Reaction to Clinton Race Speech Favorable

By David Pitts
USIA Staff Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., (Sept. 26) President Clinton's speech on race at the 40th anniversary commemoration of the integration of Central High School received favorable treatment from all major media in the state. Initial reaction among the public also seemed positive.

The ceremony, the centerpiece of which was Clinton's 20-minute address, was carried live on all three television network affiliates, which also gave prominent sympathetic coverage on the evening news shows. It was front-page headline news in The Arkansas Democrat and Gazette, the state's leading newspaper, which also carried the full text of the speech.

Clinton spoke on the steps of Central High to a generally enthusiastic crowd, which the Secret Service estimated at 7,500. Local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) boycotted the event because of disagreements with the city's government, and a few hecklers protested the schools's lack of access for for the disabled, but that did not stop most of the crowd from repeatedly interrupting the speakers, including Clinton, with cheers and applause.

People interviewed after the speech said they particularly approved of Clinton's call for more action to bring about racial reconciliation. One young Central High School student cited his metaphor about opening doors. In the speech, Clinton said, "We know there are still more doors to be opened, doors to be opened wider, doors we have to keep from being shut again."

Asked what was the most memorable image of the day, most people cited Clinton's symbolic holding open of the doors to the school as the "Little Rock Nine," who had been denied entry 40 years ago because they were African Americans, walked through. A photograph of that moment was the obvious draw for newspapers not only in Arkansas but across the country.

After the ceremony, Clinton met with the "Little Rock Nine" inside Central High for 45 minutes.