The Selling of the Plan

<v Speaker>The character of Dallas, like many cities, is in some senses inextricably linked <v Speaker>with racial problems. Take the late 50s. <v Speaker>Cities all over the South endured sit in demonstrations and homegrown violence. <v Speaker>Dallas couldn't escape the civil rights movement. <v Speaker>So in some senses it contained it. <v Speaker>Dallas integrated its public facilities virtually overnight. <v Speaker>There was no disruption. There was no publicity. <v Speaker>The white conservative establishment, a small group of the powerful called the Citizens <v Speaker>Council, did it. Some say not so much for conscience as for <v Speaker>commerce; nothing must hurt the business climate. <v Speaker>Others say it was to maintain order. <v Speaker>Whatever the reason, violence was avoided. <v Speaker>That's why there may be rioting in South Boston. <v Speaker>Stones hurled at school buses, while today in Dallas the <v Speaker>establishment has its most favorite advertising agency, headquartered here <v Speaker>in the Zale building, working without pay to sell court ordered desegregation <v Speaker>to the community.

<v Speaker>?Hey? High school [music plays] used to be a time when <v Speaker>everyone took it for granted. <v Speaker>Everyone I went to high school after the eighth grade belonged to a ?home room study <v Speaker>pretty much the same thing?. Yeah, you know what I mean. <v Speaker>Everyone they looked the same, talked the same, knew all the same people back then. <v Speaker>It was real cool to be the same. <v Speaker>Dear Billy, too many car rides and too many kisses will change <v Speaker>your name from Ms. to Mrs. <v Speaker>To a really great friend who I picked up every morning to come to school. <v Speaker>I'm glad you weren't hurt too bad in a wreck. <v Speaker>Sure, that's how high school used to be, but not now. <v Speaker>Today, high school is a whole new theme. <v Speaker>Dig it. [music stops] <v Speaker>The Dallas desegregation plan relies primarily on voluntary desegregation

<v Speaker>through the use of magnet schools. <v Speaker>This film by Bloom Advertising is being used to sell that program <v Speaker>to the district's high school students and their parents. <v Speaker>Bloom Advertising and its founder, Sam Bloom, were the natural choice for the job. <v Speaker>Bloom is the man the establishment turns to when it anticipates trouble. <v Speaker>Bloom was called in when the city fathers feared what kind of reception President <v Speaker>Kennedy might receive in his calamitous visit here in 1963. <v Speaker>Sam Bloom may be the only admen in the country ever called in to advise <v Speaker>a federal judge during Jack Ruby's trial. <v Speaker>Bloom was also called in to smooth the initial steps towards school desegregation <v Speaker>in the early 60s. Today, Bloom is managing another media campaign <v Speaker>to make sure Dallas doesn't react like Boston. <v Speaker>Bloom, with other businessmen like Dallas Power and White, is producing <v Speaker>and placing television commercials and newspaper ads like these.

<v Speaker>Bloom also called in a Hollywood director and two screenwriters with credits <v Speaker>like Rhoda and Laverne and Shirley to produce a 30 minute film urging <v Speaker>the community to support the plan. <v Speaker>The film has been aired on all television channels and will be shown to dozens of civic <v Speaker>and service groups. <v Speaker>Its slogan, Dallas Keep It Together, is the basis for a wider campaign, <v Speaker>including posters and bumper stickers. <v Speaker>OK, what I want from you is exactly what we did in the pre-interview, which was <v Speaker>your honest opinion. <v Speaker>We're not trying to mull this up I mean I- I think that you <v Speaker>want to say exactly what you said about how you're opposed to it. <v Speaker>I have a very positive feeling about the plan. <v Speaker>I like the plan. What I like mostly about it is the educational aspects of it. <v Speaker>To me, that's the most most important thing. <v Speaker>But the plan, the way that the education will affect my kids. <v Speaker>My name is ?inaudible? and uh I lost it. <v Speaker>I wonder if I could just ?inaudible?.

