Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

The sites of two battles which took place during the War between the States within the geographical area of Virginia have been accorded official national recognition within the past few years. Specifically, the Appomattox Court House National Historical Monument was granted National Historical Park status in 1954. This area of approximately 968 acres includes a reproduction of the Wilmer McLean House in which the Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to the Union General, Ulysses S. Grant. The grounds where the two armies opposed each other for the last time are also included in this park. In the same year, the Manassas Battlefield of approximately 1,719 acres was given the status of a National Battlefield Park. This area was the site of the famous Battles of Bull Run or Manassas.

During the 1950 session of the General Assembly, a bill was passed which provided for a state tax reduction of approximately one million dollars whenever the tax revenue exceeded the estimates by certain amounts, the amount depending upon the state budget. This law was later revised to the effect that if the general fund revenue received from income taxes exceeded the estimates by five percent, a tax reduction would automatically result. Since passage of the act, Virginia taxpayers have benefitted considerably through its provisions. On the other hand, several attempts have been made to repeal the general poll tax. The United States Supreme Court has upheld the legality of the poll tax by refusing to review a suit against some local officials who had barred individuals from voting because of non-payment of the poll tax.

At the Democratic National Nominating Convention held in Chicago in 1952, the Virginia delegates under the leadership of Governor John S. Battle refused to accept the "loyalty" pledge adopted by voice vote in the convention. This "loyalty" pledge or "majority rule" pledge required that each delegate agree to "exert every honorable means" to have the names of the Democratic Party's Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees included on the Democratic ballot of each state. President Harry S. Truman had encouraged federal measures dealing with fair employment practices, the passage of federal non-segregation laws and the enforcement of a strong federal civil rights program. Some of the delegates who knew that many of the Southern states did not approve of the Democratic legislative program believed that the states of Virginia, South Carolina and Louisiana would refuse to accept the "loyalty" pledge because of this program. Consequently, when delegates from these states refused to accept the pledge, they were not initially seated at the convention. Southern delegates, however, protested that state party rules or state laws prohibited them making such a commitment. Governor Battle, the leader of the 28 member delegation from Virginia, stated that a state law assured the inclusion of the names of the Democratic Party nominees on the Virginia Democratic ballot and that they rejected the pledge only as a matter of principle. Ultimately, Virginia delegates as well as those of South Carolina and Louisiana were given seats and full voting rights at the convention.

The Republican nominee for the Presidency in 1952, 1956 and 1960 carried the state, contrary to previous usual voting results in the state. In the 1952 election the Republican candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, received 349,037 popular votes from Virginia and the Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, received 268,677 popular votes. Thus, the Republican Party won the twelve electoral votes of the state. In 1956, 386,320 popular votes from Virginia were cast for the Republican electors and 264,110 popular votes for the Democratic electors who represented the same Presidential candidates as in 1952. In the 1960 election the Republican nominee, Richard M. Nixon, won the popular vote of the state over the Democratic nominee, John F. Kennedy. Virginia again cast her twelve electoral votes for the Republican candidate. However, during this period, the Governor, the two United States Senators from Virginia, eight of the ten Virginia members of the United States House of Representatives and a majority of the General Assembly continued to be members of the Democratic Party, illustrating the traditional role of the Democratic Party in the state since the Reconstruction Era.

Public education has received much attention in Virginia, especially since 1950. On several occasions, for example, the General Assembly has approved million dollar appropriations of state funds for school construction projects. The tremendous influx of youth in the public schools during the decade of the 1950's accentuated the need for more teachers as well as classrooms throughout the state. Hence, rising costs of education have become a key matter at each recent session of the General Assembly. During the last few years, however, the question of integration of white and of Negro students in the public schools of the state has been a paramount education issue.

