S. Carolinians Rally Around Plan to Lower Rebel Flag

Gov. David Beasley persuaded most of South Carolina’s leading politicians Wednesday to join his effort to move the Confederate battle flag off the Statehouse dome.

Beasley, a Republican, gathered the bipartisan support in hopes of resolving a bitter feud over the flag, which many blacks say symbolizes slavery and racism. The compromise would move it to a Confederate monument on the Statehouse grounds.

U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond said in a letter that the flag was put atop the dome in 1962 to pay tribute to Civil War soldiers, but now mostly divides the state’s citizens. Thurmond said he supports his fellow Republican’s effort as a way “to continue to honor history while looking forward.”

Also lending support were former Govs. Robert McNair and John West, both Democrats, and James Edwards and Carroll A. Campbell Jr., both Republicans. Others included former Gov. and current U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, and U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, both Democrats.

They said the compromise is needed because the state’s racial atmosphere has worsened in recent years, including racially motivated church burnings.

But formidable opposition remains.

Republican Atty. Gen. Charlie Condon and state Sen. Glenn McConnell rejected Beasley’s plan in televised rebuttals Tuesday night. McConnell even compared the governor to ex-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who struck a deal with Adolf Hitler that failed to prevent World War II.

“It’s a very difficult undertaking for the governor,” said state GOP House Speaker David Wilkins, usually Beasley’s stalwart supporter.

Support was even mixed among blacks. Democrat James E. Clyburn, the state’s lone black congressman, wants the flag moved but questions moving it to a prominent monument at the foot of Main Street.