Part 16

In 1918, women received special recognition in the state. For the first time, women were admitted to the College of William and Mary and to the graduate and professional schools of the state university, the University of Virginia. It is interesting to note that, in contrast to the educational status accorded women, the state refused to ratify the proposed Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Contrary to this negative attitude expressed in Virginia toward giving women the right to vote, the Constitutional Amendment was officially ratified and adopted nationwide in 1920. One of the first effects of this amendment in Virginia was a legislative enactment requiring all women to pay the poll tax.

Virginia continued to play a key role in international events during this period. For example, in 1926, Navy Lieutenant-Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd, a native of Winchester, made the first polar flight by flying over the North Pole and back in fifteen and a half hours. He then flew over the Atlantic Ocean the following year with Bert Balcher, Bert Acosta and George Noville. In 1929, he made the first return flight over the South Pole. Rear Admiral Byrd led four expeditions to the Antarctic and, just prior to his death in 1957, he was the leader of another expedition to Antarctica called "Operation Deepfreeze" at which time he was consulted concerning many ideas of importance to the safety and progress of the expedition. During World War II, he did secret work for the United States Government and furnished much valuable information concerning terrain of the land which he had mapped on his third Antarctic expedition. He wrote "Skyward," "Little America," "Discovery," "Exploring with Byrd" and "Alone" describing his various explorations. Richard Evelyn Byrd will always be remembered as one of the greatest explorers in United States history. An eight-foot high bronze statue of the late Admiral Richard E. Byrd was recently erected on the Virginia side of the Potomac River between the Arlington Cemetery and the Memorial Bridge. The statue depicts him in his middle thirties when he was at the height of his exploration career. He is clad in a fur outfit and is mounted on a four foot pedestal with fitting carved maps of the Arctic and Antarctic regions and an eagle as a background symbolizing his achievements.

In 1926, the famous project now known as the Restoration of Williamsburg began. The original purpose of the restoration was to benefit the people of the present in "That the Future May Learn from the Past." Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin, the late Rector of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, was responsible for interesting John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in such a project. To date, not only have 350 buildings been reconstructed, 82 buildings been restored and 619 buildings been torn down, but also many of the early crafts such as wigmaking, millinery-making, silversmithing, printing, shoe-making and repairing, cabinetmaking, blacksmithing and glassmaking have been revived. These craft shops are open to the public. A visit to the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary, the Bruton Parish Church (Episcopal), the Public Gaol, the Magazine, the Raleigh Tavern, the Capitol or the Governor's Palace provides an appreciation of life as it existed in the colonial period.

During the early 1920's there was much discussion within the state concerning the need for government reorganization at the state level. During the governorship of Harry F. Byrd (1926-1930), considerable effort was made to reorganize the state government with the objective of increasing its efficiency. The Reorganization Act of 1927 provided that only the executive offices of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Attorney-General were to be elected by popular vote; that the state legislature was to have the authority to elect the auditor and that the Governor was to appoint other executive officials with confirmation by the General Assembly. The structure and functions of the various state departments were also changed by this act to make each department more effective. Twelve administrative departments were created, and, in most instances, department heads were made appointive positions rather than elective ones. The twelve departments created were: Finance, Taxation, Agriculture and Immigration, Workmen's Compensation, Corporations, Highways, Conservation and Development, Health, Public Welfare, Education, Law, and Labor and Industry.

During this same period, the "Pay-as-You-Go" system for roadbuilding was adopted. This system means that, instead of floating large bond issues to raise revenue for roadbuilding, the state pays for the roads as they are built, with some of the revenue obtained from gasoline taxes and fees from motor vehicle licenses. During the first few years of the system while adequate funds were being accumulated, the state did not have the total mileage of modern roads which would have been built more rapidly through borrowing; however, as the funds increased, the state was able to develop an excellent system of state and local highways. The "Pay-as-You-Go" system has reflected favorably on the state's financial reputation.

Virginia made national headlines in the Presidential election of 1928. For the first time since 1872, the Republican set of electors in Virginia was chosen by a majority of the Virginia voters. Consequently, the Republican Presidential candidate that year, Herbert Hoover, received the twelve electoral votes of Virginia.

Virginia was fortunate in escaping the most severe pangs of the depression years of the 1930's. The great variety of industries and occupations kept the Commonwealth from becoming severely economically stricken as was the case of states having one specialized type of economic activity. Surprisingly enough, some industries such as the tobacco industry and the rayon and cellophane industries expanded considerably. In conjunction with the federal government's construction program during the depression years as an attempt to create new job opportunities, numerous bridges, public school buildings and other structures--such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond--were built. Economy in government administration was stressed and Governor John G. Pollard (1930-1934) reduced his own salary ten per cent for one year as a part of the economy program. Virginia was one of the three states which was successful in maintaining a balanced budget in the depression years of the 1930's. Although the relief cost in Virginia was below the national average relief, at one point during the depression, over 50,000 families and single individuals had become dependent upon the dole system--especially industrial workers in the cities. Job-finding committees were organized in many sections of the state to stimulate re-employment.

After the national census of 1930 had been taken and the results had been tabulated, the state legislature of Virginia passed an act dividing the Commonwealth into nine Congressional districts instead of its previous ten districts. This decrease took place because of a smaller increase in population in Virginia in proportion to other states of the United States. This act was found to be objectionable by some residents who stated that the new seventh district was disproportionately large. After suit had been filed, the Virginia Court of Appeals declared the act invalid on the grounds that it did not provide for equal representation as required by the United States Constitution. As a result, in the 1932 national election, all the United States Representatives from Virginia were elected at-large by the whole state electorate rather than by particular districts. Subsequently, the legislature redistricted properly, and at the next election Congressmen from Virginia were chosen by, and represented, particular Congressional districts. Like a large majority of the states in the 1932 national election, Virginians gave Franklin D. Roosevelt a victory at the polls with a plurality of 114,343 popular votes.

