National Reports
ROMER, SAM & EUBANKS, BICKNELL & JR., WILLIAM K. WYANT
National Reports Behind the Primary Upset in Minnesota By Sam Romer Minneapolis Estes Kefauver's rout of Adlai Stevenson in the Minnesota primary came as a shock despite growing evidence during...
...Louis Negroes was expedited by public reaction to racial incidents that occurred in 1949 in connection with use of the city's swimming pools...
...Minnesota's primary law makes party endorsement a virtual must if the recognized leaders are to retain control of the convention delegation...
...Students gave them generous applause, and things quieted down...
...Kefauver may not have won even though Stevenson lost...
...And desegregationists won a victory which could eventually be as decisive as the United States Supreme Court decree...
...There was some disorder, but police, prepared this time, kept it in hand...
...It was not a statewide development, nor has it set a pattern which is likely to spread rapidly in the foreseeable future...
...Louis The Fund for the Republic has provided money for production of a 30-minute film on the integration of the St...
...Another point of similarity is that, until very recently, St...
...As it turned out...
...Humphrey and Freeman endorsed Stevenson because he was their honest choice for President: they also acted out of political necessity to keep control of the party...
...However, their personal defeat is minimized somewhat by a general realization that Stevenson's defeat resulted from his failure to campaign effectively...
...It is difficult to compare it with 1952, when Hubert Humphrey ran unopposed as a favorite son, but no realistic politician can ignore the fact that the 1956 Democratic primary vole is almost 75 per cent of Stevenson's final 1952 total...
...There was never any question here that the law would be obeyed...
...NAACP Executive Secretary, said recently in Dallas that, compared with Mississippi...
...The St...
...The Fund for the Republic film, a documentary, will be called A City Decides...
...The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People might insist that desegregation is moving too slowly in Texas (although Roy Wilkins...
...Nevertheless, these have been an historic six months here...
...from the very beginning, he stressed that Stevenson had official party backing...
...At the pool in Fairgrounds Park, a Negro man and a white youth were stabbed, and at least 10 other persons were injured in a series of disturbances...
...Louis public schools...
...At times, he indulged in an almost irresponsible demagoguery...
...On the public-school level, though, there has not been such a readiness to accept integration...
...This means that the percentage of Negro citizens is something like 18 per cent, a figure which, while not comparable to percentages in the larger Southern cities, is certainly sufficient to indicate that St...
...The situation of St...
...On the other hand, an advocate of "moderation" would take pride in the successful moves toward integration in many public and semi-private fields...
...The new Council on Human Relations called in George Schermer, director of the Detroit Mayor's Interracial Committee, to make an investigation...
...Undoubtedly, some smart-aleck Republicans did vote in the Democratic race in an effort to sow confusion in the enemy ranks...
...Of course, there were murmurs of dissent...
...Generally speaking, however, the transition was without serious incident...
...Three swimming pools, including the one in Fairgrounds Park, were closed for the summer...
...Yet, they knew that the party leaders had little choice...
...Mayo Simon's shooting script accents the positive side in a strongly inspirational way but does not gloss over the difficulties...
...The Mayor immediately restored the segregation policy and set up a Council on Human Relations to promote interracial understanding...
...In district after district including such Republican strongholds as southern Minnesota the Democrats outpolled the Republicans by overwhelming majorities...
...At Beaumont High School, in March 1955, there was trouble...
...The following January, segregation was eliminated in high schools...
...Principal hotels quietly began accepting Negro guests at conventions...
...For States' Righters can no longer declare that the principle of integration can find judicial support only in Federal courts...
...The decision to get on with the job had the support of the press, the politicians and responsible citizens...
...In time, these heated passions may be cooled by the calmer and more dispassionate outlook of the largest Southern state, Texas...
...Senator Humphrey and Governor Orville Freeman, who backed Stevenson vigorously, have suffered a serious defeat though its magnitude is still uncertain...
...Texas is a "paradise" for Negroes...
