Civil Rights: The Force of Conscience

Week by week, the U.S. civil rights revolution burns more deeply in its intensity, shifts into bewildering new directions, expands fiercely in its dimensions. Leaders follow and followers lead.

Congressional timetables are upset. Negro organization officials find themselves riding a crest they cannot control. Negro moderates suffer vilification, or the threat of physical harm, for their moderation. White politicians who have achieved power through their championship of civil rights find themselves hooted by audiences who think they have not been civil righteous enough.

As the revolution moved relentlessly forward last week, the...