
Mr. Reuther praised Mr. Ken- regulate the color of the people
nedy's "courageous action" in who will be allowed to enter
calling for a sweeping civil that restaurant?
rights bill, but said the measure "The central question befor!l
should be strengthened in oth- this committee is: Can Amerier ways.
can Dem
be true to itHe r.l!~l'l!if greater Federal self?
d practical
autho
Institute civil ways o
.the . central
right
and advance school value o 1fNfflc>bH!ffiY - a bedesegregation. He also recom- lief in the dignity and worth
mended that a provision estab- of each person?"
1j1.o .
-tn~
Lette c:forCoope ation
With Biracia Panels and
Effort to Cut .Drop-Outs
By The Associated Pre••
WASHINGTON, July 19 _
President Kennedy has sent a
personal appeal to the presidents of thousands of school
boards across the country for
"your help in solving the grave
civil rights problems faced by
this nation."
Let ters over Mr. Kennedy's
signature were mailed last July
2. They also asked for cooP.eration in a nationwide effor t fthis
summer to persuade y oung people to return. to school in September and
uee the number
of drop-outs.
Mr. Kennq urged,
school
board presid
to work active- .
ly with b"
eommlssions
to solve civil 11ghts Issue~. and
to press ,f or ~eatlon of such
commissions Where there were
none.
In more general terms the
resident voiced t)le hope' tha t
they would "discuss this letter
th your colJeWes and if possible enlist thelr..mpport ."
Asks
by Aug. 15
the
-,po
Turning to the problem of
drop-outs, the--J)resident went
on :
"I urge y
to commepce to
intensify yo
fort immediately in mee
this nation
problem; and
gest tha t yo
advise Co
oner [ F rancis)
Keppel of the Uhited States Office of Educatiob of your pr ogress--I would hope there could
be an initial report by Aug. 15
and again by the end of September outlining the progress
you have been able
achieve.
"Whether there is a significant reduction in drop-outs
when schools resume in the fall
will depend, in great measure,
on your efforts in your owrt
community. We solicit your'
sympathetic support and assistance."
Mr. t:rn1'" .
emp
prob!
rights
use' bf a diinishmg market for untrained
workers Blld the high propor
ion of unemployed Negroes.
But he told the school board
executives that the problem afected both white and Negro
tudents.
"It is of particular signiflance," Mr. Kennedy said, "because of a lack of job opportunities for inadequately trained ,
Continued on Page 9, Column 2
1
. 1
�Protest
pe -C<ife Lp:_
1f22J
President J ohn F . Kennedy will push hard f~r his_controversial
" public accommodations:· le~islation, the executive director of the
Southern Regional Council said here Monday.
Dr. Leslie W. Dunbar said this that school_ " drop-outs" pose a
was the impres n he received at serious racial problem ~:cause
a recent White House conference drop-outs and, later, the impact
with Kennedy
tw
30 and 40 of unemployment," fall much
organiza- " more heavily on th~ N~~ro proleaders of
tions attend
eting.
portion of the population.
"I went i
ting not beEducators attending one White
stration really House meeting, he said, recoglieving th
thought the
pass public ac- nized the need for a "better guidcommodations egislation," Dw1- ance program."
bar said, adding that .President
The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, AtKennedy and Vice P resident Lyn- lanta minister and an official of
don B J O h n s o n effectively
of the Southern Leadership Con"argued their sincerity in this."
ference, said that P resident Ken. Dunbar spoke at a dinner mee~- nedy "did not seek to evad_e . the
ing of the Greater Atlanta Council issues" at a meeting of religious
on Human Relations, one of sev- leaders.
eral Atlanta speakers to report on
President Kennedy urged relithe recent series of White House
gious leaders to serve on bi-racial
conferences on race relations.
committees in their own comFrom 25 to 30 Atlanta citizens munities, the Rev.r¥-t.: bernathy
were invited by the President to said.


~


attend the special meetings.
The Rev. Vine
Dr. John w. Letson, superi~- also attended the
tendent of Atlanta schools, said ligious leaders,
L==-===.,.,.,.~=143.215.248.55 16:31, 29 December 2017 (EST)-=~=-~1was almost " t·- - . . - t•
public relations
meetings. There
many
people for him <President Kennedy ) r eally to talk to the people
there."

Red
p1 ed,
W ilkins Says
.
~~\}J'l ' ~
NAJ\tCP ·Secretary ·Spe·aks
Ben
Rights Heari
C
GTON-(UPl)-NAACP leader · Rov
gfa,,s th~t the Negro protest m.o veme
' 1Wherein,_is a
atlon a. 1
gainst police ,b rut
t discrimination in em
nt, against
exclu sion from ·voti
ths, lunch
counters ran d · 'public r ecreational
!acilitles judged to be un-Am.etlctU\
.
or . subversive?"
..,,..,.- -_..,,,=,.,_,! In recen t testimony before the
oominittee, Oovs. :Ross Barnett of
Ml.$Slssippl and George Wallace of
Ala:bama. charged tha t the mass
N~gro , demonstro.tions . were f ollowing a Communist pattern.
Wilkins a lso took issue with t hose
who have said that Negroes were
h urting their own cause by con tinued demonstrations.
'
IHe commented: !How can a cause
-wb loh ha-s been betrayed by every
possible device, beaten back in the
crudest a nd most overt f1lShion, and
distorted ir'l high sounding misrepresentations by · suave kinfolk of
,the .mob.tiow oen a oo,use •in such
conditl 1>e butt by crying out of
those w
suffe~ • ?"
He
the
tnittee that if
Ben. 'RI
, D-Oa., leader of the- aou
~ pposltion bloc·
••
sw;i.llav,r our
, In Cong
t r.ea.t mentl
llll'lil!IM , Jie would be
on a pictet llDe Ill
ne.zt following 20
"


'Whe1na;1111t,111819U1


upon or
said, "tn
rective action."
fore t he Senate
lttee on behalf of
edy's ci,vil rights
xecutive secret,a.r y of
·:Association for t he
of Colored !People
'---~-=

~~- ~. . . .
. "Th P.V
he <added
lack of r
lish .Parlia~t. I
day protest tbelr
ation in the
Carolina leglslabu
"In trut h," the
llinued, "the resolu
and action of our
upon the civil rights
exemplai·ly Americ
" If we desire to k1
duct and to fashion a
cautious crawlers." he said, "we
should cease t he teaching of American !history. -·
�7 -/ r
Rebuts Southern Charges
Bill Would Infringe Upon
'
State or Property Rights
By E. W. KENWORTHY
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, July 18 Attorney General Robert F.
Kennedy denied today that the
Administration's civil rights
bill would "improperly" interfer7 with either the rights of
the states or the rights of private property.
Southern opponents argue
that four sections of the blll,
tiealing with schools, voting,
public accommodations and Federal funds, are an infringement
on states' rights.
They are joined by many
Northern legislators of both
arties in asserting that the
proposed ban on discrimination
in public facilities would impair
property rights.
The Attorney
neral addressed himself
th these 1
arguments toda
e began
fore the ,
testifying on th
Senate Judici,""'i,..._,mmittee.
The committee,
by Send of Mis. ator James o. E
sissippi, has nelllllf~ in recent
times reported -t>u1ivil rights .
b11I.
JBJ1
Mr. · Kennedy
used the
Southerners, in ldftt:t, of forgetting the debates in the Constitutional Convention and mispplying their favorite doctrine. He said:
"States' rights, as our forefathers conceived it, was a protection of the right of the individual citizen. Those who
preach. most frequently about
States Rights toda.i are not
those seekini th~ J)l'Otection of
the indivfaual citfzt!Jl, but his
exploitation.
"'The time is long past - i
indeed it ever existed- when w
ontfnuecton Page 7,Column 2
i

....,
�ITOB
·RIGHTS PLAN
tJ
rnups and the unions in a posl1ve way. .
A National L abor Service
spo~ esm3:n,. info rm ed of the r e, , ,
, , , act10n, said .
ill1
"We're sorry th ey're so hy,
persensitive. Our purpose was
Pro osals to End Race Bars completely fr iendly and deP
signed to br idge the ga p beTe rmed' Presum pti ous
tween la bor and the Negro and
t,; ~ ~ 1 •1 ,\Y
civil rig hts g roups. We feel it
/Vil~
i'j, ... \ is extremely important bot h .for
By JOHN D. POMF R i T
the civil rights movement and
Special to The New York Tlmta '
fo r the sake of legislation in
WASHINGTON, July
other · Ids to have broadly
IRKS AFL-C·IO
\(l
y ."
. 0 gr~ups active in th
T e oposals were m a iled to
1ghts field today sent to
e presidents of the A.F .L.of the na tion's int erna tional C.I.O .'s 130 affili a ted unions.
union presidents a set of sweep- They went also to the federaing proposals for uni on a ction
to end r acia l discrimination.
The proposals evoked a host ile r eac tion from a spokesman
for the American Federation of
La bor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
While saying that he felt the
proposa ls were well-meaning,
he cha racterized them. as pre
sumptuous. He indicated that!
he was
ncerned that union
lea ders w 1d regard th em a
ctic, and that this
a pr ess1,1r
unfavora
re ion
later
would be
ted n res!stanc
the federation
t o wh
itself
opose to its affiliates
civil rights field
J' Proposals
" An
at the A.F.L.
in t his area wi l1
C.I.O.
be in
these proposa ls~
not b
of them," th
spokes
. "W have go
to look
prob! ~ from a,
oint o view and
trade u
de un n way to
move in
solve t h
T he 1
oposals were circulated by the P otomac Ins titute,
a private, nonprofit agency
working for improved Intergroup relations, and th e National L abor Service of the


American J ewish Committee.


