Congressional Record Excerpt on Little Rock Crisis, 85th Congress, August 18, 1958

              18210 congressional record — senate august 18 degree in 1933 he was editor in chief of the law review and was made a mem ber of the order of the coif upon graduation he became a partner in the prominent philadelphia law firm of white williams & scott with the exception of 4 years of war service during world war ii in which he served in the capacity of a com mander in the united states navy mr white spent 20 years with that firm in the private practice of law in 1953 the president appointed mr white united states attorney for the eastern district of pennsylvania dur ing an eventful 4 years tenure in that post wilson white saw to it that a backlog of 3,000 civil cases was elimi nated and that a list of criminal cases which was running 2 years behind was brought to a current status nor was his ability limited to such administrative success wilson white was an active practicing united states attorney who tried his own cases and argued his own appeals most noteworthy among his cases was that of the united states against kuzma in an extended and involved trial nine communists were convicted of smith act violations through the untiring efforts of united states attor ney white as the record shows in march 1957 the president appointed mr white as sistant attorney general in charge of the office of legal counsel he resigned that post on december 9 1957 in order to accept a presidential recess appoint ment as an assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights twice before therefore this nominee has been before the senate for confirmation and has re ceived our stamp of approval nothing new has been introduced into the record which would in any way viti ate the findings as to fitness and quality for such positions of public trust as we have approved mr white in the past for 7 months now however action on his nomination has been held up be cause of certain few disagree with the accuracy of legal advice which mr white furnished to former attorney general brownell the action for which that legal advice is said to have formed the basis has been challenged in two federal courts neither has indicated that such advice was incorrect i and the majority of the senate ju diciary committee most emphatically support this nomination and i strongly urge that the senate take favorable ac tion on it without compounding an in justice by further delay the presiding officer the question is will the senate advise and consent to the confirmation of the nom ination of w wilson white of pennsyl vania to be an assistant attorney gen eral mr eastland mr president i ask for the yeas and nays the presiding officer the yeas and nays have been requested mr watk3ns mr president i sug gest the absence of a quorum the presiding officer the clerk will call the roll mr eastland the yeas and nays were ordered mr watkins i did not know that had been announced the presiding officer the clerk will call the roll mr watkins mr president a par liamentary inquiry have the yeas and nays been ordered the presiding officer debate is not in order the senator would have to ask that the order for the quorum call be rescinded mr watkins mr president i ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded mr dpuglas mr president re serving the right to object 	 mr eastland i merely asked for the yeas and nays mr johnson of texas i hope sen ators will permit the order for the quo rum call to be rescinded mr watkins i asked that the or der be rescinded did any senator ob ject mr douglas reserving the right to object i think we ought to have the yeas and nays on this nomination i welcome a vote i would be glad to assist the senator from mississippi in having the yeas and nays ordered the presiding officer debate is not in order the senate is in process of a quorum call mr douglas i thought the chair had announced that yeas and nays had been ordered the presiding officer no the clerk will call the roll mr watkins mr president what happened to my request that the order for the quorum call be rescinded the presiding officer is there objection to the request of the senator from utah without objection the or der for the quorum call is rescinded mr thurmond mr president when the president of the united states sent troops into little rock ark last september to enforce racial integration at central high school he made what was undoubtedly the most grievous er ror of his career his action did violence to the constitu tion it ran contrary to the intent of con gress and violated the laws enacted by congress governing the use of troops by the president the president's action stirred up racial animosity throughout the united states finally this rash act did not achieve its presumed objective which was to bring about peaceful integration of the school the decision to send troops into little rock was in short one of the most tragic errors in all american history no doubt many factors contributed to this decision of the president perhaps ¦ we shall never know precisely what went on in his mind during the period when the decision was being formulated al though the responsibility for this drastic action must ever rest with the president i feel that the congress by its over whelming approval of the so-called civil rights act of 1957 may have created a climate in which he and his advisers thought action of this nature would meet with approval there is every reason to believe that the president was urged on by the then attorney general herbert brownell the father of this abominable legislation who had set himself up as a crusader in the field of racial integration as at torney general he was charged with the responsibility of advising the president on such matters we all remember the press reports on the role he is supposed to have played in the little rock episode i am disappointed frankly tliat no com mittee of the congress either in the sen ate or in the other body has found a suit able opportunity to question mr brown ell concerning his part in the little rock tragedy mr brownell has since left the admin istration nevertheless this is a case in which it is not well to let bygones be bygones to the contrary the little rock decision should be documented in as much detail as possible so that it may better serve as a lesson for the future within the department of justice there is a division known as the office of legal counsel headed by an assistant attorney general last fall the man in that position was w wilson white during the hearings held by the judi ciary committee relative to the confir mation of mr white's appointment as assistant attorney general in charge of the civil rights division he was asked to describe the duties of the office of legal counsel he replied the assistant attorney general in that po sition of the department of justice * * * is really tne attorney general's lawyer in other words this is the assistant attorney general who is charged with doing research in the field of law in order that the attorney general may be prop erly informed it was in this office last september as mr white informed the judiciary com mittee that memoranda were prepared setting forth the courses of action the president might pursue in a situation such as the one which developed in little rock indeed it was in this office of legal counsel that the proclamation of september 23 and the executive order of september 24 were drawn up i have outlined this chain of command in the department of justice so that we may clearly understand the relation ship between the president and mr white at the time of the little hock tragedy mr white advised the presi dent to all intents and purposes but he did not do so directly his legal counsel was submitted indirectly through the attorney general i believe in all fairness that this re lationship between mr white and others in the administration should be clearly understood it is not fair to mr white to put the full weight of the little rock tragedy on his shoulders nevertheless we are faced with the in escapable fact that mr white's legal memoranda formed the basis for the president's use of federal troops at little rock we are faced too with the fact that these memoranda as submitted to the judiciary committee fail to show that mr white suggested the deputizing of united states marshals as a method