History homework help

198 GOVERNOR HERMAN TALMADGE’s STATEMENT ON THE BfiOWN DECISION (1954) 469

as (I quote) “a notorious international Communist” was made assistant to the fusistant Secretary of State in charge of Latin American affairs. He was taken into the State Departrnent from his job as lieutenant colonel in the Commu- nist Internarional Brigade. Finally, after interue congressional pressure and criticism, he resigned in 7946 from the State Departrnenr-and, ladies and gendemen, where do you think he is now? He took over a high-sdaried job as Chief of Cultural Activities Section in the ofrce of the fusistant Secretary General of the United Nations. . . .

This, ladies and gentlemen, gives you somewhat of a picture of the rype of individuais who have been helping to shape our foreign policy. In my opinion the State Department, which is one of the most important govern- ment departments, is thoroughly infested with Communists.

I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Parry but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy. . . .

As you hear this story of high treason, I know what you are saying to yourse[ “Well, why doesnt the Congress do something about it?” Actually, ladies and gendemen, one of the most important reasons for the graft, the corruption, the dishonesfy, the disloyalry the treason in high Government positions-one of the most important reasons why this continues-is a lack of moral uprising on the part of the 140,000,000 American people. In the light of history however, this is not hard to explain.

It is the result of an emotional hang-over and a temporary moral lapse which follows every war. It is the apathy to evil which people who have been subjected to the tremendous evils of war feel. As the people of the world see mass murder, the destruction of defenseless and innocent people, and all of the crime and lack of mords which go with war, they become numb and apathetic. It has always been thus after war.

However, the morals of our people have not been destroyed. They still exist. This cloak of numbness and apathy has only needed a spark to rekindle them. Happily, this spark has finally been supplied. . . .

198

Governor Herman Talmadge’s Statement on the Brown Decision (1954)

Beginning in the mid-19i0s, the National Association for the Aduancement of Col- ored People Q{AACP) began to challenge sehool segregation in the hopes of ending theJim Crow laws of the South.Their eforts culminated in the unanimous Supreme Court deeision, Brown u. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), which

ended the “separate but equal” doctine of racial segregation in public schook. Posiliue

and negatiue rrrponr6 to this deckion were immediate. Georgia Couernor Hetmah’E.

470 CHAPTER 25 POSTWAR AMERICA

Thlmadge, Jr. was among the frst southern politicians to issue a public statetnent, whieh came the day after the Brown decision. Thlmadge had deep political roots in C*orgia: His father was elected got,ernor three times, and the son flled the remainder of hk father\ last term, and then was eleeted gouernor. Thlmadge was proud that he spent more on public edueation for blacks and whites in his six years as governot than aII previous administrations combineil. In 1956, he was eleeted to the Senate and became a prominent opponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Ilis Brown decision statement, ofered following, rcJlected the sentitnents of matry whites in the lower South.

Ques t i ons t o Cons ide r

1. On what basis did Herman Talmadse attack the Suoreme Court’s deci- sion?

2. What is Georgiat “accepted pattern of life”?

3. Why did the NAACP choose public education to challenge existing segregation laws?

4. In what ways did the South resist the Brown decision?

The U.S. Supreme Court by its decision today has reduced our Constitution to a mere scrap of paper. It has blatantly ignored all law and precedent and usurped from the Congress and the people the power to amend the Consti- tution and from the Congress the authoriry to make the laws of the land. Its action confirms the worst fears of the motives of the men who sit on its bench and raises a grave question as to the future course ofthe nation.

There is no constitutional provision, statute or precedent to support the position the court has taken. It has swept aside 88 years of sound judicial precedent, repudiated the greatest legal minds of our age and lowered ieelf to the level of common politics.

It has attempted in one stroke to strike the 10th Amendment from the Constitution and to set the stage for the development of an all-power l fed- eral bureaucracy in Washington which can regulate the lives of all the citizens in the minutest detail.

The people of Georgia believe in, adhere to and will fight for their rights under the United States and Georgia constitutions to manage their own afairs. They cannot and they will not accept a bald politicd decree without basis in law or practicality which ovefirrns their accepted pattern of life.

The court has thrown down the gaundet before those who believe the Constitution means what it says when it reserves to the individual states the right to regulate their own internal affain. Georgians accept the challenge and will not tolerate the mixing of the races- in the public schools or any of

“Tirlmdgc Tcxt,”,4ilonta Corctitution, May 18, 1954, p. 3.

r99 AN AFRICAN-AMERTCAN NEWSPAPER EDITOR|AL ON THE LtfiLE ROCK CRtStS (1957′,) 471

its public tax-supported institutions. The fact that the high tribunal has seen fit to proclaim its views on sociology as law will not make any difFerence.

If adjustments in our laws and procedures are necessary they will be made. In the meantime all Georgians w’ill follow their pursuits by separate paths and in accepted fasbion. The U.S. and Georgia Constitutions have not been changed.The Georgia Consritution provides for separation of the races. It will be upheld.

As governor and chairman of the State Commission on Education I am summoning that body into immediate session to map a program to insure continued and permanent segregation of the races. . . .

I urge all Georgians to remain calm and resist any attempt to arouse fear or hysteria.The full powers of my office are ready to see that the laws of our state are enforced impartially and without violence.

I was elected governor of Georgia on the solemn promise to maintain our accepted way of life. So long as I hold this office it shall be done.

199

An African-American Newspaper Editorial on the Little Rock Crisis (1957)

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in the case orf Brown z. Board of Educa- tion of Topeka, Kansas (1954) generateil eautious hope among African Americans that publie facilities would be integrated. Although a few school districts in the South began integrating black and white stuilents shortly after the decision, most remained segregateil. State legislatures passed laws to circumyent the court’s iling, and white opposition groups formed to pleuent integration. One of the frst major tests of school integration ume in Little Rock,Arleansas, in September 1957.When the school board noveil to integrate nine blacle children into the all-white Central High School, Couer- nor Owille Faubus called out the Aileansas National Cuard to preuent the integra- tion.When a mob of angry white protestors greeted the nine students, the event gener ated national attention and compelled President Dwight Eisenhower to act. The Pittsburgh Courier was one of the most widely respected and circulated Aftican- American weekly newspapers. It had raised funds Jor the NAACP\ legal battle to end segregation in public schools. The Pitsburgh Courier ofered the following editorial on the Little Rock crisis,

1 .

Ques t i ons t o Cons ide r

‘What were the critical issues in Little Rock,Arkansas, that prompted

Eisenhower to act?

What actions did President Eisenhower take? ‘:’r””i ”r’rr

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