Encounter at Nashville

Into the Tennessee State Capitol at Nashville tramped 250 demonstrators bearing banners that read TENNESSEE BETRAYED, SEGREGATION OR WAR, and GOD, THE ORIGINAL SEGREGATIONIST. Representatives of the Tennessee Society to Maintain Segregation Inc., the Associated Citizens' Councils of Tennessee, and Pro-Southerners Inc., the demonstrators came to persuade Governor Frank Clement (TIME, Jan. 30) that Tennessee should declare the Supreme Court decision "null and void." They got an early hint of Clement's answer: when one of the demonstrators tried to eject a Negro photographer, a state trooper intervened: "If you hit that man, I'll lock you up. This building belongs to all the people."

The Governor invited the leaders of the demonstrators into his office "to shake my hand if you want to." On hand in his office the well-prepared Clement had two Protestant ministers, a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi and a score of reporters and TV cameramen. The demonstrators were put off balance when Clement commenced the proceedings with "a word of prayer."

Clement heard out the demonstrators, then told them: "You are my bosses, but there are many others. I have one boss who stands above all others, and that is my conscience. I believe with all my heart that your group is the greatest ally the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has in trying to obtain integration rapidly. I am not accusing you of double-dealing [but] I do not believe in pressure tactics, and a governor who submits to pressure rather than following reason would not be worthy of the office.

"Strife breeds more strife, violence produces more violence, and agitation causes trouble where none would otherwise exist. I cannot please you today because I don't think the course of action you suggest is in the interests of Tennessee."

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