Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-25
BY KEITH FULLER
Associated Press stan Writer


LITTLE ROCK.-To the strains
of a solemn march, $50 Central
High School seniors will file across
the football field this week to re-
ceive their diplomas.
For the first time. one of them
will be Negro.
His presence will represent in
tegration in Little Rock: A page
in history. violent, bitter and far
reaching: but an accomplished
fact for at least one school year.
United States troops and an ex-
penditure of nearly SIS million
went into the accomplishment.
The commencement exercise
will unfold in the stadium where
the tough 101st Airborne Infantry
had field headquarters when 1t
guarded the presence Of nine
Negroes at the school last fail.
But the school campus, first
the scene Of riots, then an army
encampment last autumn, wears
an outward aura Of tranquility.
A few federalized National
Guardsmen loll about the school
and a jeep with two more soldiers
slowly patrols the elm-lined
streets.
Will Their Job End?
To the delight of the guards
men, all Of them Arkansans. their
baby sitting" job will end May
30 when school closes for the
summer The big unanswered
question is whether they, or men
like them, will be needed again
next fall to guarantee the safety
of Negro students.
A Federal court Judge may an
swer the question summarily when
he rules on the school boards PEE
tition to have its gradual integra-
ton plan postponed until 1861.
His ruling may come June 3.
If the court holds that inte-
gration-launched last fall with
bloody fights, gripping tension
and racial hatred-should pro-
coed, the seven remaining Negro
students say they will go back.
President Eisenhower said the
troops would return only if cir
cumstanceS forced it, but that he
would use troops to meet defiance
to a Federal court order.
In his third-term bid for Gov
ernor's office-a feat accomplished
by only one man thus far in Ar
kansas history-Gov. Orval Eau
bus said he used National Guard
troops to keep Negroes out Of Gen.
trail High School last September
"in accordance with the wishes
of a majority of the people, which
was my responsibility"
Faubus said he would yield to
the will of the majority regard
less of whether it is right or
wrong"
Little Rock-shouted as an cpl
tibet at Vice President Nixon in
Venezuela and spoken as an insult
by anti-American elements around
the world-has resumed its role
as a normal quiet city of 100000.
How the Majority Feel
Conversation on buses, in cafes
or on the street turns more to a
discussion of business conditions
than indignation.
But the outward calm may not
mean the majority has accepted
indignation here as an accom-
plished fact.
II definitely do not think 1t has
been accomplished" commented
Aniis Guthridge, attorney for the
Capital Citizens Council and an
ardent segregationist.
II think" he added, lit has
been q fiat dismal failure. ! think
Indignation can be stopped, that
it will be stopped and that 1t has
been stopped. I mean here and
all over the South. The effects of
the valiant struggle Of white par
ents against armed might has
caused indignation to be In dis
repute not only in the South but
in the North, East and West"
Mrs. L. c. Bates, president Of
the Arkansas National Association
for the Advancement Of Colored