Senator ERVIN. And you mention certain acts of violence in the State of Mississippi?

Mr. Lusky. Yes.

Senator ERVIN. You have no knowledge or information that Governor Coleman himself participated in the acts of violence, do you?

Mr. LUSKY. It depends what you mean by violence. The fact of the matter is of course, if you want to ask whether I was there and saw it, the fact of the matter is, it is only hearsay to me, but Mr. Coleman was Governor. I wasn't down there. But when I read things reported in the New York Times and not apparently denied by him, I think I am entitled to assume that in their broad outlines they are true. I was down in Mississippi for the freedom ride litigation that they had down there in the spring and summer of 1961 and while I didn't see anybody arrested I heard evidence in court that some 310 people had been arrested while the Federal courts stalled. It took the Federal court from June 9 until November to pass on an application for a temporary injunction and then two of the judges refused to sign the order denying it and claimed that it was not an appealable order. Judge Reeves of the first circuit, the only circuit judge on the bench did sign it and said he thought it was appealable and the appellate court so held. But I was down there at that time and I say myself that an arrest made as these arrests were made of people who were doing nothing except standing in the so-called wrong waitingrooms which the Supreme Court has said they had a right to do, I say that such an arrest made without any color of possibility, that it will stand up in court, is an act of violence. And the fact that it is done by a policeman doesn't make any difference. This took place, starting in May 1961 and going through August.

Senator ERVIN. That was after Governor Coleman had ceased to be Governor of Mississippi?

Mr. LUSKY. The statutes that he had put on the books were still in effect. And they were involved in this litigation.

Senator ERVIN. The statutes of the legislature?

Mr. LUSKY. He signed them—I don't know how Mississippi is. Of course, there are people here from Mississippi who are more familiar, but I am from Kentucky-and I practiced law there until a couple of years ago and I think that the way the State politics run in Mississippi is the way it is in Kentucky, and that is, the Governor plays a leading role in the sponsorship and enactment of State legislation.

Senator ERVIN. I imagine that is possibly true in every State. Mr. LUSKY. Some more than others, perhaps.

Senator ERVIN. Well, thank you.

Mr. LUSKY. Thank you, sir.

Senator ERVIN. Mrs. Victoria Gray?

Mr. SPENCER. Mrs. Gray is not here this afternoon and she asked me to read her statement.

Senator ERVIN. Put it in the record. I want to give her an oppotunity to testify. This is the fourth time. You can put it in the record or read it. We will recess until the morning.

Senator KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, could I ask, is he here in any other capacity?

Mr. SPENCER. I am a student at Rust College and I am with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. I am a native of Mississippi and I live in Mississippi.

Senator EASTLAND. How long is your statement?
Mr. SPENCER. Five and a half pages.

Senator ERVIN. You can read the statement. show that the witness is reading the statement. witnesses.

Let the record

We got a lot of

Mr. SPENCER. She can be heard later on.
Senator ERVIN. You go ahead and read your statement.
Mr. SPENCER. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

STATEMENT OF MRS. VICTORIA J. GRAY, ON BEHALF OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY, READ BY MR. HOWARD SPENCER

Mrs. GRAY. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am Mrs. Victoria Gray and I represent the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which has a membership of more than 100,000 adults of Mississippi. It is with unbelieving and indescribable shock and fear that we learned Friday a week ago of the tragic nomination of former Gov. James P. Coleman of Mississippi to be a judge on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The man who designed and implemented much of the legislative system which still enslaves us has now been appointed our judge.

This man has spent almost all of his adult life advising and planning in one way or another how to continue the suppression and dehumanization of the Negro people of Mississippi. He did this as district attorney, as judge on the Mississippi Supreme Court, as attorney general, as Governor, and as representative to the State legislature. His record is complete, is so extensive that it encompasses almost every type of office in Mississippi and is so consistent with segregation and white supremacy that it is inconceivable that rational men could believe that this man would be an unbiased judge over the rights of the Negro citizens of the States of the fifth circuit.

