to the Federal Government. The Committee on Government Contracts should be strengthened by granting to it the right to hold broad hearings on complaints. It should be armed with the power of subpena to require witnesses to testify and with the power to direct any Government agency to terminate a contract or refrain from granting a contract where discrimination is practiced.

The time for a piecemeal approach to civil rights is long gone.

Too much

is at stake in America and the world for further temporizing. A strong civil rights bill is required now if further progress is to be made. Under the best of circumstances and with a strong bill, progress will be slow. A strong bill, however, will assure that progress will come.

Senator HENNINGS. Now, on the bombing matter, since we are all members of the Judiciary, it would be helpful if all of Mr. Maslow's special memorandums on bombings

Mr. MASLOW. I would be glad to give them to Mr. Slayman for distribution.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Then I shall distribute copies to Judiciary Committee members.

Mr. MASLOW. The one point I wanted to emphasize was the inclusion of "home" within the scope of any bombing legislation.

Senator HENNINGS. Yes; I recall.

Then, if there is nothing further, no other witnesses, no other questions at this time, we will recess until Friday next at 10 o'clock. (Whereupon, at 2 p.m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene on Friday, April 10, 1959, at 10 a.m.)

CIVIL RIGHTS-1959

FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1959

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:05 a.m., in room 318, the Caucus Room, Old Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senators Hennings, Ervin, and Wiley.

Also present: Charles H. Slayman, Jr., chief counsel and staff director, and J. Delmas Escoe, assistant counsel.

Senator HENNINGS. The subcommittee will please come to order. Call your first witness, Mr. Slayman.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Mr. Chairman, the first scheduled witness is Mr. Herman Edelsberg, the director of the Washington Office of the AntiDefamation League of B'nai B'rith.

Senator HENNINGS. I might make the following statement for the record. In view of the fact that the testimony here generally relates to matters of opinion or conclusion, the Chair is not undertaking to swear the witnesses, as in some hearings. Should controversial matters of fact develop such as specific incidents, episodes, certain happenings-it would then be, of course, proper and necessary to ask the witness to subscribe to oath.

However, so far, for the most part, no controversial factual matters have been developed here. Controversy has been shown, though, in the realm of law and opinion.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Mr. Edelsberg, I wonder if you would mind stepping aside for a moment?

Senator Sparkman has just entered the room. Previously, he had asked for an opportunity to be heard today.

Mr. EDELSBERG. I shall be happy to cooperate.

Senator HENNINGS. We appreciate your courtesy, Mr. Edelsberg. Senator Sparkman, we will be very glad to hear from you at this time.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN J. SPARKMAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA

Senator SPARKMAN. Mr. Chairman, I don't like to displace Mr. Edelsberg.

Senator HENNINGS. I am sure you don't.

Senator SPARKMAN. I do have a committee meeting that I need to be at.

Senator HENNINGS. We all have so many conflicts here that it is impossible

Senator SPARKMAN. It is pretty hard to make all of the committee meetings.

My statement will be very brief, Mr. Chairman.

Senator HENNINGS. We are very glad to hear from you. You may, of course, proceed as you like, either by reading from a statement,

or

Senator SPARKMAN. I have a brief statement.

Senator HENNINGS. Or interspersing or elaborating upon your state

ment.

Senator SPARKMAN. I would like to submit the entire statement for your record.

Senator HENNINGS. Any way you please, and

Senator SPARKMAN. I was going to skip around and summarize. Senator HENNINGS. You may thereafter file your statement to be made a part of the record, without objection, in the proceedings.

Senator SPARKMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will not take the time to discuss in any great detail the contents of each of the several so-called civil-rights bills now before you for consideration.

Neither will I explain at length my opposition to each bill, although I shall dwell in greater detail on some of the bills than on others. I am opposed to all the bills for the simple reason that they are unnecessary. They would constitute a further encroachment of Federal authority on State authority, and they would make for increased deterioration of the previous harmonious relations that existed between the races.

I wish each of you could understand the racial tensions that have been generated by agitation over civil rights since 1954.

Communication between the leaders of the two races has been largely destroyed. Problems once settled on a mutually satisfactory basis are now frequently not settled at all. Suspicion has replaced trust. Fear has replaced mutual confidence.

The unwise and unjustified school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court in 1954 and the agitation by certain individuals and groups outside the South since then to force integration on the South have brought about resentment and distrust between the North and the South and between the Negro and the white that will require generations to heal. We all might as well face the fact that changes in customs and traditions cannot be forced by Federal power.

Today our Nation faces grave danger from a bitter and persistent foe. We need unity among our people as greatly as during any period of our history. Unity and a common front against this potential enemy cannot be obtained as long as our people are torn apart on the

race issue.

Attempts may be made to force integration on the people of the South as it was done in Little Rock, but brute Federal power will never be accepted by them. Moreover, such force would cause scars of hatred and dissension that would plague the Nation's welfare for generations to come.

In order to help reestablish harmony among our people and to rebuild the unity so greatly needed to face the grave threats that confront us, I urge this committee to reject all the so-called civil rights

bills before it.

I know personally the sponsors of all these bills. Among them are some of the most able Members of the U.S. Senate. I differ strongly with the sponsors of the civil rights bills on the need for such legislation

Regardless of how worthwhile their motives are, I fear that the results would be somewhat like the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein in that old movie that all of us must have seen at one time or another.

Now just briefly on some the bills:

First there is S. 435, which is similar to S. 960. Both of these bills would extend the life of the Civil Rights Commission 2 additional

years.

I voted against the establishment of such a Commission when the legislation establishing it came up on the Senate floor. I saw no need for such a Commission at that time. Subsequent events have, in my opinion, proved the correctness of my views.

This Commission was set up presumably to look into the alleged denial of voting rights. I predicted at the time that the Commission would not hold itself to that designation. The Attorney General in his own testimony stated the Commission has, of course, not limited itself to the question of voting rights. Evidently it did not find enough voter violation to keep busy on the problem it was allegedly created to solve. It should be allowed to die a quiet death.

(At this point in the proceedings, Senator Wiley entered the hearing room.)

Senator HENNINGS. If the Senator would excuse me for a moment, does the Senator know what the Civil Rights Commission has actually and in fact done?

Senator SPARKMAN. I was going to call attention to an article that has appeared in the papers within the last few days, in my hometown paper. It had this heading: "Civil Rights Group Must Decide by Friday on Pushing Vote Probe."

I would like to submit that news article for the record to substantiate the things that I have just said. There has been one hearing on the question of voting rights. I am sure the chairman is

Senator HENNINGS. One hearing during the entire life of the Commission appointed by the President?

Senator SPARKMAN. That is what the article says, yes.
Senator HENNINGS. And only one?

Senator SPARKMAN. Yes. I would like to submit the article, Mr. Chairman, and will not discuss it further.

But, as a matter of fact, I would say this: It was rather revealing

to me

Senator HENNINGS. The article will be, without objection, offered and made a part of the record.

(The article referred to is as follows:)

CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP MUST DECIDE BY FRIDAY ON PUSHING VOTE PROBE

(By Don Oberdorfer, Chicago Daily News Service)

WASHINGTON.--The Federal Civil Rights Commission, established by Congress primarily to investigate racial discrimination in voting, will have to decide next Friday night whether to carry out that mandate.

The rights group's professional staff intends to ask its Commission bosses to authorize further public hearings on complaints from Negroes that they've been denied the right to vote.

40361-59-pt. 1-24