...The pools were accordingly opened to all, but on a system of segregation by sex, with boys swimming one day and girls the next...
...Major first-run theaters ended segregation...
...The Texas high court has ruled, in effect, that segregation is illegal and unconstitutional in the Lone Star State, where it has been the law for more than 100 years...
...A film review of St...
...Kefauver's supporters, many of them dissident opponents of the Humphre-Freeman regime, went much further: they bandied about loose charges of "dictatorship" and "machine control" in their plea for votes...
...in effect, the Kefauver voter passed them by...
...The Minnesota election spells disaster for the normal GOP majority on the farms...
...By the 1950 census, the population was 702,348 whites and 154,448 Negroes...
...Against this background, the St...
...Louis had more than a token problem of integration...
...Louis's Success with Integration By William K. Wyant Jr...
...Negroes are prominent on several professional baseball teams, and mixed boxing and wrestling matches have been permitted...
...yet, they could hardly have been a major factor in the overwhelming Kefauver majority...
...Criswell's views will seriously affect thousands of Texas Baptists...
...Even ardent Stevenson backers were quick to admit afterward that their hero may well have suffered a mortal blow...
...Integration here was begun without delay when the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision...
...Fund to Film St...
...W. A. Criswell, pastor of the wealthy, influential and huge First Baptist Church of Dallas, described integration as "a thing of idiocy and foolishness.' He was speaking of integration in churches, and other Baptists hurriedly pointed out that he spoke only for himself...
...Under the Fourteenth Amendment, the judge held, the use of any such facility had to be on a basis of racial equality...
...Few observers expected Stevenson to lose the popular vote...
...This is a legal theory which in effect claims that the Federal Government is unconstitutionally stepping on states' rights...
...Louisans share the Southern viewpoint and regard mixing of the races in the schools as the opposite of progress...
...For the past few years, it should be noted, no one has paid much attention to state laws against Negroes and whites competing against each other in athletics, on both the professional and college levels...
...Louis Negroes is still far from ideal in this respect, but in the last five years significant changes have taken place on a number of fronts...
...People were informed of what was going to happen and were told when it would happen...
...he rarely described a situation in stark blacks and whites...
...The most significant election figure is the 145.000 voters who cast Democratic ballots...
...The Fairgrounds Park and the Beaumont High School troubles are covered...
...an elector merely asks for the ballot of his choice...
...One of his supporters complained that he was "too honest" with the voters...
...All recent incidents involving whites and Negroes have been well investigated, and it is apparent that the stresses and strains of emotions caused by the desegregation moves have had only an incidental influence in such eases...
...The tempering influence of the West on the South here in Texas, where the two regions merge, is creating a more favorable atmosphere for working out the serious and sometimes violent problems which attend the elimination of racial discrimination in education south of the Mason and Dixon Line...
...As usual, Stevenson presented a calm, urbane approach to the issues...
...The film will be directed by Charles Guggenheim, with Martin Quigley as production supervisor and Victor Duncan in charge of photography...
...A great many citizens, including some of the leading elements in terms of wealth and social position, are of Southern origin...
...Louis's experience may be helpful elsewhere, not only because integration of schools was skilfully handled but also because the city is rather close to the South, geographically and in its cultural patterns...
...Several games have been canceled where integrated schools were scheduled to play against all-white schools...
...When the film is completed, it will be made available to television stations and to various civic-minded agencies and groups...
...An unexpected blow to the integration forces came when Dr...
...Louis Public Service Co., which operates the transit system, started hiring without regard to race and now has 180 Negro bus drivers...
...The Director of Public Welfare ordered an end to segregation...
...West's Influence Felt in Texas By Bicknell Eubanks Dallas Some six months ago, Negro and white children sat down side by side in Texas public schools for the first time...
...The implementation was gradual, in accordance with a carefully-worked-out plan...
...National Reports Behind the Primary Upset in Minnesota By Sam Romer Minneapolis Estes Kefauver's rout of Adlai Stevenson in the Minnesota primary came as a shock despite growing evidence during the campaign of the Kefauver groundswell...
