THE ECONOMY
The headlines out of the troubled South are dominated by the politicians and demonstrators, but it is often the businessmen who are quietly negotiating the solutions or the compromises. The Southern businessman is wrestling with a crisis of conscience; his emotions say "never" to integration, his civil instincts say "perhaps some day," but his cash registers say "now." The dominant sentiment is expressed by Real Estate Executive Sidney Smyer, chairman of the businessmen's committee that negotiated a truce of sorts in Birmingham: "I'm not an integrationist, but I'm not a damn fool either."
Integration demonstrations, and redneck resistance to them,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