They emerged !}'om a n "off.
the-recor d" meeting h eld at t he
institute here J une 10.
About 25 persons active in
civil rights work in unions, intergroup relations experts and
repres41ntaUves of Negro organizationls llttended.
nee Is Olted
ht of t he t wo sponps was t hl,t. the
'1liance b
the
N egro
had
ly strain
n unions
ecrctary
ciation
of C o
t r an
fi411d
The s
ot s
demonstrations
union discrim ina
rly in the bu ding
ades
ould increase in frequen cy
They fel t it vi tal t o t ry to hea
the breach between the Negro
t!_on ?~elf, to union civil rights
spec1ailsts, key Negro leaders, a
number ci'f government officials
active in th e civil ri_ghts field
and the l eaders of mtergroup
or ganizations.
Calle!1 Suggestions
Titled "P roposals fo r Civil
Rights Action by Organized
La bor ," the .. 16 suggestions all
were made by participants at
the June 16 meeting . Not every
par ticipant end orsed each proposal a nd, in fac t , some of the
s.uggestions were vigorously opposed by a number of those who
a ttended.
Nor were the . p_ropcisals in
any sense the off1c1al program
of the sponsoring' or~anj,zatio_ns,
a spokesman explained~ T)l$
were sent o_ut in the hope th,{
they would be useful to· unio~
in -planning their activities ·
th · ·1 • ht f ' Id
e civi r~g s ie ·.
,:
The main suggestion was th~
the federa tion should establi~
immediately a special task fox~
of ranking officers and sta,£f
r epresenta tives to set up •.<~
broad crash program"' to de
with all aspects of civil right$
Task forces on the state a.iyl
local level_s were also recom;
mended
and
international
unions were asked to ma~~
h_ig_h-l~vel as?ignments in t~
c1v1I ri ghts field.
··
-
�ARTHURJ. GOLDBERG
Confirmed September 25, 1962 by voice vote
Senator Thurman of South Carolina asked to be recorded as voting against him
BYRON S. WHITE
Confirmed April 11, 1962 by voice vote
In a speech, Senator Russell said he was for his confirmation
(See page 5835, Congressional Record)
HUGO BLACK
Confirmed August 17, 1937
Senator Russell was 11 paired 11 for confirmation - he did not vote
WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
Confirmed April 4 , 1939
Russ e ll voted yes
TOM C . CLARK
Confi rme d A u g us t 18 , 1949
Russell vot e d y e s
JOHN M. HARLAN
Confirme d M arch 16, 1955
Russ ell v oted no
�September 30, 1963
Miss Janet Ellen Maglio
Riviera Beach High School
P. O. Box 10496
Riviera Beach, Florida
Dear Miss Maglio:
In reply to your letter of September 26th I am
enclosing a copy of the testimony given by Mayor
Allen before the Senate Commerce Committee.
The City of Atlanta bas not established one large
hU1'11an rights commission as you will see from
reading the testimony. We have, however, appointed
affected bi-racial committees to work out specific
problems.
With appreciation for your inquiry, I am
Sincerely yours,
Ann Drun1mond,
Executive Secretary
AD/br
Enclo u-re
�RIVIERA BEACH HIGH SCHOOL
P. 0. Box 10496
RIVIERA BEACH, FLORIDA
CLYOE A. CANIPE
Principal
Septemb er 26 , 1963
Hon oFable Mayor I van_ Allen
City Hall
Atl anta, Ge o rgi a
Dear Sir,
I am a SenioF ~t Riviera Bach High School and
mat present studying " Contemporary Problems" , a
course concerned with tho p robl ems f a cing our
democ 1nacy today•
Commi ttee s have b e en f ormed, a ch design a t ed
to study individua l civil rig hts problems of
several ma jor cities.
My particular g roup has chosen Atl ant a
its s urrounding re.
nd
The newspapers h~vc r po rted favorqbly on
Atl nta ' s handling o integFation. Any o f your
views , any news clippings , ny inform tion
concerning b1ra ci 1 committ ees , etc .,would be
sincerely appre cicted . Your cooperation is
solicit d .
Sincerely,
f:::::~M
~~
S nior
Rivier
ml
Bach High
�September 30, 1963
Mr . Samuel Levine,
Legislative Chairman
Committee for Human Rights
City of Fremont
41634 Covington Drive
Fremont, California
Dear Mr. Levine:
In reply to your letter of September 25th I am
enclosing a copy of the testimony given by Mayor
A llen before the Senate Commerce Committee .
The City of Atlanta has not established one large
human rights com.mission as you will see from
reading the testimony. We have, however, appointed
affected bi-racial committees to work out specific
problems.
With appreciation for your inquiry, I am
Sincerely yours,
Ann Drwnmond,
Executive Secretary
AD/br
Enclo ure
J
�41634 Covington Drive
Fremont 9 California
September 25, 1963
Office of Mayor of
Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Sir:
The citizens of the City of Fremont are urging the
formation of a Human Rights Commission. In order to establish
the best possible organization, it was recommended that we consider a pattern similar to the one which now serves your city.
To this end we request that you be kind enough to send,
at your earliest convenience, a copy of the ordinance which
establishes and describes the Human Rights Commission of your
city. We assure you that this material will be used judiciously.
May we take this opportunity to congratulate you f or your
excellent work in this area.
Most p mel:, / ,
143.215.248.55
Legislat ive Chairman
Committee for Human Rights
City of Fremont
�Septembe r 2 3, 1963
Hon. Eleauor P . Sheppard, Mayor
City of Richmond
Richmond 19, Virginia
Dear Mayor Sheppard:
In the absence of Mayor Allen, I would like tor ply
to your letter of Se·p tember 20th.
There is very little information written down regarding
bi-racial committees in the City of Atlanta . I am
enclosing a copy of Mayor Allen's te timony before
the Senate Commerce Committee which tells in a
general way what has taken place in Atlanta. As you
will note from reading it, we have not appointed one
large bi-racial Committee but w have appointed such
committees to work Gd.th. specific problems.
Should you have any further questions,. we will be glad
to try to answer them.
Sincerely yours,
A nn Drunimond,
E xecutiv Secretary
AD /br
Encl osur
�a[Jf:U af lti:dttttultu
~
ELEANOR P . SHEPPARD
M AYO R
RICHMOND 19 , VIRGINIA
Sep t ember 20, 1963
The Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr .
Mayor of Atlanta
Atlanta , Georgia
Dear Mayor Allen:
The City of Richmond has
recently appointed a bi-racial
cormnission to seek solutions to
cormnunity problems.
The cormnission has expressed
an interest in materials and experiences
of similar cormnissions in other cities
of the South, and asked me to request
either printed, mimeographed or any
publications known to your city and available for our information.
I will appreciate your consideration personally and most gratefully.
Sincerely,
iluvwn ~-~
Eleanor P. Sheppard
Mayor
EPS:ALB
�140 No. 184th
Seattle, Wash. 98133
August 1 6, 1963
Office of the Mayor
Atl an t a , Georgi a
Dear Mr. Mayor;
The young peo ple of the Church of the Brethren in the
Pacific Co s t Region are organi zi ng a conf erence to be
held at Squ aw Valley, Californi a on Nov. 21st.
The t heme for this conference is "La r ge Confus ion Small Cer tainty ".
One of the t opics for dis cussion
will be civi l ri ghts . We would appr eci a te any lit er ture
whi c h your offic e coul d dona t e.
Sincerely ,
w~.
· vv?
William Turnidge
(Cha irm n in cha r ge of Lit.).
�August 19, 1963
Mr. Quintus E. Fredrickson
40 Downer Place
Aurora, Illinois
Dear Mr. Fredrickson:
This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of
August 16. I am grateful for the kind things you
bad to say about me.
I am enclosing a copy of m.y testimony presented
recently before the Senate Commerce Committee in
Washington. This is just about as complete in.formation as I can furnish you. It will give you an idea of
how Atlanta has been able to cope with the problem
of racial discrimination.
Congratulations on your new stol'e. I certainly wish
for you every success. W:ttb best wishes and highest
personal regards, l am
Sincerely yours,
q
JAJr/eo
E nclo
\U"
Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mayor
�40 DOWNER PLACE
AURORA, ILLINOIS
PHONE TWIN OAKS 7-4675
OFFICE SUPPLIES A ND EQUIPMENT
August 16, 1963
Mayor I van Al len, Jr .
City Hal l Building
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Mayor Allen :
Many mont hs ago I wanted t o sit down and wr 'te a letter of congrat ulations t o you for having een elect ed Ma or of Atlanta, but one
. ut s t hings off . Then as the months we nt b pro bl ems have been
brought to mind by the i ntegr a1:ion movements a nd I have wanted to
writ e a letter of congratulation beca us e of the graciou s acce" t ance evident l y accorded all peoples in the c i t of Atla nta . Then
I thought that thi s could on l y be due to good leadershi . I kne w
i t mus t be th is because t hat is wha t you gave to the N.9. 0 . E. A.
and t he offic e su pl y industry in the vears ast , but again I
fai l ed to wr i t e this c ongrat ulatory lett er ,
But today I find myself in a s omewhat simila r os · tion to ,ours ,
with the problems of i ntegration thru s t u pon me and ot her s as
members of the Aurora Area Bi- Racial Committee . I was also an
elected offi cial in 1941, ha vi ng been Cit y Clerk until the out break of World War II when I enlis ted and we nt into the Infantry .
I had Negro soldiers at Anni s t an , Alabama , before going overseas
with the Seventh Armored Divi sion . Also, rior t o World War I I ,
I had worked with Negro gang gr ou ps through the public s c hool
system and the Y, M. C . A. her e in Aurora . With t hi s bit of background I was chosen to become a member of the Bi - Ra cial Comm i ttee,
an appointment whi ch I fe lt no one should turn down if he felt
c apabl e of dealing with this .most current emergency ,
Ivan, if you should have any materials which you feel would be
advantageou s for me to use I ould appreciate your forwarding
them to me . Any s uggestion s that you have I likewjse would be
thankf ul f or, We have had meetings with the Civil Serv i c e
Commiss i on here, the retail divi s ion of the Chamber of Commerce
a nd the personnel officer s of our loc a l a rea manufacturing.
Meeti ngs are scheduled with the school boar ds , the banks and
building and loan associations for next week , a nd t he r ealtors
week after next, There are four Whites and four Hegroes on t he
Commission, all of whom are l evel-headed .
�Mayor I va n Alle n t Jr.
Augus t 16, 1963
Page - 2I hav e j u s t mov ed i nt o a ne w l oc a tion a nd had my Gr a nd Opening
t wo weeks ago . I am e nc losing on e of my ad s for our i nt er est .
My wife a nd I ha ve been very f ortuna t e t o hav e be come el i g ible
f or a t ri . t o Ital y from Ol i v et ti. We l eav e a r ound Sept ember
15 f or sixt een days a nd should retur n i n t i me for t he Nat i onal
Show, I f you a r e to be ther e I pr obabl y wil l be seei ng you.
I f you find t i me t o dr o. me a l ine I would a
rec ia t e i t .
Si nce r e l y ,
FREDRICK. ON ' S
Fr ed r i c kson
QEF : r
Enc .
�Bu si ness Phones
738-2430
CAnol 6-2646
Night Phones
Midway 3-3736
Midway 3-3962
BISHOP PRODUCE
FRESH PRODUCE FOR PROCESSORS
-yr
FOOD BROKERS
+7-SOUTH WATER MARKET
CHICAGO 8, ILLINOIS
�August 14, 1963
Mr. William B. Stubbs
Trust Company of Georgia Building
Atlanta 3, Georgia
Dear Bill :
May I express my appreciation for your
thoughtfulness in sending the copies of the
Wireless Bull etin from Cambodia, which
contained the major portion of my testimony
before the Senate Commerce Committee. I
was particularly interested in seeing the French
and Cambodian translations.
When you write Bill, thank him for me personally
in sending these to you, and tell him I am very
pleased to know of the distribution.
With highest personal regards, I _a m
Sincerely,
Ivan Allen, Jr.
lajr:ad
�WILLIAM
B.
STUBBS
TRUST COMPANY OF GEOllGIA BUILDING
ATLANTA
3,
GEORGIA
August 14,
1963
Dear Ivan:
Rachael and I thoug ht you might like to have
a co py of Wireless Bulletin for We dnesday, August 7,
1963, which was published by USIS Press Section,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. USIS publishes twice a week,
in three languages, a news bulletin distributed to
papers and pe rsons in Cambodia. Much of the material
in the bulletin comes from USIA teletype. The bulletin
has a circulation of about 5,000 in Cambodia . A co py
of the August 7 issue is enclosed, in each of t he
three langua ges.
Our son Bill is with USIS in Ca mb odia. He is
extremely proud of Atlanta and has received many
favorable comments from others. He does not have
any res p onsibility for p ublishing the bulletin} but
does handle its distribution.
Cordial regards.
Sincerely,
W. B. Stubbs
Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr.
City Hall
�I
UNITED LIBERAL CHURCH
ROOM 263, 110 PEACHTREE STREET, N. I!., ATLANTA 9, GEORGIA,
Tf!L. 872•9887
I
UNITARIAN
UNIVERSALIST
August 5, 1963
Th~ Honorable Charles Weltner
Congre s ffinan
Georgia Fifth District
House of Representative s Building
Washington, D.C.
Dear Congressman Weltner:
1vith great pleasure , we have observe~ anc supported your actions and
coni uct both as candi date for office and as our r epre sentative to
Congress. Your influence and pr e stige, locally and nationally, f ar
excee~ t ha.t expected of a first-ye ar Cone;r e ssm2.11. As a r esult, you
have a unique opportunity t o be an ef f ecti ve fo rce f or progr e ss , and
we sincer ely hope you will use it.
By vot e of The Boa.r d of Tru stee s , 1-.e stronc;J. y urge your support of
Pr esi .ent Kennecly 1 s pr oposed Civil Ri ghts l egi sl ati on. T.fo f eel,
de eply , t hat t h is l e gi slat ion i s in t he be st int er e st s of our stat e
and country at th is cr ucial t rne ; anci. we f eel your support would
be in keeping wit h th e sensibl e and courageous stands we have come
t o expect you to t ake ••• and on the basi s of °l'.tl ich you wer e ele cted .
We hope t hi s will be but one of :-:ic:ny constructi ve accomplishments of
a l ong and succ essf ul poli t i cal career.
Very trul y your s,
Harry C. Adl ey , Pr esident
f or The Boar d of Trustee s
UNITED LIBERAL CHURCH
(UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALIST)
OF ATLANTA
HCA/ af s
cc:
Ol d Post Office Builaing Office
Atlant a, Georgia
SUNDAY SERVICES 10:3 0 AM
1176 TENTH STREET, N .E.
EUG ENE PICKETT, MI NISTER
-
�[,'
'
Press-Radio Center, Telephone 532-6211
Gainesville, Georgia
August 3, 1963
Mayor Ivan All en
City Hall
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Mayor Al l en:
I thought you woul d be interested in the enclosed editoria l.
Cordially yours,
1 ill
J.
S~ eyr:F
Editor
The Georgia Poultry Times and Radio Station WGGA , Gainesville, Ga. • Radio Station WRGA, Rome, Ga. • Radio Station W AAX, Gadsden, Ala.
�Glenn Bennett, Metropolitan Planning Commission, advises that the
45 separate incorporated places in the metropolitan area are shown
on the attached map.
Mr. Bennett said that his office would not be in position to know how
many have made a change in any policy of segregation.
�The office of Mrs. Bernice McCullough, State Department of Education,
(688 - 2390) advises that there are
198 school systems in the state of Georgia.
Atlanta is the only school system that this office has any information on
relative to integration.
�Mr. L. C. Adams of the Georgia Municipal Association, advises that
there are approximately
420 active incorporated municipalities
There are approximately 590 incorporated municipalities.
However
about 170 of these towns are so small, they have become inactive (no elected officials, etc.)
�A ug ust 5, 1963
Mrs . Frances B . Chene y
Hot el Gen eral F or rest
Rome,. Georgia
Dear Mrs . Cheney:
I was so pleased to receive your l etter of August
3, and I am very grateful for your support of my testimony
before the Senate Commerce Commi ttee. I am taking
the liberty of forwarding you, under separate cover, the
compl ete text of my testimony~ and as you indicated,. i t
was a very fine experience.
I am not familiar with the plans at Georgia Tech
for the Presidents appearance . lam, ho ever. writing
D r. Harrison today requesting that you be put on the list
for two tickets .
Louise joins m e in expressing our appreciation
and best wishes.
Sincerely,
Ivan A llen. Jr.,
Mayor
IAJr/eo
�MRS. HOLMES CHENEY
-HOTEL GENERAL
F143.215.248.55 \ <\),
3.
.
,
��July 12, 1963
Mr . Lewis Tingley
Administrative Assistant
Mayor's Office
City Hall
Louisville, Kentucky
Dear Mr . Tingley:
I certainly enjoyed talking with you over the phone
this m orning and we are pleased that you will be in
Atlanta on July 31st.
Please call either me or Mrs. Robin,on at Ja Z - 4463
so we may arrange a mutually conventent time for you
to chat with Mayor Allen. As I said, I am sure he will
be quite interested in the reaction you have bad to the
Public Acconunofiation Law recently passed by the City
of Louisville.
It would be extremely helpful for us to have another
copy of your Law and I would appreciate your mailing
it to me.
Sincerely yours,
Ann Drummond,
Executive Secretary
AD/br
�Ivan
Had a nice conversation with a very enthusiastic Mr. Grinstein (about
you).
He laugh~d when I told him Mr. Rich regretted, and said that that was
what he expected.
He said that Sanders testimony did not change the position you had
established one bit. • • • a n d ~
he said that Sanders said that "he represented the majority of the
people of Atlanta and he was in total opposition of the bill". Grinstein
said that Pastore said that he had even more faith in what the Mayor
of Atlanta has aaid because of the Sanders sac statement. He also
said that Sanders was walking on very thin legal ice.
Grinstein said that their correspondence was re.nning about 15 to 1
in opposition of the bill, and he was completely amazed when I told him
our ratio. The correspondence which the Committee recei v es has absolutely
no influence on the Committee .
Grinstein said that Thurman tried to carry Sanders as far in the direction
opposition asarn:a he was v/;- trying to work against you. • • and Thurman made Sanders
look pr e tty rediculous . •
of
�July 29, 1963
Rev. James O. Chatham,
A ssista.nt Minister
McAllister Memorial ~esbyterian Church
900 North Alleghany A venue & East Cedar Street
Covington, Virginia
Dear Rev. Chatham:
l appreciate your letter of July 10th and your sincere
inquiry as to how Atlanta bas handled problems of
discrimination.
I believe· my testimony before the Senat Commerce
Committee will give you the overall pictur and a
general summary of what bas taken place in thi city.
Should you have specific questions later, pleas advise
and I will be glad to try to answer them.
Sincerely yours,
Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mayor
J.AJr/br
'Enclo ui-e
�MCALLISTER MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
900 NORTH ALLEGHANY AVENUE AND EAST CEDAR STREET
COVINGTON, VIRGINIA
MINISTER:
JEROLD D. SHETLER
TELEPHONES :
CHURCH OFFICE
AND MINISTER'S
962-2675
STUDY:
MANSE:
1433 SOUTH CARPENTER DRIVE
MANSE:
962-1495
July 10, 1963
The Mayor
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Sir:
As you know, racial demonstrations have been taking place
for some weeks in the town of Danville, Virginia, about one
hundred miles from our town of Covington. We here in Covington
are seeking ways to avoid the confusion and turmoil which other
towns have known by acting in advance of the difficulty to
establish cordial relationships between the races, relationships
in wh ich differences can be ironed out around the conference table
rather than in the midst of mobs.
We look to your city as a pioneer among those who did not
wait for the trouble to start before doing something about it.
The purpose of my letter is to ask you to send any information
which is available concerning the advanced planning which was
carried on in your city. If you can send me written information,
or direct me to nationally circulated magazines where such
information can be found, I will greatly appreciate your service.
Thank you for your attention.
~
t&ly~
James O. Chatham
assistant minister
�STATEMENT
by
IVAN ALLEN,
JR.
MAYOR OF f>:- TLANTA, GA.
BEFORE
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE
REGARDING
s.
1732
BILL TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATIONS AFFECTING
INTERSTATE COMiviERCE
July 26, 1963
�STATEMENT BY IVAN ALLEN, JR.
lviAYOR OF ATLANTA
July 2.6, 1963
M r. Chairman and lviembers of the Senate Commerce Committee:
I am honored to appear before your Committee.
At the beginning I would like to make it clear that I feel qualified
to speak on the subject under discussion which is the elimination of racial
discrimination, on what I have learned from personal experience and
observation in my home city of'Atlanta, Georgia.
As perceptive men of
wide experience I feel confident that you will agree with me that this is as
serious a basic problem in the North, East and \'lest as it is in the South.
It must be d e fined as an all-American problem, which requires an
all-A meri can solution ba se d on local t houg h t , local action a nd loca l
coope r ation.
T he 5 00, 000 people who live wi thin our city limits consist of
3 00 , 000 w h ite citizen s a nd s light ly mo re than 2 00, 000 Negro citizens.
That makes the population of A tlant a 60 p e rcent white , 4 0 perc ent Negro .
That 60 - 4 0 p er c e ntag e emphasize s how essential it is fo r t he
p eople of Atlanta, on their l o cal level, to solve the proble m of r acial
dis cri m in ation in o r d er to make A tla nta a be t ter plac e i n whi ch t o live.
E lim ination of r a cial di scri mination i s no far off philosophical
theory to the more than one million people who live in and around Atlanta.
�The problem is part and parcel of our daily lives.
Its solution must be
studied and worked out on our homefr_ont.
As the mayor of the Southeast's largest city, I can say to you out
of first hand experience and first hand knowledge that nowhere does the
problem of eliminating discrimination between the races strike so closely
home as it does to the local elected public official.
He is the man who
cannot pass the buck.
From this viewpoint, I speak of the problem as having been brought
into sharp focus by decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States
and then generally ignored by the Presidents and Congresses of the United
States.
Like a foundling baby, this awesome problem has been left on the
doorsteps of local governments throughout the nation.
Now t o take up spe cifics. You gentlemen invited me to tell you how
Atlanta has achieve d a considerable measure of comparative success in
dealing with racial discrimination.
It is tru e that A tlanta has achieved success in eliminating
discrimination in areas where some other cities have failed , but we do
not boast of our success.
Instead of boasting, we say with the humility of
those who believe in reality that we have achieved our measure of success
only because we looked facts in the face and accepted the Supreme Court's
d e cisions as ine vitable and as the law of our land.
Having embraced
realism in general, we then set out to solve specific problems by local
- 2. -
�cooperation between pe'ople of good will and good sense representing both
races.
In attacking the specific problems, we accepted the basic t ruth
that the solutions which we sought to achieve in every instance granted
to our Negro citizens rights which wbite American citizens and businesses
previously had reserved to themselves as special privileges.
These special privileges long had been propped up by a multitude
of local ordinances and statewide laws which had upheld racial segregation
in almost every conceivable form.
In Atlanta we had plenty of these props of prejudic e to contend
with when w e s e t out t o solve our specific probl e ms of discrimination.
In attacking the s e probl e ms, I want to emphasiz e that in not on e s ingl e
ins t anc e have w e r etaine d or enhanc e d the privileges of segr eg ation.
It has been a long, e xhaus t ing and ofte n discouraging p r ocess and
t h e e nd is fa r fr om b e ing in sight.
In the 19 5 0 ' s Atlanta made a significant s ta r t w i t h a s er i e s of
of
re a s o na ble eliminatio ns / discriminati o n s u ch as o n golf cou rses and
public transportat i o n.
We be gan t o bec o me somewhat conditio ned for
mor e extensive and definitive action, which has been taking place in the
1960' s.
- 3 -
�During the past 'two and a half years, Atlanta has taken the
following major steps to eliminate racial discrimination:
1.
In September, 1961, we began removing discrimination in
public schools in response to a court order.
2.
In October, 1961, lunch counters in department and variety
stores abolished discrimination by voluntary action.
3.
On January 1, 1962 Atlanta city facilities were freed from
discrimination by voluntary action of municipal officials.
4.
In March, 1962 downtown and arts theaters, of their own
volition, abolished discrimination in seating.
5.
On January 1, 1963, the city voluntarily abolished separate
employment listings for whites and Ne groes.
6.
In March, 1963 the city employed Negro firemen.
It long ago
employed Ne gro policemen.
7.
In May of 1963 the Atlanta Real Estate Board (white) and the
Empire Real Estate Boa r d (Negro) issued a Statement of Purposes, calling
for ethical handling of real estate transactions in controversial areas.
8.
In June 1963, the city government opened all municipal swimming
pools on a desegregated basis.
This was voluntary action to comply with
a court order.
- 4 -
�9.
Also in June, 1963, 18 hotels and motels, .representing the
leading places of public accommodations in the city, voluntarily removed
all segregation for conventions.
10.
Again in June, 1963 more than 30 of the city 1 s leading
restaurants, of their own volition, abolished segregation in their facilities.
You can readily see that Atlanta's s t eps have been taken in some
instances in compliance with court decisions, and in other instances the
steps have been voluntary prior to any court action.
In each instance the
action has resulted in whit e citizens relinquishing special privileges which
they had enjoyed under the practices of racial discrimination.
action
Each
also has resulted in the Negro citizen being given rights which all
others previously had enjoyed and which he has been denied.
As I ment ioned at the beginning, Atlanta has achieved only a
m e asu r e of succ e ss.
I think it would assis t you in unders tanding this if