<v Speaker>You you you you, all move into this section, <v Speaker>so we can fill up, give the impression ?that we're more people?. Yeah she can be moved <v Speaker>because I uh she's black anyway. <v Speaker>[music plays] Now, 9th to 12th graders have a chance to go to 1 of 4 new magnet schools <v Speaker>or first pass to go all the way. <v Speaker>That's what ?I? was suggesting to me now. Is that right? <v Speaker>That we'd go ahead and uh let you ?lay down? music and everything else. <v Speaker>During the roll tape and roll tape. <v Speaker>Fade up, fade up. <v Speaker>OK. Music, music <v Speaker>?ready? for dissolved.

<v Speaker>Bloom Advertising. <v Speaker>Charlie was working on something like the one giant shape out front <v Speaker>they made outta concrete or somethin. <v Speaker>The other thing I think you need to consider is whatever the the block is, although <v Speaker>the logo itself, that the type it's going to have to be <v Speaker>there and and be very readable. <v Speaker>You know as an example, I I think something like that is too far out for middle <v Speaker>America. When I say middle America, I'm not talking bout stupid people, I'm just talking <v Speaker>about people who are not exposed to the more European uh <v Speaker>ya convention once a year. My God. <v Speaker>Sam Bloom, now in his 70s and a formidable man explains he <v Speaker>was invited in by the Citizen's Council to help the community accept the desegregation <v Speaker>plan. He feels it is his duty. <v Speaker>Like other Dallas businessmen, to offer expertise as well as money <v Speaker>for the good of the communities. They see it. That's right. <v Speaker>I think the total future Dallas, any place in the United States

<v Speaker>rests with the children. I think that is our future. <v Speaker>Oh I think in that inevitably people feel some people feel put upon. <v Speaker>Some people uh don't like it. <v Speaker>Uh, but I- I'm not sure that you can do anything <v Speaker>uh constructive. <v Speaker>And and have absolute and total approval. <v Speaker>I think when you're dealing with the masses, when you're dealing with with <v Speaker>uh humanity as a whole, you can't hope for <v Speaker>uh absolute approval. Never had... doesn't ?even? <v Speaker>happen in church. <v Speaker>If Judge Taylor's order had called for desegregating and probably busing <v Speaker>in every grade, complete desegregation, would we have this kind <v Speaker>of community support? <v Speaker>Oh no, I think not.

<v Speaker>I think under that condition, you would have had <v Speaker>uh a situation that would be substantially <v Speaker>beyond the capacity uh of the community ?inaudible?. <v Speaker>Dallas was a city more than most run by its establishment. <v Speaker>It was not so much ruled by corporation, as ruled by corporate mentality. <v Speaker>That corporate or management mentality lingers on. <v Speaker>But today there is more democracy. <v Speaker>Blacks, browns, women and working people, not all beholden to the establishment, <v Speaker>hold office and influence. <v Speaker>The establishment itself has changed. <v Speaker>But today's court ordered desegregation has the establishment moving to the fore again. <v Speaker>Much like the old days, what makes school integration so unique here <v Speaker>in 1976 is this blend of the old Dallas and <v Speaker>the new. <v Speaker>One thing an outsider might notice about the de-segregation media blitz or the

<v Speaker>Chamber of Commerce and Council of Churches proclamations in support of the plan <v Speaker>is the absence of talk about integration or busing or racial balance. <v Speaker>It's downright bad manners to mention any of these subjects today in Dallas. <v Speaker>The talk is all about the new educational programs, the magnet schools, <v Speaker>early childhood education, smaller student adult ratios, scholarships <v Speaker>and jobs for students. <v Speaker>Maybe that's because the Dallas plan doesn't have much integration, kindergarten to <v Speaker>the third grade in high school are left out of the busing order. <v Speaker>An all black subdistrict with 18000 students is created <v Speaker>in East Oak Cliff by the plan. <v Speaker>On some estimates, most of the black and many of the white students remain <v Speaker>in segregated schools. <v Speaker>A governing principle of the plan is that separate can become equal <v Speaker>with quality education. <v Speaker>These are some of the reasons the NAACP is taking the case up on appeal.