Gentlemen, I have lived in Mississippi for the many years that this man has been a dominant force in the State. I have personally experienced a life that has suffered from his brilliant and able fight for the supremacy of the white man. Senators, I now wish to speak of a matter of which I have personal knowledge, the tragic case of Clyde Kennard, a brilliant Negro ex-serviceman whose initial efforts to get an education in a State institution of higher learning took place during the ex-Governor Coleman's administration.

Ex-Governor Coleman gave Mr. Kennard his personal assurance that if he would wait until after the gubernatorial elections had been held he would be able to continue his education at Mississippi Southern College. Mr. Kennard accepted ex-Governor Coleman's proposal in good faith and after the election had been held, he again attempted

to enter.

At this time he was arrested on leaving the registration building. He was not informed of the charges until after he had been locked up. The arrest was followed by a withdrawal of his credit which was especially serious for him as he was a poultry farmer. Finally he was arrested and sentenced to 7 years in the State penitentiary on the false charges of instigating the theft of seven bags of chickenfeed. Kennard was denied access to medical treatment even though the medical officials had instructed that he must not be made to do hard

events.

labor, which he was forced to do, and that he should receive periodic medical treatment. Kennard was not given treatment for cancer until just before he was granted a suspended sentence. Kennard died within a few weeks. I do not know what part ex-Governor Coleman played in the final series of events which led to Kennard's death, but it was his agreement with Kennard which triggered these This Congress has indicated its deep concern for enforcing the precious right to vote for those whose sole disqualification has been the color of their skin. This was the promise of the 15th amendment nearly 100 years ago. And this is the purpose of the challenge to the seats of the Mississippi Congressmen, who sit by virtue of the nearly total exclusion of Negro citizens from the registration rolls of my State. Their disfranchisement has been accomplished in part by intimidation, terror, violence, and murder, and in part by legal trickery. Governor Coleman as the author and architect of much of the latter, the Kennard case for example, is intimately familiar with these legal devices.

He formed the notorious State Sovereignty Commission, whose purpose is the preservation of the white supremacist system. It is supported on State funds, and has donated $193,000 of the money to underwrite the activities of the White Citizens Councils. He helped to organize the Southern Governors for the achievement of these same racist goals on a regionwide basis. He signed into law Mississippi's interposition statute, thus codifying a doctrine which is wholly in opposition to the American system of federalism, and article VI, the supremacy clause, of the constitution. The statute directs the executive branch of the Mississippi State government to decide for itself whether it wishes to comply with Supreme Court desegregation orders. The absurdity of such a notion speaks for itself, and requires no further comment on my part.

Governor Coleman's official actions are a matter of public record. I would like now to turn to a lesser known aspect of his lack of qualifications for the position to which he has been named. It must always be borne in mind that as a judge on the court of appeals he will stand in the pathway of the successful implementation of the voting rights bill, for the passage of which this Senate labored mightily and the Negroes of Mississippi and elsewhere await with high expectation. For that bill provides that when the Federal voting examiner registers qualified applicants, the State has a right to appeal the registration of those persons. To avoid the injustice Negroes have received at the hands of district judges such as Cox of Mississippi, this appeal is taken directly to the circuit court, that is directly to, I fear, Judge Coleman. It is intolerable that a man who has taken the public position that Negroes should not have the right to vote, will sit in judgment on the qualifications of Negroes who must go to a Federal registrar because Governor Coleman's registration laws have made it impossible for them to meet the rigid standards of State registration officials.

But allow me to tell you now what sort of a man we have found Governor Coleman to be, what sort of a man who we may find sitting on one of the highest and most dignified appointive offices in the United States. You are probably familiar with the challenge in the House of Representatives. Governor Coleman has been retained

as attorney for the four Democratic sitting Members. As such he entered into certain stipulations regarding technical requirements for the taking of depositions.

In reliance upon these agreements over 15,000 pages of testimony were gathered. But on June 8, B. B. McClendon, attorney for Republican Representative Walker, wrote to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, on behalf of Governor Coleman and himself. In the letter he urged that the Clerk disregard the stipulations and refuse to print the testimony. The lower House of this Congress has dealt with such behavior in the past, in an election contest involving the seat of Fiorello La Guardia. When his attorney disregarded stipulations as to the time limits for collecting testimony, and argued in his brief that the depositions taken in reliance upon those stipulations were invalid, the House Elections Committee said:

*** [T]he contestee's attorney joined in the stipulation to waive the requirements of the law, *** and was afterwards guilty of a breach of legal ethics when he raised the point of lack of diligence.

