S.C. Governor’s Compromise Would Move Confederate Flag

South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges offered a compromise Monday in the debate over a Confederate battle flag, proposing that it be moved from atop the statehouse and flown instead at an adjacent memorial to a Confederate general.

The battle flag that has flown over the South Carolina statehouse since 1962, when it was raised during Civil War centennial commemorations, has become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Democrats calling it a symbol of racism that should come down.

Republicans, who face a crucial South Carolina primary Saturday, have said it should not be part of presidential politics.

On Jan. 1, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People called for a boycott of South Carolina to protest the flying of the flag at the state capitol, a boycott that has prompted some 90 groups to cancel meetings or conventions planned in the state.

Under the compromise, the battle flag would be removed from the statehouse dome and from the state House and Senate chambers. One would be placed, instead, next to the monument to Gen. Wade Hampton on the statehouse grounds. Hampton, who was a South Carolina governor and senator during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, served with the Confederate army.