<v Speaker>But what nobody is paying much attention to is that over 17000 black, <v Speaker>brown and white kids in grades 4 through 8 are being bused. <v Speaker>The big secret is not how little integration is in the plan. <v Speaker>That's the hidden agenda of the big sell, but that any desegregation has been ordered <v Speaker>at all. Perhaps the community's main desire, given the inevitability <v Speaker>of some court ordered desegregation, is for our children to return to school without <v Speaker>violence. <v Speaker>The writing and selling of the desegregation plan began in the mind of one man, <v Speaker>William Mac Taylor, federal judge for the Northern District of Texas. <v Speaker>Taylor grew up here in the park cities, the establishment's bedroom community, <v Speaker>a green, affluent, segregated oasis in the middle of the city. <v Speaker>Mac Taylor went to Highland Park, not Dallas schools, and he didn't yearn to be <v Speaker>the judge in the Dallas case. <v Speaker>Taylor often says from the bench that he's no ivory tower federal judge. <v Speaker>He doesn't believe desegregation is the sole responsibility of the federal court.

<v Speaker>Taylor argues eloquently that we all bank presidents and grocery store clerks <v Speaker>alike have a stake in the public schools. <v Speaker>Taylor has said repeatedly that he abhors massive busing. <v Speaker>When the fate of the docket landed this case <v Speaker>in Mac Taylor's lap, he decided he was one federal judge who wouldn't ram <v Speaker>a desegregation order down the community's throat. <v Speaker>Not just because he's part of the community, but because the plan wouldn't work without <v Speaker>the support of the community and its leaders. <v Speaker>He insisted for years in vain that desegregation was an opportunity <v Speaker>to bolster a faltering school system, an opportunity for Dallas <v Speaker>to have the best public schools in the nation. <v Speaker>But in 1971, the time of his first order, the business community <v Speaker>walked out on him. The result was a marginal plan, never accepted <v Speaker>or enforced. Since then, Dallas must have realized school integration <v Speaker>could not be forestalled forever.

<v Speaker>This time, the community and the business establishment answered his call <v Speaker>and we got an order tailor made by and for Dallas. <v Speaker>In September, Judge Taylor began a series of unusual public pronouncements from <v Speaker>the bench. Certainly unorthodox considering standard federal court procedure. <v Speaker>He criticized busing and asked instead for quality education. <v Speaker>He appealed to the community, especially the business establishment, for help. <v Speaker>He asked for a negotiated settlement. <v Speaker>In October, the Dallas Alliance, an umbrella organization of civic groups, <v Speaker>the younger, more liberal establishment, created a tri ethnic task force to write <v Speaker>a desegregation plan. From that moment, if not long before, the parties, <v Speaker>the black and brown plaintiffs and the white dominated school board, took a back seat <v Speaker>in their own trial. The people who could make or break implementation took <v Speaker>the front seat. In February, the hearings proper began. <v Speaker>All parties fiercely argued and presented their own plans.

<v Speaker>But on April 7th, Judge Taylor handed down his final order. <v Speaker>The alliance plan, heavy laden with quality education, de-emphasizing <v Speaker>desegregation. <v Speaker>But long before the business community, which helped write the plan, had begun making <v Speaker>sizable commitments to its implementation. <v Speaker>Commitments to the school district for expertise, executives on <v Speaker>loan and a wealth of resources. <v Speaker>I think most of us are delighted to be asked. <v Speaker>Uh it's a viable situation. Uh we think uh we can make a positive contribution <v Speaker>and we're very excited about it. <v Speaker>If you had to put a dollar figure on the business community's contribution, what would it <v Speaker>be? <v Speaker>I don't think you could put a dollar contribution on it. <v Speaker>Because of the expertise you mean? <v Speaker>What would you pay uh John Martinsson for what he's done? <v Speaker>Betty Marcus uh. <v Speaker>I don't think you can put a dollar figure on uh I I think public education in general <v Speaker>in this country is in great, great, great difficulty.

