Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-18
Georgia Vote to Aid
Democrats in North
By REESE CLEGHORN
Contributing Writer

ATLANTA.-The election of a
Negro to the Georgia Senate may
rid the Democratic Party of an
albatrosS which hangs about its
neck each election year in North
ern cities.
The Senator elect, 38-year- old
lawyer Leroy r. Johnson, defeated
in the recent general elections
Negro Republican T. M. Alexander
by margin of more than 81 in a
new Atlanta senatorial district
that is predominantly Negro.
The Democratic National Com
mittee moved in to help johnson
after he had defeated three white
candidates to win the Democratic
nomination. He was the only
Democratic candidate running for
local office in Georgia to have
national party help against
Republican.
The reason for the interest in
MIR. johnson was that Democratic
leaders believe he can be a vote
swinging symbol for the party in
the North.
For years Republican candidates
seeking the Negro vote in North
ern cities have damaged Demo-
cratic opponents by asserting that
the Democratic donkey is a two
headed animal, with the Southern
head pulling against civil rights
nationally and blocking Negro
gains in the South.
. Mr.. JohnSon's election will help
eliminate the idea that the party
: SuppreSSes Negro rights in the
South, a contention that once was
unqueStionably true since South
ern Democrats did not allow Ne
groes to vote in white primaries"
Locol Support
Mr.. johnson, in fact, won the
election-and the primary race
that preceded it-with the help of
some powerful local Democrats.
When his Republican opponent
held that Southern Democracy
consists of such people as Missis-
Sippi's Ross Barnett, Arkansas
Orval FaubuS and Georgia'S
Marvin Griffin, Mr.. johnson 1e-
minded the voters of other South
ern Democrats: Atlanta's Mayor
Ivan Allen, jr., moderate, and
Ralph McGill, publisher of THE
Atlanta Constitution" and a voice
of Southern liberalism for three
decades.
you don't stop eating apples
just because you find a few rot
ten ones in the barrel" Mr.. john
son would say to his Negro au-
diences, who were obviously agog
at choosing between two Negroes.
When election time comes again,
Mr.. johnson may speak in behalf
of the Democratic candidates in
New York, Detroit and other
cities.
His presence probably will be
used to show Negro voters that
Democrats, rather than Republi-
cans, finally broke the racial bar
rier in Southern legislatures. He
will be the only Negro in South
ern legislature and the first in the
Georgia Senate since 1907.
b Mr.. Johnson, an articulate
former school teacher, speaks
cautiously and tactfully on sub
jects that might raise the hackles
of Southern traditionalists.
9 On campaigning far afield, he
says:
I'm not averse to it, but the
people involved would have to
decide that. I'd be disposed to do
anything that I could do in good
conscience to assist the Kennedy
administration. I'm a party man."
Though President Kennedy
swept most of the country's Negro
vote, he failed to win it in Atlanta.
DR.. C. A. Bacote of Atlanta Uni
verSity, an authority on Negro
voting, says President Kennedy
received AZ per cent of the Negro
votes and Richard Nixon won So
per cent.
Desegregotion Reaction
DR.. Bacote believes that ever
since 1854, when Southern Demo-
Gratis reacted violently against the
Supreme Courts school desegre-
cation decision, many Negroes
have been determined to vote