Box 17, Folder 15, Document 13

Box 17, Folder 15, Document 13

For release 9:00 a.m. (E.D.T.)

STATEMENT BY
GEORGE C. WALLACE
GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE
IN OPPOSITION TO SENATE BILL 1732
9:00 a.m. (E.D.T.)
JULY 15, 1963

Mr. Chairman ~~ Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you

_ today and give my views on the important matters now before
this Committee.

The leaders of the Federal government have so mis-~
used the Negroes for selfish political reasons that our ens

= c= He gs
tire concept of liberty” Sfeareceden,is now in peril.
‘=.

We daily see our government go to ridieulous eXn
tremes and take unheard-of actions to appease the magori ty
bloc vote leaders of this country.

I was appalled and amazed to read of recent states
ments by Pentagon officials relative to proposed civil rights
investigations on our military installations. There was a
time when military installations were established in accord.
ance with the requirements of the national defense posture.

Today these officials use the threat of withdrawal
of military bases to accomplish political purposes. Any

officer or official issuing such orders should have his
oackground investigated.

Although he may not be affiliated with our ene-
mies, his actions play into their hands by jeopardizing
the security of this nation.

The Air Force is encouraging its personnel to
engage in 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 bus.
iness be placed off limits to military personnel unless
they surrender to current Federal ideologies.

Is the real purpose of this integration movement
to disarm this country as the Communists have planned?

For a century certain politicians have talked
about Southern mobs, which were actually non-existent. But
now that we have Negro mobsters and mobs running in the
streets of our cities, these politicians and the press
refer to them as demonstrators.

These so-called demonstrators break laws, destroy

property, injure innocent people and create civil strife
and disorder of major proportions.
Yet they receive sympathy and approval of the
leaders of our Federal government.
I personally resent the actions of the Federal
A seawesisics which have created these conditions. Asa

le o pe
loyal American and as a loyal Southern Governor, who has



never belonged to or associated with any subversive ele.
ment, I resent the fawning and pawing over such people
as Martin Luther King and his pro-Communist friends and
associates.

When this bunch of incendiaries comes to Washington
they are given red carpet treatment, and I dare say if they
came into this room here, some of the members of this
Committee would feel compelled to greet them in such a
manner as to publicly demonstrate their concern for sow
called civil rights.

Last Friday Governor Barnett showed this Committee
a picture of Martin Luther King and a group of Communist * baw ~ Lows
leaders attending a meeting together. As widely reported in
the press in the last two months, King!s 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 and active in seventeen

Southern states. This organization has been described
-~ 4 «

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. The Cincinnati
Enquirer, in its issue of Sunday, June 9, 1963, quotes the
following statement of Shuttlesworth as to his leadership
of this Communist organization:

"Generally, the House committees

are governed by Southerners who

will label any organization sub.

versive or communistic that seeks

to further the American aims of

integration, justice and fair-~play.

"To a segregationist, integration

means Communism. I can think of noth-

ing more un-American than the House

Committee on Un-American Activities."

Recently Martin Luther King publicly professed

to have fired a known Communist, Jacek OtDell, who had been
on his payroll. But as discovered by a member ofthe United
States Congress, this public profession was a lie and O1Dell

had remained on King!s payroll.
On a recent visit to this country, why was it
that Ben Bella, a Communist in my opinion, had his first
conference in this country with Martin Luther King? And
then Ben Bella flew to Cuba and embraced the Communist
Castro and said that he is one of the worldts greatest.

Is there any connection?

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
call 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 at this session of Congress «.
however long it may take and however troublesome it may be m=-
is imperative",

The President might well have further stated:
tand however many people it hurts or businesses it de.
stroys and regardless of the rights 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 foster-
ing a complete and all inclusive change in our whole con-
cept of government and society «~~ a revolution of govern-
ment against the people.

Senate Bill 1732 ~~ the so-wcalled public accomo.
dations bill #«-~ would, together with the Presidentts full |
civil rights package, bring about government of the govern-~
ment, by the government and for the government.

The free and uncontrolled use of private property
is the basic and historic concept of Anglo-Saxon jurispru-
dence. The primary reason our forefathers came from Europe
to carve this nation out of a raw and savage wilderness was
for the purpose of using, controlling and enjoying their
private property and to pursue their chosen professions
without fear of interference from kings, tyrants, despots,
and I might add, Presidents.

I dontt think itts necessary today to talk to
you at length about the constitutional basis for legisla-
tion such as this. You know that similar legislation has
been declared unconstitutional.

You know that in the 1883 Civil Rights Case the

Supreme Court of the United States ruled out the Commerce
Clause as the basis for legislation nearly identical in
effect to that contained in Senate Bill 1732.

You know that the 14th Amendment =. which amend.
ment is of doubtful origin and questionable validity --
was held by the 1883 Court to merely allow legislation
predicated upon the correction of the operation of state
laws only -- and in no sense gave the legislative branch
the right to enact statutes providing a code for the regu
ulation of private rights.

No part of the bill before you qualifies as to
constitutionality even assuming that you operate on the
premise that the 14th Amendment was validly ratified in
accordance with the requirements of the Constitution ~-
and it was not.