<v Speaker>In public education the right of every child to have a quality <v Speaker>education uh at the expense of the taxpayer is really in the mainstream <v Speaker>of what this country is all about. <v Speaker>Being involved to improve the quality is a lot more <v Speaker>uh viable issue than being involved to uh complete some sort <v Speaker>of a numerical equation. <v Speaker>You know, I I think the emphasis here is on quality education, which is really <v Speaker>what all the desegregation is about to try to get uh equal quality education for all the <v Speaker>children. <v Speaker>I think uh most businessmen understand that and and realize how important it is <v Speaker>to the basic fabric of the community. <v Speaker>A massive accelerated construction and renovation program began for the 4 high <v Speaker>school magnets called for by the plan. <v Speaker>Each school has an advisory committee of businessmen working on curriculum as well <v Speaker>as resources and facilities. <v Speaker>We will definitely be ready. <v Speaker>Jack Miller, president of the Sanger Harris department store chain and Rene Martinez,

<v Speaker>the Coordinating Chamber of Commerce official, took a tour of 2 magnets just <v Speaker>before school began. ?Inaudible? Tech, the old Mexican-American school, and <v Speaker>Booker T Washington the old black high school. <v Speaker>I knew there was a limited amount of rockets we could make uh ya know... <v Speaker>short timespan. That's really why I came today to see what kinda progress has been made. <v Speaker>I think that with the the individuals and Dr. Wells's staff and so forth, they've <v Speaker>done a tremendous job. Classic example. <v Speaker>When they started uh renovating this facility, uh we could not <v Speaker>do complete specs and plans it would have taken us this long to do specs and plans as to <v Speaker>do the job. So the architects have literally walked through on a day to day basis and <v Speaker>said, this is what we want you to do and this is how you do it. <v Speaker>Sure. <v Speaker>I've been a-astounded at the physical <v Speaker>job that the school district has done in converting <v Speaker>um some rundown old buildings and going concerns. <v Speaker>When white flight starts, um the

<v Speaker>thing that follows is a decline in um in real <v Speaker>estate values, a decline in uh business activity within <v Speaker>the city uh and a decline in the general <v Speaker>uh uh character of the city. And uh I think that it was this <v Speaker>more than any other one uh reason that <v Speaker>uh induced me to accept the uh request from uhDave Fox and <v Speaker>Jack Miller to uh go to work on the Arts Magnet High School. <v Speaker>I think that I think that uh everyone here in Dallas uh, not only <v Speaker>uh who were directly involved in the school plan, but uh all other uh <v Speaker>segments of the community felt that this was one great opportunity to avoid the <v Speaker>uh disasters that had occurred in in other cities when uh <v Speaker>court ordered integration came along and uh there-therefore everybody put their uh

<v Speaker>best effort into making it work. <v Speaker>I don't like to use the word responsible because that's misleading [laughs]. <v Speaker>There are a lot of responsible people here. But let's say the commercial interests, the <v Speaker>bankers, the public utilities and the business interests and the real estate people. <v Speaker>Um an-and honestly go at it in <v Speaker>a way that's uh not completely self-serving. <v Speaker>There is there's a there's an element of public service here. <v Speaker>You see, we have uh we've had uh businessmen in public office. <v Speaker>And um I think the businessmen here <v Speaker>uh are uh very conscious of the fact that they have to <v Speaker>uh they can't just uh have things their own way without taking <v Speaker>cognizance of the political realities and the social realities <v Speaker>of the of the situation. <v Speaker>Why is the business community behind the court order?