During Governor Pollard's administration, the General Assembly passed the Optional Forms Act. Under this act, two types of county government were made available for selection according to local preference: the county-manager form, usually preferred by urban and large rural county areas and the county-executive form, generally preferred by small rural areas. As a result of this act, several county administrative offices were merged for more efficient and economical management.

In August 1933, a special session of the Virginia legislature was held to select delegates for a special convention to vote on the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although Governor Pollard at first refused to summon the extra session, he was forced by petition of two-thirds of both houses of the General Assembly to do so. Subsequently, the delegates favored the repeal of the amendment by a vote of 96 to 54. The vote by the people was actually a referendum vote, but ballots for repeal automatically elected a slate of thirty delegates-at-large who were pledged to a repeal vote. Later, at a special convention, the delegates voted to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by favoring the Twenty-First Amendment. The General Assembly then created its own regulations for the sale of liquor and provided for the establishment of Alcoholic Beverage Control Boards throughout the Commonwealth.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Claude A. Swanson of Virginia as the first Secretary of the Navy in his cabinet, ex-Governor Harry F. Byrd was appointed to succeed Swanson as United States Senator. Harry F. Byrd was elected United States Senator at the next national election. Thus, in 1933, Senator Byrd began one of the longest periods of continuous service in the United States Senate.

In 1935, the first national park in Virginia and the second national park east of the Mississippi River was established. It was called the Shenandoah National Park and was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This very scenic park, which now includes the famous Skyline Drive, was made possible by the combined efforts of many people: Governor E. Lee Trinkle who publicly advocated the establishment of parks, numerous citizens who willingly donated property (because Virginia had been informed by the federal government that it would have to furnish the land), the state which also contributed land after it had purchased it or condemned it and the federal government which helped financially with appropriations and with physical labor furnished by the Civilian Conservation Corps. This park has attracted tourists from throughout the nation with its breath-taking mountain scenery and diversity of trees and wild flowers.

Virginia made a very significant contribution to World War II. When the nation began to mobilize for war, Governor James H. Price created the Virginia Defense Council. Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman, a noted author, was appointed chairman of this council, the first in the United States. As in previous wars, the Hampton Roads area became strategically important; navy activities increased rapidly in this area; various camps including Camp Lee and Langley Field were re-opened; and production, transportation and consumption

## activities created new records in quantity and speed. Activities

at Camp A. P. Hill, Camp Pickett, Newport News, Norfolk, Alexandria, Williamsburg, Quantico and Hampton Roads reflected much of the war effort of Virginians in this conflict. The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond was consigned again to make munitions for the armed conflict. Richmond along with Madison, Wisconsin, was selected as a test city for a scrap aluminum drive. The test proved most successful, and the scrap aluminum drives were soon extended throughout the nation. Various federal government offices were temporarily moved to Virginia, such as the United States Patent Office which was moved from Washington to Richmond. Since Richmond is located within a one hundred mile radius of the national capital and is geographically and strategically situated from a military viewpoint, it was designated as a "critical area." During the 1940-1945 period, Virginia furnished 137,000 men and 3,757 women to the Army (including the Air Force) and 71,091 men and 2,055 women to the Navy (including the Marines). Civilians in Virginia, as in all other states, contributed much physical, mental and financial effort during the war in their desire to bring peace again to the world.

[Illustration: VIRGINIA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

_Shrine of Memory: Virginia War Memorial_]

One impact of World War II upon state government was action during Governor Colgate W. Darden's term to modify the poll tax requirement as applied to Virginia members of the armed forces on active duty. A special session of the Virginia legislature in 1944 attempted to exempt those persons from poll tax requirements but the judiciary nullified this measure as contrary to constitutional provision. Subsequently, by referendum, the voters of the state favored the calling of a limited constitutional convention to accomplish the objective. A condition of the referendum restricted the delegates to this convention to act solely upon the soldier vote and to agree not to consider, adopt or propose any other law, amendment or revision. The constitutional convention approved a measure which became the seventeenth article of the Virginia State Constitution: this new article allowed service men and women on active duty, otherwise eligible to vote, to vote without payment of a poll tax or without fulfillment of the registration requirement.

Since the end of World War II, war memorials have been erected in various communities as an expression of appreciation for war sacrifices. The most famous such memorial constructed through state or local action has been the state memorial erected in Richmond. A million dollar white marble edifice known as the "Shrine of Memory" consists of a structure twenty-two feet high and includes the names, etched on glass panels and marble columns, of approximately 10,340 Virginians who died in combat in World War II or in the Korean conflict. The memorial, located on a four-acre site overlooking the James River near the north end of the Robert E. Lee Bridge, is also a tribute to the 360,000 Virginians who participated in the armed forces during these two conflicts and to the 100,000 Virginia volunteer civilian workers who contributed much in their various types of activities. At the base of the statue to "Memory" is a gas-fed torch, called the "Torch of Liberty," which burns perpetually. Embedded in the floor of the "Shrine of Memory" are memorial coffers which contain authentic, labeled ground and sea battle mementos from battleground areas. The leading sculptor for this unusually beautiful memorial was Leo Friedlander.

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.