The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E, Bohn One More Vote On Civil Rights FRIDAY, APRIL 8, was a sadly ceremonial day in the United States Senate. It had the atmosphere of a first class funeral. For nearly...
...Abundant evidence was adduced from the report of the Civil Rights Commission to show that hundreds of thousands of Negroes in Southern states have their rights of suffrage systematically denied...
...I wish that I could do justice to some of the men in the Senate...
...But the chief argument by the men from the magnolia states was that almost 100 years ago the South had suffered from the Reconstruction...
...In the long run, 18 cannot stand up against 82...
...In the end, virtually all there was left was the article providing that "referees" appointed by Federal courts would, after all of the proper moves had been made, see that properly qualified Negroes could not be unceremoniously ejected from voting-places...
...The presiding officer announced: "The question is on the passage of the bill...
...On that last day Democrat Douglas rose and said of Republican Javits: "The Senator from New York has been magnificent in this whole fight...
...don't lose faith...
...The three men I mentioned above made especially brilliant records during this long, tiresome struggle...
...When a vote was taken involving first principles, the result would be: 82 votes to 18...
...and Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y...
...And then, under the slick leadership of Lyndon Johnson, the whole thing came to an end: a final vote...
...its actions sometimes seem silly...
...I may be wrong, but it looks to me as if only a few exceptionally fortunate Negroes in especially favorable situations will get any benefit from this painfully hammered-together piece of legislation...
...It has no relation to laws or constitutions or anyone's right to vote, but this sort of ceremonial oratory has gone on for seven weeks...
...In the first place, the pattern of the conflict held firm right through the seven weeks...
...Men like Paul Douglas (D-III...
...And when the votes were counted, it appeared that the only negative voices were those of the little bloc of 18 men from the backward-looking South...
...The rules and traditions of this ancient body are crazy...
...Suppose, for example, that a highly educated Negro college professor or clergyman living 100 miles from any Federal court is politely steered away from the polling-place...
...This structure is solid and has the air of permanence...
...I cannot pretend to have any expert knowledge of this rather complicated provision...
...In the end, the Congress of the United States will make good—especially in the field of civil rights...
...But it does seem to me plain that in many areas of the South this machinery is unlikely to produce any results satisfactory to the non-voting Negroes...
...But in its seats are first-class men by the dozen...
...had tried to add clauses affording some support to the Executive branch in its efforts to make school desegregation more than a token affair...
...And all this in an anti-Negro atmosphere...
...And at the very end he made this promise: "But those of us from the North and West on this side of the aisle, and our few but gallant allies on the other side, are not ending this fight with any whimper of failure...
...I want to say to my readers: Don't become impatient...
...Despite the fact that this legislative confection may be of little use, the liberal members of the Senate closed the long fight in optimistic mood and I think I understand their frame of mind...
...For nearly two months the best men from the Northern and Western states had been quietly explaining that the 15th Amendment to the Constitution provides that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude...
...Joseph Clark (D-Pa...
...But the infinitely clever Johnson had everything sewed up...
...Again and again during the tiresome seven weeks Senators had tried to add broadening amendments...
...and that the very next paragraph sets forth in the plainest of language ''that Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation...
...He must travel 100 miles or have his lawyer do so for him...
...But when the appropriate legislation to remedy this condition was presented to the Senate, Southern statesmen yelled bloody murder and shouted repetitiously that it was unconstitutional...
...We shall carry this issue to the public and be back again soon to renew our drive for a more meaningful and robust proposal...
...They seemed to get a perverse pleasure out of generally agitating this ancient wound, a matter which should be gone into by a first-class Freudian...
...Northern listeners have tried to stay awake and be on hand to vote...
...The 1960 Civil Rights Bill is not much of a piece of legislation...
...He must secure appointment of a "referee," return to his home grounds with this powerful assistant and finally—we hope—have justice done...
...The privilege of working with him and with other Senators on the other side of the aisle who felt similarly is one of the memories which I shall always cherish...
Vol. 43 • May 1960 • No. 19