Gentlemen, It1l tell you what this Senate Bill
1732 does -~- it places upon all business men and profess...
ional people the yoke of involuntary servitude ~~ it
should be designated as the "Involuntary Servitude Act
of 1963",

Under the provisions of Senate Bill 1732, if
you are engaged in any profession where you offer your

personal services, you cannot refuse to serve anyone without
fear of violating this Act. I dontt know of any business

or profession that does not have some abstract connection
with interstate travel or interstate movement of goods.

Under the provisions of this Act, the lawyer, doctor,
hairdresser or barber, plumber, public secretary-~stenographer,
etc., would no longer be free to choose their clientele.

Nobody who offers services to the public or
attempts to engage in his chosen profession will be free
to operate without fear that the police state which is
now vigorously rearing its head will dictate his every
move and tell him exactly how he can run his business.

In fact, if the provisions of the Act are passed and
enforced many individuals will no longer have any busi-
ness.

Section 3(b) of the Act provides: "The pro.
vision of this Act shall not apply to a bonafide private
club or other establishment not open to the public, except
to the extent that the facilities of such establishments
are made available to the customers or patrons of an es-
tablishment within the scope of sub-section (a). I submit

to you that I am at a loss to understand the true meaning
and full import of this exception. I am wondering if it
constitutes a "sleeper" in this Act designed to destroy
the privacy of private clubs and "other establishments".
In fact, what is the definition of the term "other es-
tablis hments"? Does it include fraternal and social
organizations, churches, religious organizations, the
Masonic Lodge, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Knights
of Coiumbus?

Would this "exception clause" cover the following
situation?

A certain exclusive private club having a member-
ship composed entirely of Italian-Americans has a rule
allowing members to bring guests, many of whom travel in
interstate commerce. The club also has another strict
rule that guests must be limited solely to Italian-Americans.
Under the provisions of this Act may a member bring ina
non Italian-American traveling in interstate commerce de.~
spite the club rule forbidding it? Another example that
arises would be the fact that my Masonic Lodge has strict
rules against bringing in non-Masons and/or Masons not of
the same type organization as mine. I have taken many
interstate traveling Masons to my Lodge. Can a member
bring a non-Mason or Mason of another type organization

into my Lodge if he is a guest traveling in interstate commerce?
~ 10 .

Section 5 of the Act provides for civil actions
for preventive relief including injunction, restraining
order or other order. I wonder what this "or other order"
implies? Does it not mean being heavily fined or placed
in Federal Prison for contempt of court if you refuse to
obey? This same Section provides that this relief may
be obtained by the person aggrieved or by the Attorney
General of the United States and it provides further that
the relief may be obtained where a person has not actually
violated any section of the Act, but there are grounds to
believe that any person is about to engage in any of the
many prohibited acts. This is the beginning of "thought.
control! legislation. In other words, they can take you
to court and try you for what you are thinking or possibly
thinking about doing -~- whether you ever carry your thoughts
into effect or not.

It is interesting to note that in Section 2(g)
of the Act, which in effect constitutes the preamble of
the Act, it is stated as fact that discrimination reduces
the mobility of the national labor force and prevents the

most effective allocation of national resources, including
- ll.

the interstate movement of industries, particularly in
some of the areas of the nation most in need of indus.
trial and commercial expansion and development,

This is a thinly veiled reference to the South -.
which - contrary to the statement contained in the pre.
amble of this bill -- is now and will continue to enjoy
the greatest industrial growth of any section of the
United States.

I cannot help but wonder if some of these same
people who are now so worried about our industrial growth
are not some of the same people who fought the removal of
the "Pittsburgh Plus" discriminatory freight rates which
for so long kept the South from realizing its true poten-
tial in industrial growth. I cannot also help but wonder
if one of the true motives in back of this act is, in part,
a desire on the part of some to return the South to its
position of disadvantage which disappeared with the re.
moval of discriminatory freight rates.

The President, the Attorney General, and every
member of this Congress who has sponsored this legislation

stand indicted before the American people.
- 12.

This group has invited the Negro to come North
to a land of milk and honey. They accepted the proposition,
and instead of finding this Utopia, they have found unen-~
ployment. They have been stacked in ghettos on top of one
another, to become a part of every city's Harlem. Thereby
social and economic problems have been compounded.

The end result is that this gross hypocrisy has
brought guerilla warfare and insurrection to every large
erey in the United States endangering the lives of millions
of our citizens. Because of this hypocritical spectacle,
he no longer wants mere equal treatment, he expects and
apparently intends to bludgeon the majority of this country!s
citizens into giving him preferential treatment.

He shows his sense of responsibility by flaunt.
ing law and order throughout this country, even threaten.
ing to intimidate the Congress of the United States. And
all of this is done with the tacit approval of the sponsors
of Senate Bill 1732.

The physical danger I outline is no problem in
the South. You and your family can travel to any place
in the South, walk the streets of every section of cities

and towns alone, without fear of bodily harm. But I know,
- 13 =

and you know, that you and your family cannot walk the streets
of our nation!s capital without fear of mugging, raping, kill-
ing or other physical assault.

