Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-29
HEADLINE PERSONALITY
Ashmore Backs Law
In Arkansas Dispute
BY RELMAN NORM
Associated Press Staff Writer


LITTLE ROCK, Ark, Sept.
28.-m his recent television
statement on the dynamite
laden crisis in Little Rock. Gov.
Orval Faubus suddenly broke
of discussing its constitutional
aspects to pour fire on the
heads of several individuals.
He led off with a man named
Harry Ashmore.
Ardent integrationist -. .
biased and prejudiced took
sides with the outside forces"
he said.
In other public statements as
well, he has singled out Mr..
AShmore.
Harry S. Ashmore is the exec
utive editor of the Arkansas
Gazette in Little Rock.
Witty Raconteur
He is q South Carolinian,
mild-mannered, soft-spoken. He
is Al, but is almost boyiSh- look
ing. He is a writer, reporter,
. student and a witty raconteur.
a man who likes to sit around
by the hour Ginning with re-
porters-an unlikely man, you
would say. to incur such vol
canic hostility.
But Mr.. Ashmore took on
Gov. Faubus in the fight over
indignation with his eyes wide
open. He also expected that his
stand would draw down the
wrath of ardent segregationists
from all over the South.
Every day. rubbing elbows
with Mr.. Ashmore'S own edito-
rial in the Gazette. there are
letters from readers blasting
the paper and praiSing the
Governor. Others take the OPP
posite view.
Il am not, as I've been
branded. an integrationiSt. "
says Mr.. Ashmore. 81 am an
upholder of law and order"
The Reason Why
That, he says. is the reason
why the Gazette turned its
guns on Gov. Faubus the min
ute the Governor put the Ma
tional Guard around Central
High School with orders to
keep Negroes from enrolling.
Neither / nor the paper
have any separate concern with
the problem of the Negro. as
SUCH" Mr.. Ashmore says. I'VE
have never crusaded for Negro
rights.
But we do believe in law
and order and we are working
to develop the community. Fau-
bus is going counter to both"
Mr.. Ashmore. who comes
from Greenville, S. C.-the up
country area where Negroes
are thinly spread-says he
thinks the Supreme Court rul-
ing of 1854. declaring segrega-
ton unconstitutional. was in
evitahle.
That's because Of the cur
rent of history and the basic
changes taking place in the
South" he said. I'm my judg-
ment, they have brought pres
sures against legal segregation
which the courts simply con-
firmed.
Sees Agreement
II think those people who
look at the thing dispassion- I
ately agree with me.
But the main point. here. is
that when the Supreme Court |
ruled. there was no longer any
choice"
Mr.. Ashmore has been look
ing at the problems Of the
South. and writing about them.
for a long time.
He went to Clemson College
in Clemson, S. c.. edited the
college weekly, worked for the
Anderson. S. c., Daily Mail and
the Greenville, S. c.. Piedmont.
Later, he was a political writer
for the Greenville. S. CO. News
and a student at Harvard Uni
versity on a Nieman (jour-
nalistic) fellowship.
Intelligence Officer
During World War II. he
served with the 95th division
in Europe as an intelligence Of
ficer and later in the opera
tons section Of the division
staff. He went in as a second
lieutenant and came home in
1945 as q lieutenant colonel.
Then he worked on the
Charlotte. N. c., News. He came
to the Gazette in 1947. and was
appointed executive editor the
following year. He also is a
director of the paper.
Mr.. Ashmore married Bar
bara Laier. Of Swampscott.
Mass. in 1910. "She was a
teacher at Furman University"
he says. "a carpetbagger from
the Nawth."
They have an 11-year-old
daughter.
AS the editor Of a morning
newspaper. Mr.. Ashmore is a
night owl. He seldom goes
home before three or four in
the morning. unplugs the tele-
phone in his bedroom, spends
another hour or so studying the
final edition of the Gazette.
He is a baseball tan, but has