I explaine d how limite d so fa r has been this transition from the old
seg r e gate d s oci ety of g e n e ra t ion s past, and also how limit ed so fa r has
bee n th e pa rticipation o f the N e g r o citi zens.
Significant a s is the vol un t ary elimina tio n o f dis c riminatio n in o ur
leading restaurants, it affects s o far only a small percentage of the
hundreds of eating places in our city.
And participation by Negroes so far has been very slight.
For
example, one of Atlanta's topmost re staurants se rved only 16 out of
- 5 -
�'
Atlanta's 200, 000 Negrp citizens during the first week of freedom from
discrimination.
The plan for eliminating discrimination in hotels as yet takes care
only of convention delegates.
Although prominent Negroes have been
accepted as guests in several Atlanta hotels, the Negro citizens, as a
whole, seldom appear at Atlanta hotels.
Underlying all the emotions of the situation, is the matter of
economics.
It should be remembered that the right to use a facility does
not mean that it will be used or misused by any group, e •pecially the
groups in the lower economic otatus.
The statements I have given you cover the actual progress made
by Atlanta toward total elimination of discrimination.
Now I would like to submit my personal reasons why I think Atlanta
has resolved some of these problems while in other cities, solutions have
se e m e d impos s ible and strife and conflict have resulted.
As an illustration, I would like to describe a r e cent visit of an
official de legation from a gr e at Eastern city which has a N e gro population
of over 60 0 , 000 con s isting of in e x cess of 20% of its whole po pulation .
The membe rs of th is del e gati o n at fi r st s imply did n o t under s t a n d
and would hardly believe tha t the business, c i vi c a nd politic a l interests
.. 6 -
�of Atlanta had intently c,oncerned themselve s with the Negro population.
I still do not believe that they are convinced that all of our civic bodies
backed by the public interest and supported by the City Government have
daily concerned themselves with an effort to solve our gravest problem -which is relations between our races.
Gentlemen, Atlanta has not swept
this question under the rug at any point.
Step by step - sometimes under
Court order - sometimes voluntarily moving ahead of pressures - sometimes
adroitly - and many times clumsily - we have tried to find a solution to
each specific problem through an agreement between the affected white
ownership and the Negro leadership.
To do this we have not appointed a huge general bi-racial committee
which too often merely becomes a burial place for unsolved problems.
By contrast, each time a specific problem has come into focus, we have
appointed the people involved to work out the solution • • • • Theatre
owners to work with the top Negro leaders • • • • or hotel owners to work
with the top l e ader ship • • • • or certain res t aurant owners who of the ir
own volition dealt with the top Negro leadership.
By developing the lines
o f communication and respectability, we have b een able to reach amicabl e
sol utions.
Atlant a is the wo r ld' s c ente r of Ne g r o h igher e ducat ion .
There
are six great Negro u n iversities a nd c olle g e s l oc ated inside o ur city limits.
Because of this, a great numb er o f intelligent, well - educated Negro
- 7 -
�citize ns have chos e n to remain in our city.
As a result of their education,
they have had the ability to develop a prosperous Negro business community,.
In Atlanta it consists of financial institutions like banks - building and loan
associations - life insurance companies - chain drug stores - real estate
d e ale rs.
In fact, t h e y have developed business organizations, I believe,
in almost every line of acknowledged American business.
There are also
many Negro professional men.
Then there is another powerful factor working in the behalf of good
racial relations in our city., We have news media, both white and N e gro,
whos e l e aders strongly b elie v e and put int o practice the g r e at truth that
r e sponsibility of the pre ss (and by this I mean radio and t e levision as well
as the written pre ss) is ins e parable from fr e edom of the press.
The l ead ers hip o f our writte n, s poke n and t e l e vis e d n e ws m e dia
join with the busine ss and gove rnme nt leader ship, both white and Negro ,
i n w orking to solve our problems .
V./e are fortunate that w e have one of th e wo r ld famous e di t o r i a l
spoke smen fo r rea son and mo d e ration on o ne of our white newspapers,
a long with othe r e ditors and many r e porte rs who stress significance rather
than sensation in the reporting and interpretatio n of what happens in our city.
And we are fortunate in having a strong Negro daily newspaper - The
Atlanta Daily World - and a vigorous N egro weekly, The Atlanta Inquirer.
- 8 -
�The Atlanta Daqy World is owned by a prominent Negro family the Scott family .. which owns and operates a number of other newspapers.
The sturdy voices of the Atlanta Daily World and the Atlanta
Inquirer, backed by the support of the educational, business and religious
community, reach out to our Negro citizens.
They speak to them with
factual information upon which they can rely.
They express opinions and
interpretations in which they can have faith.
As I see it, our N e gro l ead e r s hip in Atlanta i s r es pon s ibl e a nd
constructive .
I am sure that our Negro leadership is as desirous of
obtainin g additiona l ci vi c a n d economic and p e rs onal rights as is any
American citizen.
But by constructive I mean to define Atlanta's Negro
leadership as being realistic - as recognizing that it is more important
to obtain the rights they seek than it is to stir up demonstrations.
So it
is to the constructive means by which these rights can be obtained that
our Negro leaders constantly address themselves.
in results instead of rhetoric.
They are interested
They reach for lasting goals instead of
grabbing for momentary publicity.
The y are realists, not rabble rousers.
Along with integration they want integrity.
I do not believe that any sincere American citizen d esires to see
the rights o f private business res tric ted by t h e Federal Government unless
such restriction is absolutely nee es sary for the welfare of the people of
this country.
- 9 -
�On the other hand, following the line of thought of the decisions of
the Federal Courts in the past 15 years, I am not convinced that current
rulings of the Courts would grant to American business the privilege of
discrimination by race in the selection of its customers.
Here again we get into the area of what is right and what is best
for the people of this country.
If the privilege of selection based on race
and color should be granted then would we be giving to business the right
to set up a segregated economy? •
be u t ilized by the Nation's people?
And if so, how fast would this right
. .•
And how soon would we again be
going through the old turmoil of riots, strife, demonstrations, boycotts,
picketing?
A r e we going to say that i t is all right for the Ne gro cit izen to go
into the bank on M ain s tre e t and to deposit his earnings or borrow money,
then to go to d e par t ment stores to buy what he n e eds, to go to the super market to pur cha se food for hi s family, and so on along M ain s tree t until
h e comes t o a re staur ant o r a hotel - -- In all these oth e r bus ines s plac es
h e i s trea ted just like any other cus t om er --- But whe n h e comes t o the
restauran t o r th e ho te l , are we going t o s ay tha t i t is r i g h t a nd l egal
f o r the opera to rs of these b usines s es , merely as a matter of c o nvenienc e,
to insist that the Negr o 's citi zenship be c hanged and that, as a second
class citizen, he is to be refused service?
I submit that it is not right
to allow an American's citizenship t o be changed merely as a matter of
convenience.
- 10 -
�li the Congress should fail to clarify the issue at the present time,
then by inference it would be saying that_ you could begin discrimination
under the guise of private business.
I do not believe that this is what the
Supreme Court has intended with its decisions.
I do not believe that this
is the intent of Congress or the people of this country.
I am not a lawyer, Senators.
I am not sure I clearly understand
all of the testimony involving various amendments to the Constitution
and the Commerce clause which has been given to this committee.
I
have a fundamental respect for the Constitution of the United States.
Under this Constitution we have always been able to do what is best for
all of the people of this country.
I beg of you not to let this is sue of
discrimination drown in legalistic waters.
I am firmly en nvinced that
the Supreme Court insists that the same fundamental rights must be
held by eve ry American citizen.
Atlanta is a case that proves that the problem of discrimination
can be solved to some extent • • • and I us e this "some exte nt" cautiously
• • • as we certainly have not s olve d all of the problems; but we have met
them i n a number of areas.
This
~
be don e locally, voluntarily, and
by private business i tself !
0n the other hand, there are hundr e ds of c o mmunities and cities,
certainly throughout the nation that have not ever add ressed themselves to
the issue.
Where as, others have flagrantly ignored the demand, and
today, stand in all defiance to any change.
- 11 -
�The Congress of t;he United States is now confronted with a grave
decision.
Shall you pass a public accommodation bill that forces this
issue? Or, shall you create another round of disputes over segregation
by re:fusing to pass such legislation?
Surely, the Congress realizes that after having failed to take any
definite action on this subject in the last ten years, to fail to pass this
bill would amount to an endorsement of private business setting up an .
entirely new status of discrimination throughout the nation.
Atlanta might slip backward!;}.
Cities like
Hotels and restaurants that have already
taken this issue upon themselves and opened their doors might find it
convenient to go back to the old status.
Failure by Congress to take
definite action at this time is by inference an endorsement of the right
of private busine ss to practice racial discrimination and, in my opinion,
would start the same old round of squabble s and de monstrations that w e
have had in the past.
G e ntle m e n, if I had your proble m armed with the local e xpe rie nc e
I have had, I would pass a public accommodation bill.
Such a bill, howe ve r,
s hould provide a n opportunity fo r e ach local governme nt first to m ee t
this pro bl em a nd a ttempt to s olve it o n a l oca l, volunt ary basis, with
each busin e ss making its own d e cision.
I realize that it i s quite easy t o
ask you to give an oppo rtunity t o eac h businessman in each city to make
his decision and accomplish such an objective • • • but it is extre mely
difficult to legislate such a problem.
- 12 -
�What I am trying to say is that the pupil placement plan, which. has
been widely used in the South, provided a time table approved by the
Federal courts which helped in getting over the troubled water of
elimination of discrimination in public schools.
It seems to me that cities
working with private business institutions could now move into the same
area and that the federal government legislation should be based on the
idea that those businesses have a reasonable time to accomplish such an
act.
I think a public accorp.modation law now should stand only as the
last resort to assurethat discrimination is elimi nate d, but that such a law
would gran t a r easonable time for cities and businesses to carry out t hi s
function b e for e fe d e ral intervention.
It m i ght e v e n be n e c e ssary tha t the time factor be made mo re
lenie nt in favor of smalle r citie s and communities , for we all know t hat
l arge me t r opolitan ar e a s have th e capa bility of a djusting t o changes more
rapidly than smaller c o mmu n i ties .
Perhaps this, too, s hould be given consid eration i n you r
legislation.
But the point I want to emphasize again is that now is the
time for l egislative action.
Vve cannot dodge the issue.
We cannot look
back over our shoulders or turn the clock back to the 1860' s.
We must
take action now to assure a greater f~ture for our citizens and our
country.
- 13 -
�A hundred years ago the abolishment of slavery won the United State-a
the acclaim of the whole world when it made every American free in theory.
Now the elimination of segregation, which is slavery's stepchild,
is a challenge to all of us to make every American free in fact as well
as in theory - and again to establish our nation as the true champion of the
free world.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I want to thank you
for the opportunity of telling you about Atlanta I s efforts to provide equality
of citizenship to all within its borders.
- 14 -
�I
.
July 26, 1963
Miss Carol Littl~john
4990 Columbia Pike
Apartment 304
Arlington, Virginia
Dear Miss Littlejohn:
I appreciate your letter and your interest in
how well racial problems have been handled
in Atlanta.
I am enclosing a copy of the testimony which
I gave to the Senate Commerce Committee
regarding the Public Ac-commodation Bill. l
believe this testimony will give you a complete
swnmary of what bas happened in Atlanta.
With appreciation for your interest, I am
Sincerely yours,
Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mayor
IAJr/br
�DEMOCRATIC
NATIONAL COMMITTEE
I
1 73 0
K
S TR EE T , N.W.
WASHINGTON
6 ,
D . C.
TELEPHONE
Jul y 19 , 1963
Dear Feliow Democrat:
Enclosed you will find two a r ticles which we believe
will be of assistance to yo~ in discussing the President's
civil rights and d;i.sarmament prqgr?ms .
~28
F EDER A L 3-8 7S0
�THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
©
Reprintect by: Demod·atic Natt8FMA1ttee
Integration Impact
Desegregated Concerns
In South Say Patronage
Holds Up in Long Run
Some Hotels, Restaurants Do
Better; Atlanta, Dallas Cite
Larger Convention lVIarket
New Rights Often Not Used
By JAJ\'1ES C. T ANNER
Staff Revorter of THE "WALL STREET J OURNAL
ATLANTA-Things are swinging thes e days
at the Wit's End, a swank North Side night.
club which opened its doors last November.
Though the Treasury's new expense account
rules made things tougI:i at first, the~ Wit's
End is now packing in cus tomers regularly ..
In Memphis, the 126-room Downtowner ·Motel is doing so well its occupancy is even running ahead of last year 's booming 9.5% raite. ·
The Downtowner has been filled to, capacity
much of the time in recent weeks and a ll
signs point to a record year.
The financial fortun es of thes.e Southern
establis hments are of special interest because
both are among those that have begun serving .
Negroes for the first time. Their experiences, ,
plus those of scores _of other businesses from
Texas to the Carolinas, point up a significant
and perhaps surprising fact: Among those
restaurants , hotels, theaters and other places
of public accommodation in the South that
have begun serviJ:)g or hiring Negroes, only
a few r eport suffering any lasting economic
consequences. A sizable number, in fact , declare that business has been better than ever.
"Couldn't Have Been Smoother"
"We were scared to death-we could just
see all our white <:ustomers walking out the
minute the first Negroes walked in," says Paul
Stickney, manager of the Wit's End. "But
things couldn't have been any smoother. We
know of only one white couple who walked .
1963 by Do w J ones & Company, In c. A ll Rights R eserved.
MONDAY. JULY
15, 1963
\
1730 K Street, N.W .. Washington 6, D.C.
out because we admitted Negroes and they
Negroes Making Major Strides
came back within two weeks. As far as stirring
Southern businessmen generally express ·
things up around here, it's been one big zero."
strong opposition to this section of the proThe Wit's End is; one of only three Atlanta
posed civil rights legislation. But even withnight clubs s erving both! whites and Negroes.
. out such a law, Negroes are making major
A'.!l this is not tOJ s ugges t that desegregation
· strides in their push to break down segregawoul'd go smoothly, for all Dixie establishtion barriers. The Justice Department reports
ments. At Ormond Beach, Fla., near Daytona
that some desegregation of commercial faciliBeach, motel operator George Tliomas fs still
ties occurred in 143 cities in Southern and
reeling from the financial punch delivered by
border states in the four weeks ended June 18;
boycotting whites when he decided it was the
others are joining the list daily.
Last week, for instance, a bi-racial com" right thing" to desegregate his 32-unit Star
mittee in strongly segregationist Fort Worth
of the South Motel sev:en months ago. "My
announced that all of the city's public facilibusiness at first dropp·ed about 50%,." he reties, .including hotels, restaurants, theaters, deports. But he adds that an influx of Negro
partment stores and athletic contests, would
guests quickly took i.w much of the slack, and
be desegregated in September when the city's
he expresses confidence that many of his
schools are scheduled for integration.
white customers eventually will return .
If the pattern emerging in other Southern
But most business m en questioned by The ·
cities holds true, Fort Worth merchants can
Wall Street Journal report no grave economic
dislocations, from integration and they leave · expect some protests and loss of business
when they first begin accepting Negroes. But
no doubt tflat desegrega tion of commercial fa.
experience shows that such a dverse effects
cilities has, been less painful than expected.
are rarely lasting.
No Loss of Business
Fred Harvey, president of Harvey 's Depart" Tliings have been going like c!ockworkment Store in Nashville, says that when his
we're, surprised a nd plea;;ed ," says Dallas hotel
store desegregated its lunch counters in 1960
man Henry Rathe,r of last summer's decision
only 13 charge accounts were closed out of
by the city's major hotels and motels to inte60,000. "The greatest surprise I ever had was
graite. Mr. Rather sa-ys a recent check of the
the apparent 'so-what' attitude of white cus. city's 35 largest hos telries fail ed to turn up a
tomers," sa ys Mt:. Harvey.
single ins ta nce of lost bus iness becaus e of deE,ven where bus iness losses occur, they
segr egation. " There were a few letters a nd
usually are only· tempora ry .. At the 120-room
a .crank ca ll or two at firs t, but that's all,"
Pe.a chtree Manor Hotel in Atlanta, owner
comments Mr. Rather.
Irving H. Goldstein says his business dropped
o.fi 15% when the hotel desegregated a year
Broader access to privately owned places
ago. "But now we are only slightly behind a .
of "public convenience," s uch as hotels, resyear ago a nd we can see we are beginning
tauraints, amusement facilities and stores, ha s
to recapture the business we initially los t," ·
become a prime goal of Negro es lately. The
declares Mr. Goldstein.
·recent riots in Birmingham, and subsequent
Willia m F . Davoren , owner of the Brownie
dis.turbances in such cities as Sava nnah, Ga.,
Drug Co, in Huntsville, Ala., reports that
J ackson , Miss. , Danville, Va. , a.nd Tallahassee
though his business fell a bit for several weeks
Fla., primarily revolved around Negro deafter lunch counters were desegregated, he's
mands that merchants open their facilities to
Negroes-in some cases as customers and in · now piclted ·up alf that he lost. Says ne: "I .
could name a dozen people who regarded it as
others as employes.
a personal affront when I started serving Ne- .
The question has taken on added imporgroes, but have come back as if nothing had
tance in recent weeks with the a ppeal to Conhappened."
·
gress by President Kennedy for Federal power .
Memories
Are
Short
to outlaw racial discrimination in a ll pla!!es
Even a segregation-minded businessman In
of public accommodation. This is unquestionHuntsville agrees that white customers freably the most controversial provision of the
quently have short memories when It comes
Kennedy civil rights · program and seems
to the race question. W. T . :flutchens, general
likely to become the focal point of the coming
manager at three Walgreen stores there, says
Congressional battle over civil rights.
he held out when most lune~ counter operators
gave in to sit-in pressures last July. In one
shopping center where his competition desegregated, Mr. Hutchens says his business
shot up sharply and the store's lunch counter
volume registered a 12% gain for the year.
However, this year business has dropped back
to pre.,integration . levels "because a lot ot
people have forgotten" the defiant role his
stores played during the sit-ins, he adds.
Some Southern businessmen who have desegregated say they have picked up extra
business as a result of the move.
At Raleigh, N.C., where Gino's Restaurant
was desegregated this year, owner Jack Griffiths reports only eight whites have walked -out
after learning the establishment served Negroes, and he says "we're getting plenty of
customers to replace the hard-headed ones ."
In Dallas, integration of hotels and restaurants has "opened up an entirely new area of
convention prospects," a ccording to Ray Bennison, conv~ntion manager of the Chamber of
Commerce. "This year we've probably added
$8 million to $10 million of future bookings because we're integrated," Mr. Bennison says.
Conventions for Atlanta
Within a day after 14 Atlanta hotels announced on June 13 they would begin accepting
Negro guests who come to the <eity with conventions, the Atlanta Convention Bureau had
na iled down three organizations for 1964 and
1965 meetings, a total of 3,000 delegates who
otherwise would not have visited Atlanta.
Walter Crawford, executive vice president or
the Convention Bureau, says the hotels' decision opens up "the remaining 40% of the convention market that we estimate we haven 't
even been able· to talk to before."
·
One frequently expressed fear of Southern
white businessmen, that their establishments
would be overrun by Negroes if they integrated, apparently is not materializing. "The
Negroes want the right to enter your place of
business, but they're not s o anxious to use the
righ t," says a Nashville banker.
At Knoxville, Tenn., William Tiller, assistant manager ot the city's larg!lst hotel, the
Andrew Johnson, reports that although the
hotel has been integrated more than a month,
"we've h!i-d only three Negro families and two
couples."
�., ~a..
~
ost-
"y
.~
.
.
~imes1Serttlh
---·~ - --- -- -- - -- .
..
~fo-ND~AY,
Jui;, Y 8, _ 1963
. ·- -- - - · - --·- - ---The Harris
Survey
Test-Ban Pact Has CautiOus Support
Of 73% of i\1net·icans, Poll Shows
.
.
. .
.
'
Reprinted by:
Public Affairs Division
Democratic National Committee
1730 K Street, N. W.
Washington 6, D. C.
·.
By Louig Harris
(L')
1963, The Washington Post
When Under Secretar·y of State Averell · Han:iman
sits down a week from today in Moscow to negotiate a
nuclear ·test-ban agreement with the Soviet Union, he
can, count on the cautious support of better than seven
out ·of every ten Americans,- according to a survey j~st
completed of a scientifically chosen cross-section of the
public.
··
Here is what emerged when
· Here are the reasons of the
the question of a test ban was American.
people-the "whys"
put directly to ,the people:
behind their stated opinions-·
Attitudes Toward Test-Ban
told in their own words:
Agreements with Russians
Reasons for Favoring or
Total Public
Per Cent
Opposing Test Ban Agreement
Favor ban agreement
· Unqualified approval
· Qualified approval
Oppose ban agreement
Nol Sure
73
Total Public
Per Cent ,
47 Reasons for unqualified
ap- .
26
prov~,--47
17Find
way
to
end
tests
16 ·
10
End risk of atom war
11 :
·' Outright opposition to any
Cut fall-out
io
ban agreement on atomic testStop world suicide
·· 6
ing runs to no more than one · Halt cost of testing
4
Terms for qualified approval 26
voter in every six across the
country . . The number who , If Russia keeps word
11
. Only .with inspection
11
would support a test-ban setIf on our terms
t
tlement with the Russians are . Reasons for opposing
17 ;
Russia will break it
15
divided, however, between
those who feel we should bend
Can't be weak
2
any and all efforts toward this 'Not . sure
10
end, and those who insist that :
varyin_g safeguards be strictly · The .47 per cent..who must ·
observed.
stro·ngly urge a test-ban agreement feel that a continued nuclear arms .race with further
testing will lead to the · ultimate destruction of the human
race; However,. this view constitutes a plurality, not a majority of the people. The
balance of opinion rests with
those who want an agreement,
but only if it works. This
means inspection and, by iffi.
plication, leaving as little as
possible to faith in dealing
with the Russjans.
· It would be a mistaken
Preside~t Kennedy _to .begin
our own te~ting · again would
be enormous and. overwnelming.
This sentiment for nuclear
test resumption was evident
when we .. asked the voting
Pttblic how they now feel
about l\Ir. Kennedy's decision
in 1961 · to renew American
nuclear tests after the Soviets
resumed their tests:
' Attitudes Toward U. S.
Decision to Test
· When Russians Test
.
Tolal Public
Percen,
Approve U. S. testing
82
Oppose U. S. testing
10
. Not Sure
8
There is little doubt that
reading of American ·p ublic
opinion for Chairman Nikita
Khrushchev and the Communists to assume that the peo- any ·Soviet move to resume
ple of this country share in.
testing would meet with a
any measure a "ban the bomb, massive response that this
at any price" philosophy. If country should test nuclear
the Russians were to resume weapons immediately; Here is
testing again; the pressures the reasoning behind these attitudes, as people expressed
from the American public on them ill their _own words:
,- Reason for · Approving or
Opposing U. S. Testing
i
I
Total Public
Per Cenr
,Why approve U. S. tests
Stay ahead of Russia
No other choice
Be ready for anything
Develop weapons system
·Stand up to Russia
Test peaceful uses
Why oppose U. S. tests
Tests endanger health
Have enough bombs now
Two wrongs don't make
,
a right


