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OCR Page 1 of 25MEMORANDUM
his
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 1970
TO:
Staff Secretary
FROM:
Bryce Harlow
At 10: 30 a.m. on February 11, the President met in his Oval
Office with Secretary Finch, the Attorney General and the
undersigned to consider the school situation in Charlotte,
North Carolina, resulting from the District Court desegrega-
tion action.
The President said that there is nothing to be gained and
much to be lost by going along with the courts on this approach
to school desegregation. He said that he wants to find a way
for the Administration to indicate that we are separating from
the majority position of the Supreme Court, stressing that he
had spoken out unequivocally on these matters before the 1968
election and before the recent court decisions.
The President evidenced extreme perplexity over what to do.
He said that he could send the Vice President and the Secretary
of Labor to the South "and so on," but he just couldn't believe
in doing this. Anything within the law that we can do to
"put some daylight" between the court's position and our views
"is the right thing to do."
The Attorney General said that all that could be done respecting
the Charlotte situation would be for HEW to say that the changes
ordered by the court go too far in setting up a unitary school
system. He suggested that HEW take the position that the actions
ordered by the court are not required by law and are contrary
to good education. Then the Department of Justice could get
into the case in support of the HEW position.
The President interjected that HEW needs some credibility in the
South, and he urged a statement critical of the Charlotte court
action over the signature of Secretary Finch.
Secretary Finch said that the Charlotte school board could re-
quest a new plan from HEW, and then the board's appeal to the
Fourth Circuit could include the HEW recommendations.
The President urged that the Finch statement on this issue include
the statement: "In any plans, I will not favor anything that
requires school children to change schools during a school year;
that includes no changes at the end of a semester while the
school year is in progress."
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