Fulbright unsure on black vote

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33857, 31 May 1975, Page 15

Fulbright unsure on black vote

I.X Z Press Ass„-c.;> U r,„l, l ) ■ LITTLE ROCK (Arkansas) Max 30. A former Senator Mr Wilham Fulbright, considered a liberal on foreign policy but a conservative on civil rights, said in a televised interview yesterday that he was not too sure that guaranteeing blacks the' right to vote was a correct decision. Mr Janies Craig, managing editor of a television station. KI HV-TV. quoted a Fulbright statement from his first political race in 1942 in xvhich he said: “I am not for negro participation in our primary election, and I do not approve of social equality.” Mr Fulbright, who was defeated for, re-election last; year by then Arkansas Gov-! ernor, Mr Dale Bumpers, described the statement as “the conventional wisdom of I my state” under conditions that existed at the time. He said he now accepted the decision of the majority on civil rights as the law of the land. Asked if guaranteeing blacks the right to vote was the right decision, Mr Fulbright said: “I'guess so.”