Not Sure


82
45
13
12
6
5
1
10
4
3
3
l As on so many issues, Amer-
8
'\ ican public opinion is both
tough and practical · minded.
1Our people recognize the dan- .
gers of total nuclear war and
want every effort bent to avert .


it. By the same token, most


1Americans embrace the policy
Iof peace through strength,
feeling that a ban on testing
! is possible only when . this
country possesses a striking
power sufficient to discourage .
' any Russian move toward nus!
clear aggressior;1. .
I
!
I
�~ 4-3 /J./
1/
ITINERARY TO WASHINGTO
Thursday, July 25
Leave Atlanta 6:05 p. m. Delta Flight 724, arrive National Airport
Washington at 9:05 p. m. (DST} • • • HOTEL reservations are at
The Madison.
{!i1vutlL-
Y1v01v ~ ujJ M'
Friday, July 26
8:45 a.m.
Go to Room 126, Old Senate Office Building
to meet Mr. Grinstein. CA 4-3121, ext 6627
9:15 a.m.
/
Room 318 Old Senate Office Building to testify
before Commerce Committee.
Members of Senate Commerce Committee:
. . ~ Warren G. Magnuson, C h ~
oh~- O. Pasto;e (_~ho~e. Isla~
@JJj·~---- CJ
~~
Frank J. La us che (Ohio}
Ralph W. Yarborough (Texas}
Clair Engle ( Calif. }
E. L. Bartlett (Alaska}
Vance Hartke (Indiana}
Gale W. McGee (Wyoming}
Philip A. Hart (Michigan}
Howard Cannon (Nevada}
{following are Republi cans. • •
Norris Cotton {Ne w Hampshire)
Thurston B. Morton (Kentucky}
Hugh Scott (Penn . }
Winston Prouty {Vermont)
J. Gl enn Beall (Maryland)
Note:
Margaret Shannon has been informed of the time you
appear. Here are the telephone numbers where you
may reach her: Journal office: NA 8-5962, Press
Gallery CA 4-3121, e xt. 3945 or 4551
12 : 00 noon
Leave Washington United Flight 200 (National Airport)
Arrive Atlanta 2:37 p.m. EST.
�STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR ROSS R. BARNETT OF MISSISSIPPI BEFORE U.S.
SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE, JULY 12, 1963.
Gentlemen, we are facing one of the most critical times in the
history of our nation.
Minority groups in our country have taken to
the streets to agitate, to demonstrate, to breach the_ peace, and to
provoke violence calculated to blackmail this Congress into passing
legislation in direct violation of the United States Constitution.
You have been for ced to consider this legislation through the
pressure and blackmail of mobs in the streets.
The President and the Attorney Generai have encouraged
demonstrations, freedom rides, sit-ins, picketing and actual Vioiation
of local laws.
What is happening in our nation today fits the
pattern of what has been happening throughout the world insofar as
the Communist activity is concerned.
Compare the Communist tactics
with a Cuba, a Laos, a Berlin, a Viet Nam, a Haiti, or other parts
of the world.
cool off.
Communist tactics are to create a crisis and let it
The same tactics are being practiced in the United States
through a Birmingham, and letting it cool off; a Jackson, and
letting it cool off; a Danville, Virginia; a Cambridge, Maryland;
riots in Philadelphia; and in New York City.
It's the same old
Communist offensive of attack with a hammer and then withdraw.
Attack with a hammer and then withdraw--each time causing more ill
will, more racial unrest and pushing a wedge further between
existing good relations of the people of a nation.
disrupt and conquer technique.
It is the divide,
The passage of this Civil Rights
legislation will positively provoke more violence, not just in the
South, but. throughout all areas of our nation.
I am convinced that
this is a part of the world Communist conspiracy to divide and
conquer our country from within.
The Communists are, therefore, championing the cause of the
Negroes in America as an important part of their drive to mobilize
both colored and white for the overthrow of our gO'Vernment.
There are those who are so anxious to hold high the banner of
the Civil Rights issue that they fail to read some of the writing
on the banner.
They fail to realize that the Communist Party hopes
to incite civil insurrection in the South w1th the purpose of then
- 1 -
�fanning t he flames into a holocaust in the Northern racial strife
areas.
To date, they have been disappointed and defeated by the due
proce s s of law in the South where law enforcement agencies and levelheaded citizens have been able to contain the aggravations of the
outside racil agitat ors.
Gentlemen, i t is obvious to many of us throughout the country
that the r~cial agitation, strife and conflict that has been stirred
up throughout our entire nation is largely Communist-inspired.
Racial
agitat ors in Mississippi and leaders of demonstrations in other
states have backgrounds that have made many of us, . including our
local police, state investigating agencies, and the FBI, to be
concerned about the real motivation behind these so-called Civil .
Rights leaders.
Your passage of this legislation will be no cure-all for the
problems that this nation faces because of racial strife and conflict.
The passage of this legislation will, however, mean the complete end