...Superintendent of Instruction Philip J. Hickey, who has been widely praised for the firm leadership he provided in the situation, says a major reason for success was the board's decisive and unanimous action in laying down a definite plan and then following it...
...Hickey went out and addressed a student assembly...
...It was not the kind of campaign which wins elections...
...he came out for 100-per-cent parity supports for farmers without suggesting that such a move must carry with it the strictest kind of regimentation...
...But it would be foolish to ignore the fact that Dr...
...Because it attracts many Southerners from other states, it also reflects Southern thinking...
...All these things happened without fanfare...
...He promised something for everyone...
...Certain special schools and colleges came first, in September 1954...
...There is considerable resentment about Kefauver's "underdog" campaign...
...their total vole of 200,000 compares favorably with the 300,000 they racked up in 1952...
...It is hard for Americans in general to realize the extent of the Lone Star State's influence on Southern thought...
...Just where Texas stands on segregation today is hard to pinpoint...
...Many St...
...no one anticipated that he would trail his Tennessee rival by some 60,000 votes...
...Their names headed the Stevenson list of delegates...
...Last September, with integration of the elementary schools, the process was complete...
...when Stassen and Eisenhower were fighting it out...
...In the following year, United States District Judge Rubey M. Hulen ruled unequivocally that the city had no right to deny use of tax-supported swimming pools to Negroes...
...In Minnesota, unlike other states, there is no pre-election party registration...
...But it is easy to exaggerate any Republican cross-over...
...Some of them it would be difficult to say how many moved to the suburbs, where few Negroes live...
...If the reaction to Minnesota's political "professionals" is indicative of a national trend...
...Governor Allan Shivers, who despite a decision not to seek public office again is still a powerful political influence in the South and the nation, has thrown his influence behind the doctrine of interposition...
...While strong language has been used on both sides of the desegregation question in Texas, no violence has occurred...
...Rut there is tension, a great deal of it...
...On the political front...
...The basketball coach talked, too...
...Nevertheless, the Texas Intelscholastic League, which controls state school athletics, has ruled that it would permit Negroes to compete for schools which have been white in the past and have integrated...
...Rocks were thrown, knives were displayed, and there were fights...
...A few downtown restaurants, notably those operated by department stores, opened their doors to Negroes...
...It is significant that the NAACP has not yet lost a desegregation fight in the courts...
...The advocate of white supremacy, seeking refuge in the Citizens' Councils which are in full bloom in East Texas, where the Negro population is heaviest would view with alarm the traditional Texas talent for tackling a problem head-on...
...Schermer's report said the immediate blame for the trouble could be placed on a loosely organized gang of boys and young men who had been in the center of several affrays in which Negroes were brutally attacked...
...Some 400 policemen and detectives were called out to restore order...
...For the first time, the issue of public-school segregation was carried into the supreme court of a Southern state...
...they may not even get to Chicago as delegates...
...Strangely enough, the improvement in status of St...
...The ultimate responsibility, he made it clear, would have to be shared by many persons public officials, and civic, religious, business and labor leaders and by Missouri's system of segregated schools...
...On the other hand, Kefauver conducted a roaring, stomping whistle-stop campaign, punctuated with hand-shaking, name-recalling tactics in the traditional manner...
...just as there is throughout most of the South...
...The first reaction of some Stevenson people was to charge a Republican "raid" on the Democratic primary...
...But it has not yet admitted to membership schools which were all-Negro in the past and might become desegregated...
...if the issue was clouded, he dwelt at length on the grays...
...Once Eisenhower decided to run again, Minnesota Republicans conducted an energetic get-out-the-vote campaign among their people...
...Some think it could nullify the Supreme Court decision...
...Louis Board of Education prepared itself to move swiftly and smoothly when the expected Supreme Court mandate on school segregation came down...
...Louis had discriminatory practices that were comparable with those of the South...
Vol. 39 • April 1956 • No. 14
