Hays, Brooks

Description

Speech reflecting on recent Congressional election defeat -8- in my own home city and I find there a great longing to resolve the school problem in an honorable way. I did receive 49 percent of the reported vote in my district and my leadership of the Baptist Convention appears to remain unimpaired. The holder of public office in the South faces a real challenge to his political survival if he tries to be anything other than an extremist on the race issue. Many of my Southern Baptist colleagues have expressed personal regrets over what happened to me, but some might be damaged if they made their position public. I would not want any one of them to be hurt by having my views imputed to them. Through the years I have made many deep Southern friendships and I am hesitant to put any strains on them now. One of the problems is that in the present climate of opinion in the South, the word “moderate” itself carries a good deal of prejudice. In the press conference I held on November 7, after returning to Washington, I expressed my own personal beliefs, but admitted the dangers involved in this position. As the New York Times story by Anthony Lewis quoted me, “I think the South suffers when a man like the Governor of Arkansas pillories men like me. I’m seeking a chance for Southern people themselves to do justice to the Negro. We’ve been obstructed in that because the extremists interpret...

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Brooks Hays Materials

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University of Arkansas