of Constitutional government in America and result in racial violence
of unimaginable scope.
Even the New York Times has said that "with
every negro advance, momentum for more violence and agitation
increases, not decreasee."
This legislation is so all-inclusive and so sweeping in its
scope that it has been termed by many as the "WHITE SLAVE BILL".
Gentlemen, you have all learned through your personal
experiences that to try to appease, accommodate, or give concessions
to the demands of the arrogant leads only to additional conflicts and
additional problems which you didn 1 t face before.
Certainly, you
are familiar with the results of our policy of appeasement towards
Cuba and Laos.
The passage of this Civil Rights legislation will
lead us into an area of conflict between the races, the like of which
we have never known.
There will be no end to the constant pressure
for more and m~re and more.
The Att~rney General has stated that the passage of this Bill
would move the problem of so-called dis erimination in public
accommodatiflns out of the streets and into the courts.
this statement.
I question
The Attorney General has been personally responslble
for helping to put mobs in the / streets and I can prophesy that this
legislation, if enacted, will put hundreds of thousands of white
business men in the streets.
-
~
-
�The purpose of government should be to protect the individual and
to see to it t hat no one inter feres with his private property.
The
present adminis t rat i on seems to have adopted the very heart of the
Socialistic philosophy that the private rights
or
tolerated only at the suffrage of the State.
What
men are to be
we are seeing
today is a gr asp for power by certain men in public office who would
give to an all - powerful Central Govern~ent full control over all
phas e s ~f the lives of our people.
i see this legislation as an
attempt by ~reedy minorities to prostitute the purpose of law and
government as a protector of private property, and to use the law to
plunder the property of others.
If you pass this legislation, you are allowing a minority in our
country to force itself upon the maj6rity of the citizens of our
nation.
What and where are the rights of the majority?
The powers
of the Attorney General under this legislation will be sb sweeping
and so encompassing as to comprise a serious threat, in itself, to
t he safety and stability of the nation.
The Attorney General in his
testimony has stated, "I think that it is an injustice that needs to
be remedied.
injustice."
We have to find the tools with which to remedy that
In other words, regardless of the Constitution, he,
through this legislation, asks for the power to run roughshod over
t he rights of every individual and dictate to every citizen what he
could or coul d not do with his private property and bus iness _ Whe r $
is t he equal protection of the law?
I challenge the newspapers and news media of our country to
awaken the man on the street, the small business man, all those who
respe ct law and or der, to the fact that thi s legisla t i on is an open
a t tack on the r i ghts of every individual to the control of his
personal , privat e property.
Every citizen has the right to own and operate h is own business
as he see s f it without interference f rom a.ny s our ce.
To give to an
all-powerful Central Government the right to force t he owner of a
private business to unwil lingly do business with anyone creates a
new and special right for a minority group in this nation that
destroys the property and personal r ights of every citizen.
- 3 -
�Senator Russell has stated and t he press has failed to report,
"Our American system has always rejected the idea that one group of
citizens may deprive another of legal rights and property by process
of agitation, demonstration, intimidation, law defiance apd civil
disobedience .
Every Negro citizen possesses every right that is
possessed by any white ci tizen.
But there is nothing in either the
Constitution or in Christian principles or common sense and reason
which would compel one citizen to share his rights with one of
another race at the same place and at the same time.
Such compulsion
would amount to a complete denial of inalienable rights of the
individual to choose or select his associates."
Gentlemen, what could be more unequal and d1scr1matory than to
give one particular class of citizens the privilege of by-passing the
normal channels of justice, which other citizens must follow.
Under
this legislation, any agitator or trouble-maker or crank Gould bring
the owner of any business establishment into Federal Court by merely
writing a letter to the
u. s.
Attorney General.
The agitator would
be represented, at no cost to himself, by the officials and attorneys
of the Federal Government.
If this legislation passes, American
citizens will have no rights in the ownership and use of their
private property, unless they use it in a way that federal officialdom
considers to be consistent with the so-called public interest.
Today,
it seems to many Americans, the demands of the racial agitation
groups fix offi cial opinion as to what is the public interest.
Tomorrow, the public interest could well be something else.
It
could even invade the home--or even the bedroom of the individual.
The legitimate purpose of government is to protect a man's home
as his castle.
Does not this same basic .American Constitutional fact
of life apply equally to a man's own private business?
The
legislation you have under consideration would use federal police
power (as exemplified in our system of Federal courts) to destroy a
man 1 s personal property simply to satisfy racial minorities.
Can
there be no end to the current insanity that would com:{;)el the mixing
of races i n so c ial activities to achieve WHAT?
yourself~
- 4 -
You can name it
�The head of the NAACP here in WasHington, D. C. (where Negro
criminal violence against white people is creating something akin
to a reign of terror) said on a national television program in
early May of this year, that Negro violence is coming, and that the
NAACP will promote the violence if whites do not immediately give
the Negro what he demands.
What does he demand. Does he honestly
know just what he really wants?
Whatever he may want will not come
as a result of this or any other legislative act.
You can be certain
of that basic fact. The race problem oan never be .solved by passage
of laws, court edicts, or by breaches of the peace.
ONE ESTABLISHMENT GOE.S OUT bF BUSINESS
I have said that the free enterprise system has contributed much
to making our nation great and that many establishments would go out
of business if they were required to integrate. I am prepared to
give you one specific example in Mississippi.
Mrs. Marjorie Staley of Winona, Mississippi, has operated a
restaurant as a Continental Trailways Bus Terminal for quite a while.
Apparently, she was making good and had a good .business but she was
told to either integrate or close the business.
her business rather than integrate.
She chose to close
It is my understanding that
Trailways officials had been directed by the Justice Department to
warn her to either close or integrate. She has approximately
$20,000.00 of equipment in the restaurant. She had seven or eight
people employed -- three whites and three or four Negroes. She had
a payroll of $2,000.00 per month. Now her business is closed, seven
or eight people, Negroes and whites, are out of employment, and she
has $20,000.00 worth of equipment on her hands.
Prior to the time she closed this business, she served both
white and colored in separate compartments -- one for the whites and
one for the Negroes. Apparently, everyone was happy the way it was
being operated. Everyone was well pleased--customers as well as
employees, and Mrs. Staley .
This is one example that neither Congress nor the courts can
change attitudes and custorr.s.
Mrs. Staley 1s a widow and earned her livelihood operating her
restaurant.
There is a communist nation just 90 miles from our shores and
yet, with this and all the other problems we face as a nation, the
whole attention of the Congress and our nation at this critical era
in history is diverted to this tragic and mis-named Civil Rights
- 5 -
�legislation.
Perhaps t his is all a part of a great conspiracy to
divert our attention to this domestic issue so that we may neglect
other and far more important matters.
Gentlemen, I have done some research on this matter as to the
cJnstitutionality of the proposed bill.
Section 3 of Senate Bill 1732 provides that all persons shall
be entitled, without discrimination or segregation on account of
race, color, religion, or national origin, to the full and equal
enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages,
and accommodations of hotels, motels and numerous other private
business enterprises.
Section 2(h) provides that alieged existing discriminatory
practices "take on the character of action by the states and therefore fall within the ambit of the equal protection of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
Section 2(i) takes the position that Congress has the right
to enact this proposed legislation in order to remove alleged
burdens on and obstructions to commerce under the Commerce Clause
of the Constitution of the United States.
Congress does not have the
power to enact this legislation
under the Fourteenth Amendment
The businesses sought to be controlled are purely private in
character and as such fall within the ambit of what is commonly
known as "free enterprise.
11
Every loyal conservative American has
a deep and abiding faith in our free enterprise system.
He also
stands ever vigilant to protect the citizen's right to own, control
and operate his private business as he sees fit.
The right to do
business or to decline to do business with any individual is an
inseparable part of said citizen's right to operate and control his
privately owned business.
If this right is destroyed by the Federal
Government, the citizen has been deprived of one of his inalienable
rights just as surely as though the Federal Govermnent had confiscated his physical property.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States provides:
- 6 -
�"No State
shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty., or
property, without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws."
It should be noted that the Fourteenth Amendment is a prohibition against State action.
It is not a prohfbition against
the action of one citizen against another.
Each individual has a
legal right to discriminate against another individual.
Any
control over such individual action by the operatior of a private
business lies wholly within the power of the State legislatures
under · the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Some states have passed legislation similar to this; some hav·e not.
Each State has the right to make its own decision.
Mississppi has taken no action on this question.
In our State
the owner of each business is free to make his own decision as to
whom he will serve.
Eighty years ago in United States v. Nichols, entitled the
Civil Rights cases, 109 U.S. 3,
Supreme
3 S.CT. 18, 27 L.Ed. 835, the
Court of the United States held Sections 1 and 2 of the
Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.
Said acts provided that
all persons in the United States were entitled to the full and
equal enjoyment of accommondations, advantages, facilities and
privileges of inns and places of amusement.
In holding that
Congress had no right to pass .such a law under the Fourteenth
Amendment, the Court said:
"It is state action of a particular character
that is prohibited.
Individual invasion of
individual rights is not the subject-matter
of the Amendment.
11
In pointing out the reasons Congress had no such power and
why such attempted legislation on the part of Congress was repugnant
to the Tenth Amendment, the Supreme Court said:
- 7 -
�"And so in the present -c ase, until some state
law has been passed or some state action
through its officers or agents has been taken,
adverse t o the rights of citizens sought to be
protected by the 14th Amendment, no legislation
of the United States under said Amendment, nor
any proceeding under such legislation, can be
called into activity; for the prohibitions of
the Amendment are against state laws and acts
under state authority.
11














"Such legislation cannot properly cover the
whole domain of rights appertaining to life,
liberty and property, defining them and
providing for their vindication.
That would be
to establish a code of municipal law regulative
of all private rights between man and man in
society.
It would be to make Congress take the
place of the State Legislatures and to supersede
them.
It is absurd to affirm that, because the
rights of life, liberty and property, which
include all civil rights that
men have, are,
by the Amendment sought to be protected against
invasion on the part of the State without due
process of law, Congress may, therefore provide
due process of law for their vindication in
every case; and that, because the denial by a
State to any persons., of the equal protection of
the laws, is prohibited by the Amendment, therefore
Congress may establish laws for their equal
protection.
In fine, the legislation which
Congress is authorized to adopt in this behalf
- 8 -
�is not general legislation upon the rights of the citizen,
but corrective l egislation, that is, as may be necessary and
proper for counteracting such laws as the States may adopt or
enforce, and which, by the Amendment, they are prohibited from
making or enforcing, or such acts and proceedings as the
States may commit or take, and which, by the Amendment, they
are prohibited from committing or taking."


* * *


"An inspection of the law shows that it makes no reference
whatever to any supposed or apprehended violation of the 14th
Amendment on the part of the States.
any such view~
PP
It is not predicated
It proceeds ex directo to declare that
certain acts committed by individuals :sl}.a<Ll be deemed offenses,
and shall be prosecuted and punished by proceedings in the
courts of the United States."


