The Proper Stance

"This may sound crazy," said Washington Post Reporter Edward Folliard to Barry Goldwater at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, "but do you think it would be feasible for you, as the Republican nominee for President, to get together with the Democratic nominee and try to work out some agreement that would avert the inflaming of racial tension -- some appeal for a peaceful America?"

Goldwater did not hesitate in his reply. "I think that's a very good idea," he said. "That's gone through my mind."

Absurd Idea. Barry had been saying tor days that he hoped the passions of the presidential campaign would not exacerbate the civil rights struggle, and few Americans could argue with that wish. Now Harlem was aflame with riot, and a degree of political statesmanship seemed mandatory.

Having more or less publicly commit ted himself to seeking a civil rights meeting with President Johnson, Barry went about other business, waited a while before instructing an assistant to call the White House for an appointment. Meanwhile, news stories pro claimed that Goldwater was going to urge upon Johnson a pact that "civil rights be kept out of the campaign."

This, of course, was absurd. Whether rightly or wrongly, civil rights is, and is likely to remain the most emotionally explosive domestic issue of election year 1964. Both Goldwater and Johnson know this, and each quite understandably suspects the other of intending to use the issue for his own ends.

The Phrases. Lyndon would love to trademark the phrase "civil rights"--it has a fine, pious ring, and anyone who says he is against "civil rights" is obviously an extremist. Goldwater, of course, hopes to win in the Democratic South not because he is against "civil rights" but because he is for "states' rights." Moreover, he figures to get votes outside the South because of the so-called "white backlash"--an unfortunate phrase that implies that anyone who does not go all the way with the Negro revolution, including its excesses and extremism, is some sort of Simon Legree with a whip in his hand.

On the afternoon that Johnson and Goldwater were finally scheduled to meet, the President held a press conference and threw it open to TV. As the Washington Post's Folliard entered the auditorium, one of the President's Secret Service men pulled him aside and requested that he ask Johnson very much the same question he had asked Goldwater at O'Hare.

Folliard dutifully did so, and Johnson was waiting in his best pulpit manner. "Well," he said, "I do not believe that any issue which is before the people can be eliminated from the campaign in a free society in an election year ... I believe that all men and women are entitled to equal opportunities so that they may be judged according to their merits and not according to some artificial barriers. Now, to the extent that Senator Goldwater differs from these views, or the Republican Party differs, there will, of course, be discussion. And I intend to carry on some of it if I am a candidate."

No Pix. When the actual Johnson-Goldwater meeting took place, it was icily formal. No photographs were taken, and when the session ended a scant 16 minutes after it started, White House Press Secretary George Reedy's communique was exquisitely balanced. "The President met with Senator Goldwater," it said, "and reviewed the steps he has taken to avoid the incitement of racial tensions. Senator Goldwater expressed his position, which was that racial tension should be avoided. Both agreed on this position."

Score one for whom? For neither--except that both displayed the proper stance.

That night, rioting spread from Harlem and other New York City ghettos to Rochester, N.Y. There, half a dozen Negroes jumped two policemen who had handcuffed a drunk for arrest. From that scuffle the rioting spread over 50 blocks, burst into a full-scale pitched battle between several thousand Negroes and 500 cops. Rioters overturned squad cars, assaulted white motorists with bottles, rocks and bare fists, and looted shops while burglar alarms clanged unnoticed. Police at first tried to hold back the mob with night sticks, soon switched to tear gas, police dogs and fire hoses. Finally, officials pleaded for state troopers to help, and after hours of unchecked violence the crowds were dispersed, at least for the moment, leaving the city under tight, state-or-emergency law.

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