<v Speaker>One reason is clearly Judge Taylor, who invited business leaders in before <v Speaker>and during the hearings in and outside the courtroom. <v Speaker>Judge Taylor is the man who de-emphasized the adversary proceeding and included <v Speaker>a community group as the most important party to the suit. <v Speaker>Judge Taylor ordered only minimal desegregation in this conservative southwestern <v Speaker>city. Dallas Federal Judge Sarah T. <v Speaker>Hughes might be another reason the business leaders could go to Taylor with relief <v Speaker>if liberal Judge Hughes had gotten the case, Dallas might really have had to integrate <v Speaker>schools. <v Speaker>Bill Hunter, school board president, a man of conscience and deep religious convictions <v Speaker>is probably another reason. <v Speaker>Hunter brought the business community, the Dallas Alliance and the school board together, <v Speaker>sometimes against the early wishes of some of the trustees. <v Speaker>Hunter helped prevent a school board from appealing Judge Taylor's order. <v Speaker>Then there are the business leaders themselves. <v Speaker>Dave Fox of Fox and Jacobs Realtors was one of the white members of the Alliance Task

<v Speaker>Force, which wrote the plan. <v Speaker>Like the others, he agreed to trade important administrative positions for minorities <v Speaker>in the school district in return for minimal desegregation, this <v Speaker>was the key bargaining point in Dallas's negotiated, community drawn plan. <v Speaker>Black and brown leaders went with the alliance plan in exchange for some power <v Speaker>in the administration of the school district and in exchange for the promise that the <v Speaker>all black East Oak Cliff subdistrict would provide top quality education. <v Speaker>The decision was controversial then and it's controversial today. <v Speaker>It will hold up only if the promises are kept. <v Speaker>Central control, this is the command base.

<v Speaker>You've got a copy. <v Speaker>Yeah. Just checking this out. You read it loud and clear? <v Speaker>Affirmative. <v Speaker>This is the Dallas Independent School Districts Command Post for desegregation. <v Speaker>A communications, troubleshooting, rumor control center staffed around <v Speaker>the clock the first two weeks of school. <v Speaker>It's a visible symbol of the immense amount of preparation done by the community <v Speaker>and done by the school district weeks before school opened. <v Speaker>It's also one of the meeting rooms for Network: a broad, loosely organized coalition <v Speaker>of 32 civic and community groups. <v Speaker>Network includes representatives from business, the religious community, the PTAs, <v Speaker>organizations and agencies, school advisory committees, higher <v Speaker>education, youth groups and realtors. <v Speaker>One of Network's tasks is to reach the citizen with information to replace <v Speaker>rumors and fears. <v Speaker>For 2 consecutive Saturdays at 54 locations in grocery stores and supermarkets <v Speaker>throughout Dallas, literally hundreds of volunteers explained about the opening

<v Speaker>of school. <v Speaker>And this will be city wide. <v Speaker>This Sunday afternoon gathering is a backyard school party for Preston Hollow Elementary. <v Speaker>The court order won't affect the early grades here, but about 180 minority kids <v Speaker>will be bused for grades 4 through 6. <v Speaker>Some parents are considering taking their children out of school to go to private <v Speaker>schools. Others are considering leaving the district. <v Speaker>But other parents decided to throw this party to talk them out of it. <v Speaker>And I found from time to time that as I'd visit with people, I felt like they <v Speaker>were making decisions based on emotion rather than on facts. <v Speaker>And so we decided to neighbors in the some of the neighbors around here decided that <v Speaker>maybe it would be a good thing if we could get people to come together and people who had <v Speaker>some questions or whether you had questions or not and kind of get them together. <v Speaker>And uh with the idea that we wanted to support and back

<v Speaker>Preston Hollow. Preston Hollow is happily has a super principle. <v Speaker>It has a fine staff. They've got some great programs planned for the fall. <v Speaker>So in looking the situation over, I came to the conclusion that the school we've got <v Speaker>is a great school and I kind of wanted to spread the word myself [laughter]. <v Speaker>And uh so that's the purpose ?of the meeting?. <v Speaker>Well, I'm sorry. I'll introduce you now. <v Speaker>Well, you don't have ?a ticket here?. <v Speaker>This mass meeting of all the new teachers sponsored by network and all the area <v Speaker>Chambers of Commerce is another network project. <v Speaker>The mayor and business leaders gathered to assure all that the entire community backs <v Speaker>the plans. <v Speaker>What are you gonna to teach with us? <v Speaker>I'm gonna teach reading or English I'm not sure yet. <v Speaker>We got a great system. <v Speaker>Tell them about ?it?. <v Speaker>Ladies and Gentlemen, if I could have ?just this much? of your attention. Okay.