Senator ERVIN. Is Mrs. Gray a lawyer?

Mr. SPENCER. She is a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

Senator ERVIN. Is she a lawyer?

Mr. SPENCER. No.

The Canons of Professional Ethics say that a lawyer's conduct should be characterized by "candor and fairness" and that "it is dishonorable to avoid performance of any agreement" affecting clients' rights.

I

Governor Coleman's apparent role in repudiating stipulations and agreements made with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party constitutes professional conduct that is highly questionable from an ethical point of view. It raises the gravest apprehensions as to his suitability to assume a position of highest honor. I, for one, am compelled to speak out against his appointment. Many others have joined me in this protest, for they share my alarm and concern. cannot emphasize too strongly that this Senate should refuse to approve his nomination, for to give consent to it will be an affront to the judiciary of the United States, and an insult of the grossest nature to the hopes and aspirations of Negroes who for the first time in this century see the prospect of equality and full freedom within their reach.

I repeat that Governor Coleman's official actions are a matter of public record and would close this testimony with a quote taken from a television speech made by Governor Coleman: (Jackson ClarionLedger, June 30, 1959):

I am well aware that a little handful of my political adversaries have tried to destroy my place in the affections of my fellow Mississippians by claiming that I am a "moderate." Apparently, these people cannot tell a moderate from a successful segregationist. They have made a great sham of this, and every time they can get a chance they try to stir it up. I ask you to ignore what they say and look at what the record says * * * I stand on a record of performance and I have delivered the goods. I am not entitled to be called a moderate, and I notice that none of my friends have called me that.

These, gentlemen, are some of the words and acts of the man who has been nominated to occupy a position that by its nature demands the implementation of the very rights he himself has done a near

perfect job of destroying, both for the Negro and for a large portion of the white population of our State of Mississippi. We feel that confirmation of Mr. Coleman will be no less than sanction of continued police state for Mississippi and the States of the fifth circuit.

I thank you for Mrs. Gray.

Senator ERVIN. Was Mrs. Gray arrested in connection with something over in the office of the House Clerk?

Mr. SPENCER. She was arrested when she attempted to keep an appointment with the Clerk.

Senator ERVIN. And she is not a lawyer?

Mr. SPENCER. As far as I know, she is not.

Mr. NELSON. My name is Steven Nelson and I am a research assistant to Mrs. Gray. Mrs. Gray asked that these items be submitted for the record with her testimony and with your approval we would like to submit these with her testimony. This is a statement of argument and refutation of those arguments which have been advanced in favor of Governor Coleman's appointment and we feel they are very relevant to the issues which have been raised today.

For example, one of the things dealt with is Governor Coleman's the possibility of his sitting

Senator ERVIN. Who are you?

Mr. NELSON. My name is Steven Nelson and I am a research assistant to Mrs. Gray.

Senator ERVIN. You are a research assistant to Mrs. Gray?

Mr. NELSON. That is right.

Senator ERVIN. Are those things prepared by her individually? Mr. NELSON. Pardon me?

Senator ERVIN. Were the things that you want to put in the record prepared by her?

Mr. NELSON. Yes; they were.

Senator ERVIN. And not by you?

Mr. NELSON. They were prepared by me for her.

Senator ERVIN. Where do you live?

Mr. NELSON. I live in Washington, sir, for the summer.

Senator ERVIN. Well, I don't know what they are about. We will receive them.

Mr. NELSON. Perhaps you would like to have me summarize some of this.

Senator ERVIN. We have been here-unfortunately, I have got to go to the Senate and vote and I have got appointments in my office. I will receive them as exhibits and examine them and see if they have any relevance to this.

Mr. NELSON. I would rather reserve these and then have Mrs. Gray present them to you tomorrow, in that case.

Senator ERVIN. OK.

If you let me have them I will read them tonight.

We stand recessed until 10:30 tomorrow morning.

(Whereupon, at 5:20 p.m., the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, July 13, 1965.)