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Scene one, take 17 61 matters Well, I tried you on today's report from Washington. Senator Smathers discusses domestic and foreign problems of interest to the people of Florida and the nation. Now, here is the first question Mhm going to ruin this right? Here we go again.

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Now. Scene one, take two. Smathers On today's report from Washington, Senator Smathers discusses domestic and foreign problems of interest to the people of Florida and the nation. Now, here is the first question Senator Smathers. By the time this broadcast is seen and heard, probably the civil rights bill will have been passed.

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But you might brief us on what the activities have been in the past few days. I know you had an amendment. What you could tell us about Well, we hadn't. Of course, lots of amendments. Well, actually, what happened from the time that the closure was passed, which limits each senator to one hour time?

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Uhh! We nevertheless had about 500 amendments. Now, Some of those amendments were no longer necessary because of the Dirksen Mansfield Kiko Humphrey substitute, which in point of fact, had already adopted many of the amendments which we had previously introduced and actually accepted many of the recommendations which we Southerners had previously made in the 75 days talking about what was wrong with the bill.

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But I think what made the Dirksen men's field, uh in which will finally be the law completely hypocritical is that what they? What they did is they took out their own states from the immediate effect of this particular bill. In other words, they said of the 34 states where they have public accommodation laws now and they have f E P C laws.

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So then the state action will go ahead and take place and that the judge can you first, they'll give 180 days and then the judge. If the states proceeding in a claim of discrimination, for example, under the PPC, the judge can then let it go on.

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So what it meant was that the bill now is directly aimed at the Southern states because we don't have any F PC laws or public accommodation laws or things of that character. Now that they may force us the state Legislature, Florida and finally passing a public accommodations law and a, uh, a pub FTP C law, although they won't be very strong laws.

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But we'll do that in order to have, if a claim is made to have the state agency and the state officials examine it and make the fine rather than the federal government, because that's where the Dirksen Amendment is drawn now, since that was done since closure, why we've been offering amendments.

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Frankly, I I don't I didn't really believe that after a couple of days that we were getting anywhere with the amendments I had offered Amendment that would exclude barbers and beauticians from the public accommodation section at the request I might add of the state associations. And I have argued that this was of such a personal nature and such a private nature that the right of choice of each individual should be a left to the individual that you don't ask lawyers and you don't ask doctors and you don't ask Europe.

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It is, and you don't ask other people to take just anybody that they don't want to take. Fortunately, they take most everyone that comes in. I would like to think that people would generally be colorblind with respect to who it is. They're going to help. On the other hand, there are some people who have a very deep conviction that they don't want to work on red headed people.

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They don't want to work on atheists. They don't want to. Some lawyers won't represent Seventh Day Adventist. Some lawyers want to take other people. If you get in the area where if they happen to be in a building, they no longer have their right of choice.

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I say that you're taking away basic American right of choice from a lot of people. That's why I offered my amendment. It received only 30 votes. It was defeated rather substantially. Since that time we have had. As you know, we've had sessions far early in the morning until past midnight, for amendment after amendments have been adopted, I mean have been offered but rejected.

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Finally, of course, we will speak out Southerners, we will speak out our one hour time. At this particular moment. I only have about 25 minutes left. I will speak it out. Then there will be a final vote. I'll vote against the bill, but I'm sure the bill is going to pass and we're going to have to start operating under and living with the so called Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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In my judgment, even though it's been amended and even though it's been amended in some respects substantially, it still is. A bad bill gives the federal government it gives to the president. It gives to the attorney general far more authority than any one man should have in this type of the dual system federal state relations system, which we have, Thank you very much.

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Senator George Smathers Senators Matters I've been noticing that Martin Luther King has been on television a great deal this past week, particularly on the Today show from your good state of Florida. But I understand that you sent him a telegram a few days back offering to assist him.

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Did you get a reply to that telegram? No, I haven't gotten a reply. I did send him a telegram in which I offered to undertake raising the amount of bail which he would need to get out of jail. I see he's already done that and also undertaking to pay for his fine if And this of course, was a big condition.

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If he would be willing to leave the state and stay out of the state, and the reason I did that is because I think that Martin Luther King is not really contributing a great deal to the advancement or the improvement of the colored citizen in our state.

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I think on the contrary, he's making it more difficult for the local Negro citizen, too. Be well to get the opportunities that he deserves. And I think that what happens is that there's greater division. I think that the Lions hardened between the white people and the colored people and issues such as this.

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And while Martin Luther King gets a great deal of publicity and gets an honorary degree from Yale University's and financial donations and he gets a lot of financial donations and the contributions made to him, I don't really believe that he's accomplishing a great deal. We're up here working on the civil rights bill and if he believed, as he has said that at the outset of this bill that we had to pass the bill that this bill in many ways would be the answer to all the problems, well, then why doesn't he direct his attention towards the adoption bill, which he will be and cut out the demonstration operations in the town of ST Augustine, which they're doing at this particular time with the express purpose in mind of making it impossible for them to have the Quadra Centennial Saint Augustine expected in the year 1965 to celebrate its 4/100 anniversary and the state in the county and many people.

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We had a committee formed of outstanding citizens throughout the nation, and we were going to try to reestablish ST Augustine along the same line that Williamsburg, Virginia, has been reestablished. The historical society, the restoration commission, all the others have been doing an excellent job. So what does Martin Luther King do?

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He knows that they are under great pressure at this particular time and seeking outside support. So he comes into specifically ST Augustine to start this type and character of demonstrations. Have you received any correspondence from any of your colored people in the South asking him to get out of the state of Florida?

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No, I have not actually received any correspondence of that nature, but I've talked with a number of colored people, and I I have received some correspondence from colored people who don't believe that without mentioning Dr Martin Luther King, they have said to me, and the fact that they don't believe that type and character of demonstrations that are going on are actually doing any good.

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As a matter of fact, they say, just as what I personally believe. It's been my own personal observation that this type of character of sit ins and walk ins and standings in violation of local law. First thing it does is breed disrespect for law, and those are laws, whether the colored people like them or not.

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This, like the Supreme Court decision in the Brown case, is the law. Whether I might like it or not, and I have, there's just as much duty to recognize what is the law. But they also have a duty to recognize what is the law, and they have no right to come in and just deliberately flaunt the law in the faces of the people of the local community who have passed these laws.

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So I have a pretty good reaction from a lot of our colored people to the effect that they don't approve of this type of sitting stand in walk in against local ordinance. Now they can bring them. They can have one person to do it and bring the case into court and have it tried.

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If it's then going to be the credit legal. That's one thing. But for you deliberately go out to excite an insight, violence and where you try to excite the white people. Naturally, the extremists. When you get the extremists on one side, you bring out from under the wood shed that extremists on the other side.

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Extremism begets extremism, and violence begets violence. Disorder begets disorder. And all I think that Dr King is doing is actually bringing about more disunity in greater division and making more implacable hatreds than than than ever existed previously. And I think that rather than rendering a service in many respects, most respects, uh, he's rendering a disservice.

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Thank you very much. Senator George Smathers, I return you now to your station announcer. Yeah,