<v Speaker>This uh next fella uh <v Speaker>cut his teeth on uh, if he's cut <v Speaker>him yet, on uh being president of the school <v Speaker>board and uh some of his friends <v Speaker>in town went out and just conscripted him to um <v Speaker>become mayor of Dallas. This is Mayor Robert S. <v Speaker>Folsom, uh mayor of Dallas [applause]. <v Speaker>I would like to take this opportunity this morning to say thank you <v Speaker>to this 400 plus teachers, plus the few thousand <v Speaker>additional teachers in our public school system that we in Dallas and city <v Speaker>of Dallas are counting on your contributions and tireless efforts <v Speaker>to educate our children [music begins to play].

<v Speaker>[Singing] Sometimes we think we overstep our bounds. <v Speaker>We're regulating everything in town, but we're <v Speaker>in that kind of fix. In 1976, we ?inaudible? <v Speaker>do not intend to let you down. <v Speaker>I'm a super superintendent of the schools and no <v Speaker>one ?inaudible? works ?for me?. <v Speaker>The first teacher association would like to pick this up next year and do this in each <v Speaker>school. <v Speaker>This is one of the last network meetings before the start of school. <v Speaker>The business community, the religious community, everybody from the League of Women <v Speaker>Voters to the Boy Scouts and the Police Department report on current projects. <v Speaker>The Board of Education, as you know, is interested in community and put in involving the <v Speaker>community. And as such, it has established over recent years several <v Speaker>advisory committees. ?Inaudible? The area as chairman of the Mexican-American Advisory <v Speaker>Committee and the new chairman of these district advisory committees.

<v Speaker>They have met recently. They share information and ideas. <v Speaker>And we've asked him to report to that group today. <v Speaker>Frank? <v Speaker>Alright, uh let me add uh one thing uh. The budget committees are made up of made up of <v Speaker>community of people. And in that respect, this community of people help out <v Speaker>by discussin' and supportin' the plan <v Speaker>and the community where they live and the schools where they where they volunteer. <v Speaker>George Taylor attended and was well pleased. <v Speaker>I'm amazed I'm uh really at a loss for words. <v Speaker>To say that I'm pleased or gratified or thrilled <v Speaker>or excited. All of these would be masterpieces <v Speaker>of understatement, really. <v Speaker>What this community has done... <v Speaker>or these people have done to mobilize <v Speaker>uh this community as is bound to be unique in the <v Speaker>annals of judicial history.

<v Speaker>The Dallas establishment has outmaneuvered both the diehard segregationists <v Speaker>and the integrationists. So far, the establishment has defuzed the passions <v Speaker>of those who would take to the streets. <v Speaker>Segregation academies are being set up in this city and there's always the chance for <v Speaker>more resistance than we've seen so far. <v Speaker>Still, there's more than a little irony here. <v Speaker>Since 1963, some outsiders see Dallas as the home for violence, <v Speaker>assassination and the right wing. <v Speaker>Instead, Dallas seems to be operating as a united community <v Speaker>on a kind of enlightened conservatism. <v Speaker>But these methods obviate dissent. <v Speaker>The back and forth of dissent, which can bring about acceptance of diversity, <v Speaker>indifference never quite happens here. <v Speaker>The establishment gives a little but maintains control. <v Speaker>A black is accepted if he or she is of the correct social class. <v Speaker>The establishment tells a black businessman, you can't marry <v Speaker>my daughter, but come on in and smoke my cigars, have a drink, see what things

<v Speaker>look like from my viewpoint. <v Speaker>The Dallas public school system could not have bought or beg the support from the <v Speaker>community and the business establishment it now enjoys. <v Speaker>That's a remarkable achievement in this day of crisis for urban public education. <v Speaker>But there are at least 2 questions. 1, will it last? <v Speaker>And finally, is Dallas learning anything about the diversity and richness <v Speaker>of all its cultures? Or is Dallas still trying to buy time against the <v Speaker>inevitable?