Can Moderation Succeed in the South? - Page 2

Speech reflecting on recent Congressional election defeat-2- Given the ability of Governor Faubus to inflame passions, I think my contesting would create considerable bitterness and further division in the Little Rock community, when what is needed is a greater spirit of reconciliation. I do think that the validity of the procedures used to gain a majority vote should be determined as a legal question, with the decision made, not in the context of a personal rivalry between Dr. Dale Alford and myself, but as an abstract proposition. I am convinced that most all Americans want clean elections and it is the preservation of that fundamental principle of democracy that is at stake. I would not want my interest to confuse the issue. If the proper authorities can make the necessary judgment of the means employed, the no other holder of public office need fear becoming the victim of this kind of impropriety again. The people are entitled to have an incorruptible election system. Democracy will fail and our liberties will be lost unless the standards of propriety, with reference to the conduct of clean elections are maintained. It is in this way, by exposure of procedural misdeeds, that public confidence in the demagogic tactics of power-hungry me