** *


"In other words, it steps into the domain of local jurisprudence,
and lays down rules for the conduct of individuals in society
towards each other, and imposes sanctions for the enforcement
of those rules, without referring in any manner to any supposed
action of the State or its authorities.
"If this legislation is appropriate for enforcing the
prohibitions of the Amendment, it is difficult to see where
it is to stop.
Why may not Congress with equal show of
authcrity enact a code of laws for the enforcement and
vindication of all rights of life, liberty and property?
If it
is supposable that the States may deprive persons of 11·~~ -~
liberty and property without due process of law, and the
Amendment itself does suppose this, why should not Congress
proceed at once to prescribe due process of law for the
protection of every one of these fundamental rights, in every
pos s i ble case, as well as to prescribe equal privileges in
i nns, publi c conveyances and theaters?
The truth is, that the
i mplication of a power to legislate in this manner is based
upon the assumption that if the States are forbidden to legislate
or act i n a particular way on a particular subject, and power
is conferre d upon Congre s s to enforce the prohibition, this
gives Congress power to legislate ger:~·..'.'a lly upon that subject,
- 9 -
�-~-
and not merely power to provide modes of redress against such
state legislation or action.
unsound.
The assumption is certainly
It is repugnant to the 10th Amendment of the
Constitution, which declares that powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
Btates~ are reserved to the States respectively or to the people."
The Civil Rights Cases arose out of the denial by a hotel
of its accommodations to persons of color and the denial by
theaters of their accommodation to colored persons.
In 1959 a Howard
Johnson Restaurant denied service to Charles E. Williams, a colored
attorney for the Internal Revenue Service.
He brought suit claiming
that such action violated the Civil Rights Acts of 1875 and the
Commerce Clause of the Federal Constitution.
In Williams v. Howard
Johnson Restaurants, u.s.c.A.4th, 268 F.2d 845, the Court re-affirmed
the doctrine of the Civil Rights Cases, and said:
"Sections 1 and 2 of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, upon which the
plaintiff's position is based in part, provided that all persons
in the United States should be entitled to the full and equal
enjoyment of accommodations, advantages, facilities and
privileges of inns, public conveyances and places of amusement,
and that any person who should violate this provision by denying
to any citizen the full enjoyment of any of the enumerated
accommodations, facilities or privileges should for e very such
offense forfeit and pay the sum of $500 to the person aggrieved.
The Supreme Court of the United States, however, held in Civil
Rights Cases 109 U.S. 3, 3 s.ct. 18, 27 L.Ed. 835, that these
sections of the Act were unconstitutional and were not
authorized by either the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Amendment s of
the Constitution.
The Court pointed out that the Fourteen th
Amendment was prohibitory upon the states only, so .as to
invalidate all state statutes which abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States or deprive them of
life, libe rty or property without due proce ss of law, or deny to
any person the equal protection of the Jaws ; but that the
amendment did not i nvest Congress with power to legislate upon
the actions of individuals, which are within the domain of state
legislation. 11
- 10 -
�From a lega l point of view, it is perfectly clear that
Congress does not have the power to control the activities of private
business owners under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Congress does not have the power
to enact this legislation under
the Commerce Clause of the
Constitution of the United States.
Article I, Section VIII, Clause 3 provides:
11
The Congress shall have Power:
. to regulate Commerce
with foreign Nations, and among the several· States, and
with the Indian Tribes; .
II
a
No one can reasonably contend that the operation of
hotel, restaurant or drug store in Mississippi constitutes commerce
among the several States.
The Supreme Court of the United States
clearly did not think so in the Civil Rights Cases, because it said:
"Has Congress constitutional power to make such a law?
Of
course, no one will contend that the power to pass it was
contained in the Constitution before the adoption of the
last three Amendments."
Tne last three Amendments referred to were the 13th; 14th,
and 15th.
The Commerce Clause was a part of the Constitution
fr om it inception.
The Supreme Court, therefore, said that no one
would even contend that Congress had the power to pass such law
pri or to the adoption of the 13th Amendment.
Of course, the right to control commerce among the States
includes the right to control interstate transportation, and
Congress has done so in this field by Title 28 U.S.C.A., Section 3(1)J
which forbids a carrier to subject any person to undue or unreasonable
prejudi ce or disadvantage in any respect.
The right of the Congress
to deny discrimination incident to interstate commerce has been upheld
in a number of cases.
Mitchell v. United States, 313 U.S. 80 , 61 S.Ct.
873, 85 L.Ed . 1201;
- 11 -
__j
�Henderson v. United States, 339 U.S. 816, 70 S. Ct . 8
~
J
94 L.Ed. 1302.
In like manner, the Supreme Court has also held that c er tain State
action constituted an unlawful burden on interstate cm:mme r ce in this
field.
Morgan v. Virginia, 328 U.S. 373, 66 S .Ct . 10 O, 9 0 L.Ed. 1317.
In the Civil Rights Cases, the Supreme Court re cG:>gni z ed the
power of Congress to regulate public conveyance s pas si:ng £ ram one
state to another, and said:
"And whether Congress, in the exercise of its po er t o
regulate commerce amongst the several Sta t es, mi@'lt o r might
not pass a law regulating rights in publ i c con ve2
ce s passing
from one State to another, is also a ques t ion wh· ch i s
not now before us, as the sections in que s tion a
no t
conceived in any such view."
It is clear, therefore, that the Supreme Court wa
no t unmindful
of the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause wbeC1 it decided
the Civil Rights Cases and when it he l d that no one w
d even
contend that Congress had the right t o pass t hi s t y pe o ~ Legislation
under the Commerce Clause or prior to t h e adoption of
he 13th, 14-th,
and 15th Amendments.
Who would seriously contend that the operation off
a1 restaurant
on Capitol Street in Jackson , Mississippi, could be c' a ssLfied as
as commerce among the several States?
If such action c ons ~ itutes
commerce among the States simply because some o:£ the p1r odt1..'C ts handled
were manufactured outside of Mississippi , every act of eve r y citizen
in every State could be controlled by Congress on t h e
The Constitution should not be stretched entire l y ou t
s;~ e
basis.
a sh ape in an
effort to reach what is believed by some to be an ev i l ~ the correction
of which is a matter for each State to make its own de ' si o n.
This
issue was raised in Williams v . Howard J ohnson Restaur ~ , supra, and
was held not to fall within the Commerce Clause of t he (C,ns titution.
The Court said:
"The plaintiff makes the additional content ion bas d am the
allegations that the defendant restaurant i s en ga~~ d i n
I


J-.


�interstat·e comme rce because it is located beside an interstate
highway and serves interstate travelers.
He suggests that
a Federal policy has been developed in numerous decisions
which requires the elimination of racial restrictions on
transportation in interstate commerce and the admission of
Negroes to railroad cars, sleeping cars and dining cars
without discrimination as to color; and he argues that
the commerce clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8,
Clause 3), which empowers Congress to regulate commerce among
the states, is self-executing so that even without a prohibitory
statute no person engaged in interstate commerce may place
undue restrictions upon it.
"The cases upon which the plaintiff relies in each instance
disclosed discriminatory action against persons of the
colored race by carriers engaged in the transportation of
passengers in interstate commerce. 11
"In every instance the conduct condemned was that of an
organization directly engaged in interstate commerce and the
line of authority would be persuasive in the determination of
the present controversy if it could be said that the defendant
restaurant was so engaged.
We think, however, that the cases
cited are not applicable because we do not find that a restaurant
is engaged in interstate commerce merely because in the course
of its business of furnishing accommodations to the general
public it serves persons who are traveling from state to state.
As an instrument of local commerce, the restaurant is not
subject to the constitutional and statutory provisions
discussed above and, thus, is at liberty to deal with such
persons as it may select. "
Neither the fact that some customers of an establishment may
be travelling in interstate commerce nor the fact that some of
the goods sold may have been purchased from outside the State
--'
constitutes commerce
.- . 13 -
�subject to control by Congress.
In Elizabeth Hospital, Inc.
v . Richardson, u.S.C.A .8th, 269 F.2d 167, the Court held
that the treatment of some patients who were travelling in
interstate commerce did not destroy the purely local character
of the services furnished by the hospital, and said:
"The fact that some of plaintiff's patients
might travel in interstate commerce does not alter
the local character of pl~irttiff's hospital.
If
the converse were true. every coynt~v store ·
that obtains its goods fro.m or S§rves cu,stomers
residing outside the ,St?t~. would


