Publications - Dallas Citizens Council: An Obligation to Leadership
Excerpts
…[Robert L.] Thornton, in his plain talking but effective manner, would describe [the founding of the Citizens Council] this way: “Those were dydamic days, but there was no organization. We had to have men who could underwrite … sometimes you’d get a bunch together, they couldn’t say yes or no. We didn’t have time for no proxy people – what we needed was men who could give you the boss talk.”
- Chapter One, “Uncle Bob Thornton has an idea”
To these accumulated businessmen, [Karl] Hoblitzelle issued challenges with a familiar premise: Members must think beyond their own petty interests and be concerned with Dallas as a whole. He wanted a revival of the “Dallas spirit” that had energized leaders in previous years when they cheerfully subjugated their own interests for the good of the city.
“Whether you like it or not, no matter if it interferes with your individual work, you have an obligation to leadership,” he said. The task before them in this modern world, he avowed, was far more difficult than it had been 30 years earlier.
- Chapter Two, “Off to a Fast Start”
Two of DCC’s earliest goals came to fruition during these years. First was the opening in August 1949 of the first leg of Central “Expressway” – that term having officially replaced “Boulevard.” It had been a Dallas goal since Kessler’s city plan almost four decades earlier. A huge aerial photograph in Life magazine displayed the wonders of such a freeway, novel at this time in American cities. Even after its completion and with the northward expansion of Dallas along its route, DCC and city officials would continue to concern themselves with the expressway as traffic ultimately reached far beyond its acknowledged capacity.
The second realized goal was the completion, after so many delays, of the long-awaited downtown Dallas auditorium. Work began in 1954 at a 23-aacre site at Marilla and Akard and was completed in 1957. Dallas Memorial Auditorium was named in honor of Dallas’ war dead. The auditorium was actually a circular arena with a maximum seating capacity of 10,200 – just the size Herbert Marcus had wanted years earlier. Adjacent to the arena were a 1,773-seat theater and numerous meeting rooms to accommodate the needs of conventions.
- Chapter Four, “Concerns About Quality of Life”
On July 26, 1961, some 156 African-American men and women quietly sat down to eat at 40 major restaurants and department store dining rooms that had agreed to desegregate. Desegregation thus occurred on a large scale in Dallas without any public announcement. Open seating was initiated at the summer musicals at Fair Park, and midway rides there were opened to African-Americans. “White Only” signs came down throughout the city. Progress was made in persuading Dallas hotels to accommodate “mixed groups” at meetings and conventions.
Finally on September 6, 1961, 18 African-American children enrolled in eight previously all-white elementary schools. Only a few minor incidents were reported. Dallas had successfully integrated its schools, although admittedly it was only a small beginning.
President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy both publicly praised Dallas for its handling of school integration. Life magazine hailed the success. The New York Times pointed out that Dallas’ desegregation contrasted sharply with the violence experienced in Little Rock and the distasteful scenes at New Orleans and elsewhere. The Dallas Times Herald acknowledged that the peaceful outcome of school desegregation had hinged largely on the efforts of the Dallas Citizens Council.
- Chapter Five, “Preparing the City for Integration”
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