Inside Story of Little Rock - Page 2

Article in U.S. News and World Report based on excerpts from Hays' book A Southern Moderate SpeaksU.S. News & World Report —USN&WR Photo [photograph credit] SHOWDOWN IN SEPTEMBER, 1957 - Federal troops at Little Rock's Central High School [photograph caption] (The book, "A Southern Moderate Speaks," by Brooks Hays, is published by the University of North Carolina Press. Permission to reprint any portion, including the excerpts printed here, must be obtained from the University of North Carolina Press.) August 20, Governor Faubus telephoned Governor Marvin Griffin of Georgia, who was due to address the Capital Citizens Council of Little Rock two days later. Upon being assured that Griffin and Roy Harris, former Georgia State senator and Citizens Council leader, would not make any inflammatory speeches, Governor Faubus invited them to stay at the Governor's Mansion. Said Harris later: "We had to accept Faubus's invitation to stay at the Mansion, but we had to apologize to the [Citizens] Council folks for staying there. "When we got to the airport there at Little Rock, Marv went over and greeted the Governor's delegation-the State troopers and all-and that gave me time to get to one side with our people. I apologized and told 'em that Marv figured it was just courtesy to accept another Governor's invitation, and that being discourteous wouldn't do any good. "And then I told 'em, 'Why, having us two there at the Mansion's the worst thing could happen to Faubus. It'll ruin him with the integrationists and liberals.' "And they said, 'We never thought of it that way. That's fine.'" The night of August 22, Griffin and Harris spoke at a $10-a-plate dinner to raise funds to stop integration. Griffin vowed to the audience of some 350 people that he would never permit Georgia's schools to be integrated. Harris went on to say that Griffin would use the National Guard, the State patrol, and every able-bodied man in Georgia to keep the Negroes out. Pressure for Resistance Mounts This development caused Governor Faubus to think twice about what he should do or not do about Little Rock's plan. The pressure was mounting for him to follow a course similar to the one advocated by Griffin. His political future might well be at stake. At the Governor's request, on Aug. 28, 1957, A. B. Caldwell, assistant for civil rights in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, and a native and former resident of Arkansas, was sent to Little Rock for a private conference. The Governor told Mr. Caldwell that he had reason to believe that there would be violence at Central High School if the Negroes tried to enter on September 3. When asked what the Federal Government was prepared to do if this happened, Caldwell replied that the development Brooks Hays, in 16 years in Congress, became known as a "moderate" on racial issues and an expert at negotiating compromises of disputes. It was in his familiar role as peacemaker that Mr. Hays entered the dispute over school integration in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. A year later, running for re-election in the district that contains Little Rock, Mr. Hays was defeated by a write-in campaign that elected a segregationist. Mr. Hays is a Democrat, a lawyer and president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is 60. U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, March 23, 1959 11