I
.Oe
.
selling in
I ' .
interstate commerce,. .• Un1.fbrtnl7t .,. ,the coUtt;s have held to
the contrary.
A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v.
United States, 1935, 295 U.S. 4~5, 5.5 S. Ct. 837, 79 L.Ed. 1570;
Lawson v. Woodmere, 4 Cir., 1954, 217 F.2d 148, 150;
Jewel Tea Co. v. Williams, 10 Cir., 1941, 118 F.2d 202,
207; Lipson v. Socony-Vacuum Corp., 1 Cir., 1937,
87 F. 2d 265, 267, certiorari granted 300 U.S. 651, 57 S.Ct.
612, 81 L.Ed. 862 certiorari dismissed 301 U.S. 711, 57
S.Ct. 788, 81 L.Ed. 1364."
Congress is now asked to control the operation of country
stores and hotels on the theory that their operation constitutes
commerce among the several States.
The statement of the
proposition is so ridiculous that it need not be further
refuted .
It is my understanding that the Attorney General of the
United States has suggested to this Committee that it disregard
the decision of t he Supreme Court of the United States in
the Civil Rights Cases.
I have always been under the impression
that it was the duty of the Attorney General of the Unite@ States
to advise congressional committees as to the present status of the
law.
I do not believe he has the authority to recommend to you
that you exercise, on behalf of the Federal Government, power
which the Supreme Court has specifically held to be unconstitutional.
- J.4 -
�In conclusion, I would like to ask certain members of the
Congress two questions:
How iong do you plan to bow to the
(l)
unreasonable and unconstitutionai demahds 0£ selfish minorities
i n your state?
(2)
When do you expect td begin to represent the
great majority of your own people?
Another ques tion naturally follo~s--how far do you think the
great white maj ority of this nation
wiii
stand to be pus hed?
I have received and am receivirtg daily letters from substantial
everyday citizens iri every state of tHis nation and I say to you
I
seriously that our fine white citizens have stood just about as
much of this minority insanity as they cart take.
Gentlemen, you are just about to hear from that great, silent,
substantial white majority back home.
When John Doe and Ole Joe Q. Doakes oh Main Street in every
cityj town, village and cross-road in your state; finds out exactly
what is really in this legislation--just what the present U.S.
Attorney General and the Negro minorities want today--turmoil
will really break loose in this nation.
If you think 500,000 Negroes marching on Washington is something,
pass this legislation and you'll find out what one hundred million
angry white Americans will do.
Please think deeply,: an these matters.
Think seriously as to
how much the white man will take in having his rights chipped
away with new legislation such as this and by each decision of the
Federal Courts.
Are there no rights of the individual sacred
today in this country?
Equality in a social sense is attainable only in total
slavery.
Justice Brandei:s said, "One of the inalienable rights
of men is to be let alone."
This certainly applies to the hard-
working, small busines s man?
Why should not the individual, who has worked to produce his
own business, have the right to decide whom he will serve, whom
he will associate with, and whom he will let on his premises?
- 15 -
�What we . are about to experience in our nation today is tyranny
of the mob.
The intent of this legislation is to steal away the
fundamental rights of man to own and manage his private property
as he sees fit .
The President and Attorney General are sewing the seeds of
hate and vi olence.
The nation could reap a bloody harvest.
Gentlemen, if you pass this Civil Rights legislation, you are
passing it under the threat of mob action and violence on the
part of Negro groups and under various types of intimidation
I
from the Executive Branch of this government.
This legislation
must be defeated if this nation is to survive as a C9nstitutional
Republic of Sovereign States.
The decision is yours.
May God have mercy on your souls!
THE END
- 16 -
�STATEMENT BY IVAN ALLEN, JR.
MAYOR OF ATLANTA
MR. CHAIRMAN
AND MEMBERS
JULY 26, 1963
OF THE SENATE
COMMERCE COMMITTEE .....
I AM HONORED TO APPEAR BEFORE YOUR
COMMITTEE.
AT THE BEGINNING. . . I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE
IT CLEAR THAT I FEEL QUALIFIED
TO SPEAK ON THE
SUBJECT UNDER DISCUSSION . . . WHICH IS THE
ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION . . . ON WHAT I
HA VE LEARNED FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE .. . AND
OBSERVAT I ON IN MY HOME CIT Y OF ATLA NTA ... GEORGIA.
A S P E R CE P TIVE M E N O F WIDE E X PERIEN C E . . . I
C O NFIDENT THAT YO U WIL L AGREE
WITH
ME
FEEL
THAT
THIS IS AS SERIO US A BASIC PROB L EM I N THE NOR TH .. ..
EAST . . . AND WEST . .. AS I T IS IN THE SOUTH.
�2
IT MUST BE DEFINED AS AN ALL-AMERICAN
PROBLEM... WHICH REQUIRES AN ALL-AMERICAN SOLUTION
BASED ON LOCAL THOUGHT. . . LOCAL ACTION. . . AND
LOCAL COOPERATION.
THE 500 THOUSAND PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITHIN
OUR CITY LIMITS CONSIST
OF
300 THOUSAND WHITE
CITIZENS ... AND SLIGHTLY MORE THAN 200 THOUSAND
NEGR O CITIZENS.
THAT-. MAKES THE POPULATION
OF ATLANTA SIXTY PERCENT WHITE ..... FORTY PERCENT
NEGRO.
THAT SIXTY -
FORTY PERCENTAGE EMPHASIZES
HOW ESSENTIAL IT IS FOR THE PEOPLE OF ATLANTA ...
ON THEIR LOCAL LEVEL .... T O SOLVE THE PROBLEM
OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN ORDER TO MAKE ATlANTA
A BETTER PLACE IN WHICH TO LIVE .
�3
ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS NO
FAR OFF PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY TO THE MORE THAN
ONE MILLION PEOPLE. . . WHO LIVE IN AND AROUND
ATLANTA.
THE PROBLEM IS PART AND PARCEL OF
OUR DAILY LIVES.
ITS SOLUTION MUST BE STUDIED
AND WORKED OUT ON OUR HOMEFRONT.
AS THE MAYOR OF THE SOUTHEAST'S
LARGEST CITY . . . I CAN SAY TO YOU ... OUT OF FIRST HAND
EXPERIENCE ... AND FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE THAT
NOWHERE DOES THE PROBLEM OF ELIMINATING DISCRIMINAT ION
BETWEEN THE RACES ... STRIKE SO CLOSELY HOME ...
AS IT DO ES TO T HE L OCAL E L E CTED P U B LIC OFFICIAL.
HE IS THE MAN WHO CANNOT PASS THE BUCK.
FRO M THIS VIE WP O I N T. . . I SPEAK OF THE
PROBLEM AS HAVING BEEN BRO UGHT INTO SHARP FOCUS
�4
BY DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES ... AND THEN GENERALLY IGNORED BY THE
PRESIDENTS ... AND CONGRESSES OF THE UNITED STATES.
LIKE A FOUNDLING BABY. . . THIS AWESOME PROBLEM
HAS BEEN LEFT ON THE DOORSTEPS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
THROUGHOUT THE NATION. · .
NOW TO TAKE UP SPECIFICS.
YOU GENTLEMEN
INVITED ME TO TELL YOU HOW ATLANTA HAS ACHIEVED
A CONSIDERABLE MEASURE OF COMPARATIVE SUCCESS
IN DEALING WITH RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
IT IS TRUE THAT ATLANTA HAS ACHIEVED SUCCESS
IN ELIMINATING DISCRIMINATION IN AREAS WHERE SOME
OTHER CITIES HA VE FAILED .... BUT WE DO NOT BOAST
OF OUR SUCCESS.
INSTEAD OF BOASTING .... WE SAY
�5
WITH THE HUMILITY OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN REALITY
THAT WE HA VE ACHIEVED OUR MEASURE OF SUCCESS
ONLY BECAUSE WE LOOKED FACTS IN THE FACE AND
ACCEPTED THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISIONS AS
INEVITABLE ... AND AS THE LAW OF OUR LAND.
HA YING
EMBRACED REALISM IN GENERAL. . . . . WE THEN SET OUT
TO SOLVE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS BY LOCAL COOPERATION
BETWEEN PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL
AND GOOD SENSE
REPRESENTING BOTH RACES .
IN ATTAC K ING THE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS . ..
W E ACCEPTED THE BASIC TRUTH THAT THE SOLUTIONS
WHICH W E SOUGHT TO ACHIEVE IN EVERY INSTANCE ...
GRANTED TO OUR NE GRO CITI Z ENS RIGH T S
WHICH WHIT E
AMERICAN CITIZENS ... A ND B U SINESS E S PREVI OUSLY HAD
RESERVED T O THEMSE L YES AS SPE CIAL PRIVIL EGES .
�6
THESE SPECIAL PRIVILEGES LONG HAD BEEN
PROPPED UP BY A MULTITUDE OF LOCAL ORDINANCES
AND STATEWIDE LAWS WHICH HAD UPHELD RACIAL
SEGREGATION IN ALMOST EVERY CONCEIVABLE FORM.
IN ATLANTA WE HAD PLENTY OF THESE PROPS
OF PREJUDICE TO CONTEND WITH ... WHEN WE SET OUT
TO SOLVE OUR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF DISCRIMINATION.
IN ATTACKING THESE PROBLEMS .... I WANT TO
EMPHASIZE THAT IN NOT ONE SINGLE INSTANCE HA VE
WE RETAINED ... OR ENHANCED THE PRIVILEGES
OF
SEGREGATION.
IT HAS BEEN A LONG ... EXHAUSTING . . . AND
OFTEN DISCOURAGING PROCESS
FROM BEING IN SIGHT .
AND THE END IS FAR
�7
IN THE 195 0' s
AT LANT A MADE A SIGNIFICANT
STA RT ... WITH A SERIES OF REASONABLE
ELIMINATIONS
OF DISCRIMINATION SUCH AS ... ON GOLF COURSES ... AND
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
WE BEGAN TO BECOME
SOMEWHAT CONDITIONED FOR MORE EXTENSIVE ... AND
DEFINITIVE ACTION. . . WHICH HAS BEEN TAKING PLACE
IN THE 1960 1 s.
DURING THE PAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS ...
ATLANTA HAS T A KEN THE FOLLOWING MAJOR STEPS TO
ELIMINATE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION:
1. IN SEPTEMBER ,
196 1, WE BEGAN REMOVING
DISCRIM INATION IN PUBLIC SC H OOLS IN RESPONSE T O A
COURT ORDER.
2 . IN OC T O BER, 196 1, LUNCH COUNTERS IN
DEPARTMENT AND VARIETY STORES ABOLISHED DISCRIMINATION
BY VOLUNTARY ACTION .
�- - - - - - - -- --
- - - - -- - -
--- - -
-
8
3. ON JANUARY 1, 1962
ATLANTA CITY
FACILITIES WERE FREED FROM DISCRIMINATION BY
VOLUNTARY ACTION OF MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS.
4. IN MARCH, 1962,
DOWNTOWN AND AR TS
TH.IfATERS .... OF THEIR OWN VOLITION ... ABOLISHED
DISCRIMINATION IN SEATING.
5 . ON JANUARY 1, 1963 .. THE CITY VOLUNTARILY
ABOLISHED SEPARATE EMPLOYMENT LISTINGS F OR WHITES
AND NEGROES .
6. I1,r MARC H, 196 3,
NEGRO FIREMEN.
THE CITY EMPLOYED
IT LONG AGO EMPLOYED NEGRO
P OLICEMEN.
7. IN MAY OF 1963,
THE ATLANTA REAL
ESTATE BOARD (WHITE} ... AND THE EMPIRE REAL
ESTATE BOARD ( NEGRO) .. . ISSUED A STATEMENT OF
�9
PURPOSES . . . CALLING FOR ETHICAL HANDLING OF REAL
ESTATE TRANSACTIONS IN CONTROVERSIAL AREAS.
8. IN JUNE 1963 .• THE CITY GOVERNMENT
OPENED ALL MUNICIPAL SWIMMING POOLS ON A DESEGREGATED
BASIS.
THIS WAS VOLUNTARY ACTION TO COMPLY
WITH A COURT ORDER.
9 . ALSO, IN JUNE, 1963,
EIGHTEEN HOTELS
AND MOTELS, . . . REPRESENTING THE LEADING PLACES
OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS IN THE CITY ... VOLUNTARILY
REMOVED ALL SEGREGATION FOR CONVENTIONS.
10 . AGAIN IN JUNE , 1963 ... MORE THAN THIRTY
OF THE CITY'S LEADING RESTAURANTS . . . OF THEIR
OWN
VOLITION . . . ABOLISHED SEGR EGATION IN THEIR FACILITIES.
YOU CAN READIL Y SEE THAT ATLANTA'S
HAVE BEEN TAKEN IN
STEPS
SOME INSTANCES IN COMPLIANCE
�10
WITH COURT DECISIONS .... AND IN OTHER INSTANCES THE
STEPS HAVE BEEN VOLUNTARY PRIOR TO ANY COURT
ACTION.
IN EACH INSTANCE ... THE ACTION HAS
RESULTED IN WHITE CITIZENS RELINQUIS H ING
SPECIAL
PRIVILEGES WHICH THEY HAD EN.JOYED UNDER THE PRACTICES
OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
EACH ACTION ALSO HAS
RESULTED IN THE NEGRO CITIZEN BEING GIVEN RIGHTS
WHICH ALL OTHERS PREVIOUSL Y HAD ENJOYED . ... AND
WHICH HE HAS BEEN DENIED.
AS I MENTIONED AT THE BEGINNING . .. ATLANTA
HAS A CHIEVED ONL Y A MEASURE OF SUCCESS .
I T H INK
I T W OU L D ASSIST YOU IN UNDERSTANDIN G THIS IF
I
EX PLAINED HOW LIMITED SO FAR H AS BEEN THIS
TRANSITIO N F R O M T H E OLD SEGREGATE D SOCIETY O F
GENERATIONS PAST .... AND A L SO H O W LIMITED SO FAR
HAS BEEN THE PARTICIPATIO N OF THE NEGRO CITIZENS.
�11
SIGNIFICANT AS
IS THE VOLUNTARY ELIMINATION
OF DISCRIMINATION IN OUR LEADING RESTAURANTS .... IT
AFFECTS SO FAR ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE
HUNDREDS OF EATING PLACES IN OUR CITY.
AND PARTICIPATION BY NEGROES SO FAR HAS
BEEN VERY SLIGHT.
FOR EXAMPLE ... ONE OF ATLANTA'S
TOPMOST RESTAURANTS SERVED ONLY SIXTEEN
ATLANTA'S
OUT OF
200 THOUSAND NEGRO CITIZENS DURING THE
FIRST WEEK OF FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATION.
THE PLAN FOR ELIMINATING DISCRIMINATION IN
HOTELS AS YET TAKES CARE ONLY OF CONVENTION
DELEGATES.
ALTHOUGH PROMINENT NEGROES HAVE BEEN
A CCEPTED AS GUESTS IN SEVERAL ATLANTA HOTELS . . .
THE NEGRO CITIZENS ... AS A WHOLE . .. . SELDOM APPEA R
AT ATLANTA HO T E LS.
�12
UNDERLYING ALL THE EMOTIONS OF THE SITUATION . . . .
IS THE MATTER OF ECONOMICS.
IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED
THAT THE RIGHT TO USE A FACILITY ... DOES NOT MEAN
THAT IT WILL BE USED OR MISUSED
. BY ANY GROUP ...
ESPECIALLY THE GROUPS IN THE LOWER ECONOMIC STATUS.
THE STATEMENTS
I HAVE GIVEN YOU COVER
THE ACTUAL PROGRESS MADE BY ATLANTA
TOTAL ELIMINATION
NOW
REASONS WHY
TOWARD
OF DISCRIMINATION.
I WOULD LIKE TO SUBMIT MY PERSONAL
I
THINK AT LANT A HAS RESOLVED SOME
OF THESE PROBLEMS WHILE IN OTHER CITIES . . .
SOLUTIONS HA VE SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE AND STRIFE ... AND
CONFLICT HA VE RESULTED .
A S A N ILLUS TRATION . . . I WOULD LIK E T O
DESCRIBE A RECENT VISIT OF AN OF FICIAL D ELEGATION
FROM A GREAT EASTERN
C I TY
WHICH HAS A NE G RO
�13
POPULATION OF OVER
600 THOUSAND CONSISTING
IN EXCESS OF TWENTY PERCENT
OF
OF ITS WHOLE POPULATION.
THE MEMBERS OF THIS DELEGATION AT FIRST
SIMPLY DID NOT UNDERSTAND .... AND WOULD HARDLY
BELIEVE THAT THE BUSINESS .... CIVIC .... AND POLITICAL
INTERESTS
OF ATLANTA HAD INTENTLY CONCERNED
THEMSELVES
WITH THE NEGRO POPULATION.
I STILL
DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE CONVINCED ... THAT ALL OF
OUR CIVIC B ODIES BACKED BY THE PUBLIC INTEREST ....
AND SUPPORTED
BY THE CITY GOVERNMENT. . . HA VE
DAILY CONCEREND THEMSELVES WITH AN EFFOR T
TO
SOLVE OUR GRAVEST PROBLEM ... ... WHICH IS
RELATIONS BETWEEN OUR RACES .
AT LANT A HAS NOT SWEPT
RUG AT ANY P OINT.
GENTLEMEN ....
THIS QUESTION
UNDER
THE
STEP BY STEP ... . SOMETIMES
UNDER COURT ORDER . .. . . . SOMETIMES VOLUNTARILY
�14
MOVING AHEAD OF PRESSURES ..... SOMETIMES ADROITLY ....
. . . AND MANY TIMES CLUMSILY ..... WE HAVE TRIED TO
FIND A SOLUTION TO EACH SPECIFIC PROBLEM . . . THROUGH
AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE AFFECTED WHITE
OWNERSHIP AND THE NEGRO
LEADERSHIP.
TO DO THIS. . . WE HA VE NOT APPOINTED A HUGE
GENERAL
MERELY
BI-RACIAL COMMITTEE .... WHICH TOO OFTEN
BECOMES A BURIAL PLACE FOR UNSOLVED
PROBLEMS .
.
BY CONTRAST .. . EACH TIME A SPECIFIC
PROBLEM HAS COME INTO FOCUS ... . WE HAVE APPOINTED
THE:EIDPLE INVOLVED TO WORK OUT THE SOLUTION.... THEATER
OWNERS TO WORK WITH THE TOP NEGRO LEADERS ... . . OR
HOTEL OWNERS TO WORK WITH THE TOP LEADERSHIP ..... OR
CERTAIN RESTAURANT OWNERS WHO OF THEIR OWN VOLITION
DEALT WITH THE TOP NEGRO LEADERSHIP.
BY DEVELOPING
�15
THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION
AND RESPECTABILITY ...
WE HA VE BEEN ABLE TO REACH AMICABLE SOLUTIONS.
ATLANTA IS THE WORLD'S
HIGHER EDUCATION.
CENTER OF NEGRO
THERE ARE SIX GREAT NEGRO
UNIVERSITIES .... AND COLLEGES ... LOCATED INSIDE