And, gentlemen, your constituents know this, too,
and they are fed up with it. And if you will come to my
offices, I will show you countless thousands of letters from
every part of the United States protesting the continued
usurpation of power by the Federal government and the failure
to adhere to the Constitution of the United States. People
who write me want their elected representatives to start re-
presenting them and not the minority bloc voting mobsters.

A President who sponsors legislation such as the
Civil Rights Act of 1963 should be retired from public life.
And this goes for any Governor or other public official who
has joined in this mad scramble for the minority bloc vote.

Does not the present situation in Washington, D. C.,
give you some idea of the result you would obtain with this
legislation? The nation!ts capital is supposed to be the
supreme example of what civil rights legislation can accom-
plish. Itts an example all right, an example of a city
practically deserted by white people. If you in the Congress
are really sincere about this civil rights business, why donrt
you give home rule to the people of Washington? Letts see how

the local residents can run this city. I believe in local
eel¥ governnent. I challenge you to vote for home rule in
Washington, D. C. I suspect that if you attempted to do
this, the Secretary of State would have to testify behind
closed doors that this would result in damage to our image
before the rest of the world.

A few days ago, I noted a report released by
Washington, D. C., police officials which stated that during
the last twelve months major criminal offenses in this na.

o> ty
Les,
tionts capital reached the second highest peak in history. iss

| rach”
I suggest that if the Congress spent its time trying to
stop these assaults, rapes, robbery and house-breaking,
rather than in efforts which will destroy all rights of
property, then you might accomplish something worthwhile.

When I came here to testify against the 1957
Civil Rights Bill, it was said that our image would be
affected in Africa and Asia if the bill failed to pass.
Well, the 1957 Bill was passed and it appears that we are
still supposed to worry about our image.

I have stated before and wish to state again
here today -- I will worry about our image in the rest of
the world when these foreign countries begin to return 25

per cent of the foreign aid we are sending them because it

comes from the South,
- 15 4

In my judgment, the rest of the world should be
more concerned with what we think of them since we feel
bound and determined to provide their support. And while
we are speaking of an image, the federal government should
worry about the image it is creating in the South and to
freedom-loving people everywhere.

I think you gentlemen are well aware of the
reason you are having to consider Senate Bill 1732. The
President of the United States and the Attorney General of
the United States have used the powers of the executive
branch in such a manner as to create a tense and explosive
Situation which they can no longer control.

The President so much as admitted this in his
nationwide telecast which prefaced the introduction of
this civil rights legislation. He wooed and won the min-
ority 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 Administration has shown an ineptness and

total lack of understanding in handling the problems
« 16 =

which have been created by the political efforts to capture
these votes.

The promised New Frontier is a nation torn by
strife and turmoil on the brink of civil warfare.

The only method it has been able to come up
with is the use of Federal troops which, strangely, it
seems, have been used only in the South although the most
sex ious disturbances have been in places like New York,

New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles
and Cambridge, Maryland.

It is not politically popular to send troops into
these cities -- and they are going to find next November it
is not politically popular to send them to Alabama and
Mississippi.

The Kennedy Administration is in political
jeopardy, and in a calculated attempt to recover from
losses of political prestige, it has shifted the burden
of its gross mistakes in judgment to the Congress of the
United States -- all the while catering to a lawless min-
ority which shows utter disregard and contempt for law and

order,
~ LY «

This bill will not remedy the situation. This
bill will inflame the majority of the citizens of this
country. When you determine that you will control and
destroy private property rights -- you invite chaos.

I charge that Senate Bill 1732 constitutes
the first step toward land reform --~ a long step ina

Na
socialistic scheme of government which will bring the
total destruction of private property rights. Property
“is power and when wi ewe our rights “ts property we will
have lost our power to ee ourselves.

If you intend to pass this bill, you should
make preparations to withdraw all our troops from Berlin,
Viet Nam and the rest of the world because they will be
needed to police America. You are going to make the
American people law violators because they are not going
to comply with this type legislation.

It is suspected, and I suggest that Senate Bill
1732 is such a ridiculous piece of legislation that it
probably is a mere smokescreen which is calculated to draw
the attention of the people to it, thereby blinding them

to other parts of the civil rights package which are equally

abominable.
No part of the Civil Rights Act of 1963 is
acceptable and we people in the State of Alabama and the
South will take the lead for all freedom-loving people of
this country -- black or white -- in an all-out effort to
defeat any man who supports any feature of the civil rights
package.

The executive branch of this government has ig-
nored the Constitution of the United States and fostered
the march toward centralization and the ultimate destruct-
ion of our system. ‘

The Judicial branch has perverted the Constitution
of the United States in a manner which shocks the conscience
of the American people.

The Congress of the United States is the last
remaining bulwark against the destruction of our system of
government.

I ask you to ignore political pressures which
will destroy our entire free enterprise system ~~. that you
determine that this country will not have government by in-
timidation --= that you not see fit to destroy established busi-
nesses and personal service professions =- that you not place
the vast majority of American citizens in involuntary servitude --

that you stand up for America.