The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1956-03-09
GOV. HODGES
OFFERS VIEWS ON
DISSERTATION
Special Session Of Legislature May
Be Called During This Sum-
mer on Question


day that in answer to many in
quiries as to the strength of his
feeling about the segregation prob
lem, he is mailing to each member
of the General Assembly, to the
newspapers of the State, and to
several other groups, a few brief
excerpts from some of his previous
statements concerning the segrega-
ton problem. "Such inquiries are
natural on the part of those who
are concerned about the problem
but find it difficult to keep clear
what has happened in a fast-mov-
ing situation covering period of
several months" the Governor
commented. The excerpts are as
follows:
In a statewide speech delivered
on August 8, in which the Cover
nor proposed the plan of voluntary
separate school attendance, he
stated: "Those who would force
this State to choose between inte-
grated schools and abandonment
of the public school system will be
responsible if, in the choice, we
lose the public school system :.
and find, to our eternal sorrow,
the personal racial bitterness
which North Carolinians of both
races have avoided so success
fully"
On September 20, the Governor
stated, in a press conference, that
if the voluntary plan was not ac-
copied, the State would resort to
other defenses, such as local OPP
ton.
A few days later, Attorney Cen
eral William B. Rodman, Jr., with
approval of the Governor, explain
; ed to an audience that local option
is designed primarily to permit
communities that, sometime in the
future, may be faced with an in
tegration problem as a result of a
court order or otherwise, to close
their public schools if they wish
and to try other methods of edu-
eating their children.
In a statewide speech on Novem
Der 80, the Governor stated: 81
am opposed to mixing the races in
our schools. l think the over
whelming majority of the people
Gin North Carolina are also opposed
to mixing white and colored chill
dren D.. :"
In a speech in New York City,
delivered on January 20, 1856, the
Governor stated: "The Supreme
Court decision overturned the law
as that same Court had pronounced
it on countless occasions for some
sixty years. This the Court did
without citing a single legal prece-
dent for it's action, and with no
explanation except that social con-
ditions required a change The
provisions for change, provided by
the Constitution itself were ig-
nored to satisfy the conclusions
reached by nine temporary occu-
pants of the Supreme Court.
Eventually, if such a method of
making decisions is followed, there
will be a decision which conflicts
with the customs and mores of
other parts of the country as seri-
ously as this one does with those
of the South. Perhaps then the
rest of the United States will
realize the extent of the power
which nine men assumed when
they made their segregation deci-
sions-and perhaps then it may be
too late"
In a statement on interposition,
issued on February 2, 1856, the
Governor said that it had been
agreed that "the Advisory Com
mittee should consider possible
wording of resolution to be rec
commended to our General Assem-
bly,, which will reaffirm North
Cardinals position with the other
Southern States in emphasizing the
strong resentment our people feel
toward the unjustified usurpation
of power by the Supreme Court of