When the United States Supreme Court on May 17, 1954 handed down its decision which in effect outlawed racial segregation in the public schools of the nation, Virginia faced a very serious problem because the State Constitution has required separate public schools for white and for Negro children in the Commonwealth. Governor Thomas B. Stanley soon appointed a commission of thirty-two state legislators, under the chairmanship of State Senator Garland Gray, to advise him concerning a course of action to be taken by the Commonwealth. The commission conducted a study and subsequently transmitted to the Governor its report, known as the Gray Plan. The plan recommended consideration of an amendment to the constitutional provision requiring separate schools and suggested that local communities be enabled through their school boards to assign students to schools for a variety of reasons other than race. Subsequently, a special session of the General Assembly authorized a referendum election on the calling of a constitutional convention. The referendum question was worded as follows: "Should a Constitutional Convention be called with authority to revise Section 141 of the State Constitution so as to permit the General Assembly to appropriate public funds to further the education of Virginia students in non-sectarian private schools as well as in public schools?" A majority of the voters voted in the affirmative at the referendum election held in January 1956. In March 1956 a Constitutional Convention was held in Richmond and these delegates rewrote Section 141; hence it became permissible under the Constitution of the Commonwealth to use public funds for tuition grants for pupils in private non-sectarian schools. Later, at a special session of the General Assembly in September 1956, a pupil placement program was adopted under which the Governor appointed a pupil placement board whose chief function was to handle all student assignments in the state; under the program, parents of all children entering the public schools were required to fill out assignment applications which, in turn, were ultimately processed through the board.

In 1958, legislation provided for the automatic closing of any school which might be policed by the federal government and permitted the Governor to close any school in a locality in which another school was already being so policed. The admission of any Negro student to a public school for white students required the Governor to close the school and assume full control. Subsequently, federal court orders directed school boards in Arlington, Charlottesville and Norfolk to admit students without regard to race, effective September 1958; following state law, the pupil placement board denied admission to Negro applicants in the localities mentioned previously; the local school boards in these areas and in Warren County initiated action to admit Negro students, pursuant to federal court order. However, the Governor announced the closing of the high school in Warren County, and similar action was taken in Charlottesville and in Norfolk. During the Fall semester of 1958, a total of nine schools (one in Warren County and eight in Norfolk and Charlottesville) were closed to 13,000 students, many of whom transferred elsewhere. When court decisions in January 1959 voided the school closing law, the law cutting off state funds and the law providing tuition grants of public funds for segregated private schooling, the Governor stated that he could take no further action to prevent the opening of public schools on an integrated basis. Some public schools in Arlington, Charlottesville and Norfolk, as well as in Alexandria, began integrated classes in the Spring semester of 1959. Since that time, the number of integrated schools has increased. The implications of the United States Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954 upon the public school system of Virginia have presented to the Commonwealth one of its most difficult problems of the Twentieth Century.

As the population of Virginia cities and towns has grown during the past two decades, persons have moved to the suburbs and surrounding territory—sometimes at a faster rate than the increase in new population in the urban centers. The 1960 census confirmed such declines from the previous growth of cities in nearly all parts of the nation. Attractions to persons who move from the urban centers include larger amounts of available land, newer homes, shopping centers with comparatively easy parking, and initial lower real estate taxes. After these persons have lived in the suburbs or surrounding territory for a while, various needs such as adequate streets, police protection, schools, sewerage facilities, water and building and zoning codes sometimes develop or become more apparent. Often county governments are not equipped to provide for all of these services; if county governments do establish such services, the initial costs may be very high for the taxpayers.

To counterbalance the move to suburbs and nearby rural areas, urban local units of government seek to annex surrounding land from counties or nearby cities. In Virginia, annexation is determined by a panel of three judges, only one of whom is a resident of the county involved. No referendum is held to ascertain the wishes of the residents of the area under consideration because of the belief that annexation should be based on the need of the majority of the people concerned. While annexation may be an answer to the urban government's need for extending its tax base, county units lose their prime tax property. Over a period of time, the continued growth of the metropolitan area causes persons to locate outside of the revised boundaries and the process of annexation starts over again.