OUR CITY LIMITS.
BECAUSE OF THIS ... A GREAT NUMBER
OF INTELLIGENT ... WELL-EDUCATED NEGRO CITIZENS
HA VE CHOSEN TO REMAIN IN OUR CITY.
AS A RESULT
OF THEIR EDUCATION .. . THE Y HAVE HAD THE ABILIT Y
TO DEVELOP
IN A TLA NTA
A PROSPEROUS NEGRO BUSINESS COMMUNITY.
IT CONSIS T S OF FINANCIAL
I NSTI TUTIONS
LIK E BANKS .... B UIL DING AND LOAN A SSOCIAT IONS ....
L IFE INS UR A N C E COMPANIES .... C HAIN DRU G S T O R ES ...
R E AL E ST A T E DEA LER S.
I N F AC T . .. THE Y HAVE D E VELOP ED
BUSINESS ORGANIZATIO NS ... I BELIEVE ... IN ALMOST
EVERY LINE OF ACKNOWLEDGED AMERICAN BUSINESS.
�16
THERE ARE ALSO MANY NEGRO- PROFESSIONAL MEN.
THEN THERE IS ANOTHER POWERFUL FACTOR
WORKING IN THE BEHALF OF GOOD RACIAL RELATIONS
IN OUR CITY.
WE HA VE NEWS MEDIA. . . BOTH WHITE
AND NEGRO ... WHOSE LEADERS STRONGL Y BELIEVE AND
PUT INTO PRACTICE THE GREAT TRUTH THAT RESPONSIBILITY
OF THE PRESS . . ( AND BY THIS I MEAN RADIO AND TELEVISION
AS WELL AS THE WRITTE N PRESS) . . IS INSEPARAB LE FROM
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
THE LEADERSHIP OF OUR WRITTEN ... SPOKEN
A ND T ELEVISED NEWS MEDIA
JOIN WITH THE B USINESS
AND GOVE R NMENT LEADERSHIP ... BOTH WHITE A ND
NE G RO ... IN W OR KING TO SO L VE OUR PRO BLE MS .
WE AR E F OR TU NATE THAT WE HAVE ONE OF THE
WORLD FAMOUS EDIT O RIAL SPOKESMEN FOR REASON AND
�17
MODERATION ON ONE OF OUR WHITE NEWSPAPERS ...
ALQNG WITH OTHER EDITORS AND MANY REPORTERS WHO
STRESS SIGNIFICANCE ... RATHER THAN SENSATION IN
THE REPORTING AND INTERPRETATION OF WHAT HAPPENS
IN OUR CITY.
AND WE ARE FORTUNATE IN HAVING A STRONG
NEGRO DAILY NEWSPAPER .. " THE ATLANTA DAILY WORLD 1 1
AND A VIGOROUS NEGRO WEEKLY ..
11
THE ATLANTA
INQUIRER 1 1 •
T H E ATLANTA DA IL Y WORLD IS
A PROMINENT NEGRO FAMIL Y--
OWNED
BY
THE SCOTT FAMIL Y- - -
WH ICH O W NS AND OPERATES A NUMBER OF OTHER NEWSPAPERS .
THE S TURD Y VOICES OF THE AT LANTA DA IL Y
WORLD A ND THE AT L A N TA INQU IRER .... BACKED BY THE
SUPPORT OF THE E D UCATIONAL .... BUSINESS . ... AND
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY .... REACH OUT TO OUR NEGRO
�18
CITIZENS.
THEY SPEAK TO THEM WITH FACTUAL
INFORMATION UPON WHICH THEY CAN RELY.
EXPRESS OPINIONS
THEY
AND INTERPRETATIONS IN WHICH THEY
CAN HA VE FAITH.
AS I SEE IT. . . OUR NEGRO LEADERSHIP IN
ATLANTA IS RESPONSIBLE AND CONSTRUCTIVE.
I
AM SURE THAT OUR NEGRO LEADERSHIP IS AS DESIROUS
OF OBTAINING ADDITIONAL CIVIC AND ECONOMIC ... .
AND PERSONAL RIGHTS . .. AS IS ANY AMERICAN CITIZEN.
BlTI' B Y CONSTRUCTIVE .. . I MEAN TO DEFINE ATLANTA'S
NEGRO LEA DERSHIP AS BEING REALISTIC
- - AS RECOGNIZING
THAT IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO OBTA IN THE RIGHTS
THE Y SE E K THAN I T IS TO STIR UP DEMONS T RATIONS .
SO IT IS T O T HE C ONS T R U CTIVE MEA N S .. . BY WHICH
THESE RIGHTS CAN B E O B TAI N E D THAT O U R NEGRO LEADERS
CONSTANTLY ADDRESS THEMSELVES.
THEY ARE
�19
INTERESTED IN RESULTS INSTEAD OF RHETORIC.
REACH FOR LASTING GOALS INSTEAD
MOMENTARY PUBLICITY.
NOT RABBLE ROUSERS.
THEY
OF GRABBING FOR
THEY ARE REALISTS ...
ALONG WITH INTEGRATION ...
THEY WANT INTEGRITY.
I DO NOT BELIEVE
CITIZEN
THAT ANY SINCERE AMERICAN
DESIRES TO SEE THE RIGHTS OF PRIVATE
BUSINESS RESTRICTED
BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
UNLESS SUCH RESTRICTION IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
FOR
THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.
ON THE OTHER HAND. . . FOLLOWING THE LINE
OF THOUGHT
OF THE DECISIONS OF THE FEDERAL COURTS
IN THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS . .. I AM NOT CONVINCED
THAT CURRENT RULINGS
OF THE COURTS ... WOULD GRANT
T O AMERICAN BUSINESS THE PRIVILEGE
OF DISCRIMINATION
BY RACE IN THE SELECTION O F ITS CUSTOMERS.
�20
HERE AGAIN WE GET INTO THE AREA OF WHAT
IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS BEST FOR THE PEOPLE OF THIS
COUNTR Y.
IF THE PRIVILEGE OF SELEG TION
BASED
ON RACE AND COLOR ... SHOULD BE GRANTED ... THEN
WOULD
WE BE GIVING TO BUSINESS THE RIGHT TO SET
UP A SEGREGATED ECONOMY? . ... . . AND IF SO . . . HOW
FAST WOULD THIS RIGHT BE UTILIZED BY THE NATION'S
PEOPLE? . . . . . AND HOW SOON WOULD WE AGAIN BE GOING
T H ROUGH THE OLD TURMOIL OF RIOTS .... STRIFE ...
DEMONSTRATIONS ... BO YCOTTS ... PICKETING?
ARE WE GOI NG TO SA Y THAT IT IS ALL RIGHT
FO R T HE NEGRO CITIZEN TO GO INTO T HE BANK ON
ST RE ET .. . A ND TO DEPOSIT HIS
MAIN
EARNINGS . .. OR BORROW
M O NEY . .. T HEN T O G O T O DEPAR T ME N T S TORE S T O BUY
WHAT HE NEE DS . .. . T O G O T O THE SUPERMARKET TO
PURC HASE FOOD FOR HIS FAMILY .... AND SO ON
ALONG
�21
MAIN STREET UNTIL HE COMES TO -A RESTAURANT
HOTEL.
OR A
IN ALL THESE OTHER BUSINESS PLACES. . .
IS TREATED JUST LIKE ANY OTHER CUSTOMER.
WHEN HE COMES TO THE RESTAURANT
HE
BUT
OR THE HOTEL ....
ARE WE GOING TO SAY THAT IT IS RIGHT AND LEGAL ...
FOR THE OPERATORS OF THESE BUSINESSES .... MERELY AS
A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE ... TO INSIST THAT THE
NEGRO'S
CITIZENSHIP BE CHANGED ... AND THAT .. . AS A SECOND
CLASS CITIZEN ... HE IS TO BE REFUSED SERVICE?
I SUBMIT THAT IT IS NOT RIGHT TO ALLOW AN AMERICAN'S
CITIZENSHIP TO BE CHANGED MERELY AS A MATTER
OF
CONVENIENCE .
IF THE CONGRESS SHOULD FAIL TO CLARIF Y
T H E I SS UE AT THE PRESENT TIME . . . THEN B Y INFERENCE
IT W OULD B E SAYIN G THAT YOU COULD B EGIN DIS CRI M I NATION
UNDER THE GUIS E OF P RIVA T E BUSINE SS .
I DO NOT BELIE VE
�22
THAT THIS IS WHAT THE SUP RE ME GOUR T
WITH ITS DECISIONS.
THE INTENT OF
I ·. DO NOT
' CONGRESS
HAS INTENDED
BELIEVE THAT THIS IS
OR THE PEOPLE OF THIS
COUNTRY.
I
AM NOT A LA WYER .. SENATORS.
I AM NOT
SURE I CLEARLY UNDERSTAND ALL OF THE TESTIMONY
INVOLVING VARIOUS AMENDMENTS
TO THE CONSTITUTION
AND THE COMMERCE CLAUSE WHICH HAS B EEN GIVEN TO
THIS COMMITTEE .
I HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL RESPECT
FOR THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
UNDER
T H IS CONSTITUTION ... WE HAVE ALWA YS BEEN ABLE TO
DO WHA T IS BEST FOR ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS
C OU N T RY.
I BE G O F YOU ... NOT T O LET T HIS ISSUE
O F DISCRIMINAT ION DROW N IN LE GALIS TIC WA T ERS.
I
AM
FIRMLY C O NVINCED THAT THE SUPR E M E GOUR T INSISTS
THAT TH~
SAME FUNDAME NTAL RIGHTS MUST BE
BY EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN.
HELD
�23
ATLANTA IS A CASE THAT PROVES THAT THE
PROBLEM OF DISCRIMINATION CAN BE SOLVED TO SOME
EXTENT ..... AND I USE THIS
11
SOME EXTENT 11 • • • •
CAUTIOUSLY ... AS WE CERTAINLY HAVE NOT SOLVED
ALL OF THE PROBLEMS .... BUT WE HAVE MET THEM IN
A NUMBER OF AREAS.
THIS CAN BE DONE LOCALLY ...
VOLUNTARILY .... AND BY PRIVATE BUSINESS ITSELF!
ON THE OTHER HAND. . . THERE ARE HUNDREDS
OF COMMUNITIES AND CITIES ... CERTAINLY THROUGHOUT
THE NATION THAT HA VE NOT EVER ADDRESSED THEMSELVE S
TO THE ISSUE .
WHEREAS . .. OTHERS HAVE FLAGRANTLY
IGNORED THE D E MAND .. . . AND TODAY . . . S TAND IN ALL
DEFIANCE TO ANY CHANGE .
THE C ONGRESS
O F THE UNI TED STATES IS NOW
C ONFRONTE D WITH A GRAVE DECISION.
SHALL YOU PASS
A PUBLIC ACC OMMO DATION B I LL THAT FORCES
THIS
�24
ISSUE?
OR ... SHALL YOU CREATE ANOTHER RO U ND
OF
DISPUTES OVER SEGREGATION BY REFUSING TO PASS SUCH
LEGISLATION?
SURELY. . . THE CONGRESS REALIZES THAT AFTER
HAVING FAILED TO TAKE ANY DEFINITE ACTION ON THIS
SUBJECT IN THE LAST TEN YEARS ... TO FAIL TO PASS
THIS BILL WOULD AMOUNT TO AN ENDORSEMENT OF PRIVATE
BUSINESS SETTING UP AN ENTIRELY NEW STATUS OF
DISCRIMINATION THROUGHOUT THE NATION.
AT LANT A MIGHT SLIP BACKWARDS .
REST AU R A NTS
CITIES
LIKE
HOTELS AND
THAT HA VE A LREAD Y TAKEN THIS ISSUE
UPON THEM SELVES ... . A ND OPENED THEIR DOOR S MIGHT
F IND IT CO NVE NIENT TO GO BAC K TO THE OLD STATUS .
FAIL URE BY C ONGR E SS T O T AKE DE F INIT E A C T ION AT THIS
TIME IS BY INFE R ENCE AN E N DOR S E M E NT O F THE RIGHT
OF PRIVATE BUSINESS TO PRACTICE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
�25
AND ... IN MY OPINION .. WOULD START THE
SAME
ROUND OF SQUABBLES AND DEMONSTRATIONS
OLD
THAT WE
HAVE HAD IN THE PAST.
GENTLEMEN .... IF I HAD YOUR PROBLEM , . . .
ARMED WITH THE LOCAL EXPERIENCE
I HAVE HAD ... I
WOULD PASS A PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION
BILL.
SUCH
A BILL ... HOWEVER .. SHOULD PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY
FOR EACH LOCAL GOVERNMENT FIRST TO MEET THIS
PROBLEM AND ATTEMPT TO SOLVE IT ON A
LOCAL ..
VOLUNTARY BASIS .. WITH EACH BUSINESS MAKING ITS
OWN DECISION.
I REALIZE THAT IT IS QUITE
EASY TO ASK YOU TO GIVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO EACH
BUSINESS MAN IN EACH CITY TO MAKE HIS DECISION
AND
ACCOMPLISH SUCH AN OBJECTIVE . . . BUT IT IS EXTREMELY
DIFFICULT TO LEGISLATE SUCH A PROBLEM.
�26
WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS THAT THE PUPIL
PLACEMENT PLAN. . . WHICH HAS BEEN WIDELY USED IN
THE SOUTH .. PROVIDED A TIME TABLE APPROVED BY THE
FEDERAL COURTS WHICH
HELPED
IN GETTING OVER
THE TROUBLED WATER OF ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION
IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT CITIES
WORKING WITH PRIVATE BUSINESS INSTITUTIONS
COULD
NOW MOVE INTO THE SAME AREA AND THAT THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION SHOULD BE BASED ON THE
IDEA THAT THOSE BUSINESSES
HAVE A REASONABLE TIME
TO ACCOM PLISH SUCH AN ACT .
I T HINK A PUBLIC A CCOMMODATION L A W N OW
SHOULD STAN D ONL Y AS THE LAST RESORT TO A SSURE THAT
DISCRIMINATIO N IS ELIMINAT ED . .. B U T THAT SU C H A
LAW WO ULD GRANT A REAS O NABLE T I ME F O R CITIES AND
BU SINES SES TO CARRY OUT THIS FUNCTION BEFORE FEDERAL
�27
INTERVENTION.
IT MIGHT EVEN BE NECESSARY THAT THE TIME
FACTOR BE MADE MORE LENIENT IN FAVOR OF SMALLER
CITIES AND COMMUNITIES. . .
FOR WE ALL
KNOW
THAT LARGE METROPOLITAN AREAS HAVE THE CAPABILITY
OF ADJUSTING TO CHANGES MORE RAPIDLY
THAN SMALLER
COMMUNITIES.
PERHAPS .. THIS TOO ... SHOULD BE GIVEN
CONSIDERATION IN YOUR LEGISLATION.
BUT THE POINT
I WANT TO EMPHASIZE AGAIN IS THAT NOW IS THE TIME
FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION.
ISSUE .
OR TURN
WE CANNOT DODGE THE
WE CANNOT LOOK BACK OVER OUR SHOULDERS
THE CLOCK BACK
TAKE ACTION NOW TO ASSURE
TO THE
l860 1 S.
WE MUST
A GREATER FUTURE
OUR CITIZENS AND OUR COUNTRY.
FOR
�28
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO THE ABOLISHMENT OF
SLAVERY WON THE UNITED STATES THE ACCLAIM
THE WHOLE WORLD WHEN IT MADE
EVERY
OF
AMERICAN
FREE IN THEORY.
NOW THE ELIMINATION OF SEGREGATION
WHICH IS SLAVERY'S
STEPCHILD .... IS A CHALLENGE
TO ALL OF US TO MAKE EVERY AMERICAN FREE IN FACT
AS WELL
AS IN THEORY ... AND AGAIN TO ESTABLISH
OUR NATION AS THE TRUE CHAMPION OF THE FREE
WORLD.
MR . CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
~
.. . I WA NT T O THANK YO U FOR THE OP PORTUNITY O F
TE L LING YOU ABOUT AT L ANT A 'S
E FFORTS TO P R O VID E
EQUALIT Y OF CITI Z E NSHIP T O ALL WITHIN ITS B ORDERS.
�I
'
August 19, 1963
Mr. Lamar Moore
Moore and Moo re
P . O . Box 190
Moultr ie, Georgia
Dear Mr. Moore:
This will a c knowledge re c eipt of your letter of
August 17th in which you enclosed a pamphlet
prepared by the Virginia Commission on
Constitutional GQvermnent dealing with the
proposed Civil Rights Bill from Congress.
I will be delighted to read this pamphlet and
appreciate your sending it to me.
Sincerely yours,
Ivan Allen, Jr.
IAJr/br
�MOORE
& MOORE
ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELLORS AT LAW
MOULTRIE, GEORGIA
L . L . MOORE (19621
P . 0 . BOX \90
LAMAR MOORE
TELEPHONE 985-1 2 13
August 17, 1963
Hono ra bl e Iva n All e n
Ma yor, City of Atl a nta
Atl a nt a , Ge org i a
Dear Mr. Al l e n:
I e nclos e a pamphl e t pr epa r ed by th e Vi r gini a Commi ss i on
on Co ns ti tu ti onal Gov ernment d ea ling with t he pr opo sed
Civi l Ri ghts Bill from Congress .
I b e li ev e t hi s i s a good s t a t eme nt not onl y of oppos itio n
to th e Bill but of the bas i c probl em tha t th e na t io n i s
e nco unter ing in th e ad mini s trat i on of such l aws .
I re prese nt ma ny c l ie nts i n th e tax a nd l abor f i e lds a nd
I am f ind ing t hat t h e bur eaucra ti c admini s t ra tion of the
b es t int e nd ed l aws mor e a nd more is b ec oming a n unr easo na bl e burde n upon th e citize ns . Thi s pa rti c ul ar l aw is
one of th e type whi ch undo ubt edly ca n brea k down our c once pt th a t Gov ernme nt s hou l d be one of l aw rath e r tha n one
of ma n. I would not wa nt to trust to th e mos t mor a l,
highly r es pec t ed , mos t b enevol e nt ex ec utiv e th e adm ini s tr a ti on of suc h a l aw as i s propo sed i n thi s Civil Ri ghts Bill.
Rega rd l e ss of wh ic h s i de of t h e i nt egra t io n i ss ue one might
b e on, the ev i l i n thi s Bill i s not c oncer ned with th a t
ques tion; th e e vil is th a t s uch a l aw h e l ps to brea k down
a nd undermin e th e Ame ri ca n s yst em of j uri s pr ud e nc e a nd
ba s i c co ncept s of a Co ns tit utio na l Gov ernme nt.
I am s ubmit ting thi s t o you b eca use I wond e r ed if you ha d
f ull y t a ken i nto c ons id era tion th e ul t i ma t e po ss ibil i t ies
of s uch a l aw.
LM: g
Enc l.
�October 25, 1963
Mr. William J . Johnson
Department of Political Science
Tulane University
Box 1855
New Orleans 18, Louisiana
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your inquiry about how Atlanta
handles race relations.
I believe the attached testimony which the Mayor
made before the Senate Commerc.e Committee is
the best summary which we could furnish y-ou.
Sincerely yours,
Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mayor
IAJr/br
�Depa rtment of Political Scien ce
Tula ne Univer s ity
ox 1855
New Orle ans 18 , Louisiana
Mayor Ivan Allen
City Hall
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Ma yor Allen:
I am a membe r of the Gr~dua te Division, Politica l Sci en ce,
Tulane University. My t ask is~ difficult, and it is felt ,
worthy one. It i nvolve s c orre s pond i ng wit h a number of cities
ha vi ng a hete roge neous populat i on for t he purpose of obta i ni ng
i nforma tion re ga r di ng the na ture a nd t yp3 f organi za ti on t he se
cities ha ve crea ted to s eek solutions to their r a ce pr oblem .
It is hoped t ha t thi s i nforma ti on wi l l be an i nvalua ble
source for mak i ng recommenda ti ons re ques t ed by t he cit y of
New Orleans fo r t he purpose of det ermi ni ng the mos t fe as ible
type of organiza ti on to co pe with it s race problem. Your
cit y was sele cte d be caus e we hope to benefit from your experi ence i n this delica te matter .
An y consi derat i on given t his re ques t woul d be enor mous ly
appr e c iated and hel pful. I am l ook i ng wit h pl easure t o hear ing
from you .
Si ncreely yours ,
d/~11#~
li l liam J. J ohr; son

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