ticular situation that arises within a community, representatives of Federal agencies whose programs are involved should coordinate their efforts through a single agency. In recent years, the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has played such a coordinating role in many situations, and has done so with great effectiveness.

"Placing the Community Relations Service within the Justice Department will enhance the ability of the Justice Department to mediate and conciliate and will insure that the Federal Government speaks with a unified voice in those tense situations where the good offices of the Federal Government are called upon to assist.

"In this, as in other areas of Federal operations, we will move more surely and rapidly toward our objectives if we improve Federal organization and the arrangements for interagency coordination.

"The present distribution of Federal civil rights responsibilities clearly indicates that the activities of the Community Relations Service will fit most appropriately in the Department of Justice." [Emphasis supplied.]

The President then noted that "the Department of Justice has primary program responsibilities in civil rights matters and deep and broad experience in the conciliation of civil rights disputes." After reviewing some of the statutory responsibilities of the Department of Justice in the field of civil rights, the Presi dent stated that most of the Department's responsibilities in civil rights "require not only litigation, but also efforts at persuasion, negotiation, and explanation, especially with local governments and law enforcement authorities. In addition, under the Law Enforcement Assistance Act the Department will be supporting local programs in the area of police-community relations."

After calling attention to the fact that the test of the effectiveness of an enforcement agency is not how many legal actions are initiated and won, but whether there is compliance with the law, as a result of which every such agency necessarily engages in extensive efforts to obtain compliance with the law and the avoidance of disputes, the President stated that:

"Among the heads of Cabinet departments the President looks principally to the Attorney General for advice and judgment on civil rights issues. The latter is expected to be familiar with civil rights problems in all parts of the Nation and to make recommendations for executive and legislative action.

"The Attorney General already has responsibility with respect to a major portion of Federal conciliation efforts in the civil rights field. Under Executive Order 11247, he coordinates the Government-wide enforcement of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which relies heavily on the achievement of compliance through persuasion and negotiation."

The President then stated that in the light of these facts, the accompanying reorganization plan would transfer the functions of the Community Relations Service and of its Director to the Attorney General. In so providing, the plan follows the established pattern of Federal organization by vesting all the transferred powers in the head of the Department, and the Attorney General will provide for the organization of the Community Relations Service as a separate unit within the Department of Justice.

With respect to the operations of the Service under the proposed transfer, the President stated that the functions transferred by the plan would be carried out with full regard of the provisions of title X relating to (1) cooperation with appropriate State or local, public, or private agencies; (2) the confidentiality of information acquired with the understanding that it would be so held; and (3) the limitation on the performance of investigative or prosecutive functions by personnel of the Service.

He concluded that "this transfer will benefit both the Department of Justice and the Community Relations Service in the fulfillment of their existing functions *** and that "the Attorney General will benefit in his role as the President's adviser by obtaining an opportunity to anticipate and meet problems before the need for legal action arises." He stated further that "the Community Relations Service, brought into closer relationship with the Attorney General and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, will gain by becoming a primary resource in a coordinated effort in civil rights under the leadershp of the Attorney General. The Community Relations Service will have direct access to the extensive information, experience, staff, and facilities within the Department and in other Federal agencies."

Finally, the President stated that:

"*** the responsibility for coordinating major Government activities under the Civil Rights Act aimed at voluntary and peaceful resolution of discriminatory

practices will be centered in one department. Thus, the reorganization will permit the most efficient and effective utilization of resources in this field. Together, the Service and the Department will have a larger capacity for accomplishment than they do apart."

BACKGROUND, MISSION, AND ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE

Background

The Community Relations Service was established in and as a part of the Department of Commerce by title X of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352; 42 U.S.C. 2000g-2000g-3), to aid persons and communities in resolving disputes relating to discriminatory practices based on race, color, and national origin, which impair the rights of persons in such communities under the Constitution or laws of the United States. The substance of title X was contained in the original bill submitted by the President in 1963, but was deleted by the House Committee on the Judiciary. It was subsequently added to the civil rights bill on the floor of the House of Representatives, as an amendment, and was adopted by the Senate, with some modifications.

Mission

The mission of the Community Relations Service is to provide conciliation and mediation services, information, and technical assistance in communities where disputes over compliance with civil rights law disrupt, or threaten to disrupt, peaceful relations among citizens; and to assist in situations in which efforts are being made to develop programs and procedures designed to further compliance and reduce and prevent racial tensions and disorders which affect or may affect interstate commerce.

The Service is authorized to assist communities upon the request of local citizens or officials, or upon its own motion, and Federal courts may refer to the Service cases arising under title II of the act (public accommodations). In performing its functions, the Service is required, wherever possible, to seek and utilize the cooperation of appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, private and public groups or institutions and individuals working to develop methods and programs for the peaceful resolution of racial disputes.

The Service is headed by a Director, appointed by the President, subject to Senate confirmation, for a term of 4 years, at an annual salary of $27.000. The Director is authorized to appoint such staff as is necessary to enable the Service to carry out its functions and duties, and is required to submit to the Congress, on or before January 31 of each year, a report of the activities of the Service during the preceding fiscal year.

Finally, the Service has no powers of compulsion or law enforcement, and the act specifically provides that the Service must conduct its activities in confidence and without publicity and must hold confidential any information acquired in the regular performance of its duties upon the understanding that it would be so held. Furthermore, any officer or other employee of the Service who makes public in any manner whatever any information in violation of this provision is deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, is subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than 1 year.

Activities

According to the first annual report filed by the Community Relations Service for fiscal year 1965, during much of that period, the Service "was in its formative stage, recruiting and organizing a staff while at the same time filling urgent requests for help."

The Service reported that:

"The staff of the agency has assisted 120 troubled communities in 28 States. Most of these communities were called to the attention of the Service by 213 complaints filed by groups and individuals. A majority of these communities are located in the Southeastern States and have populations under 25,000. A statistical description of CRS assistance cannot, however, provide the complete picture. There are also intangibles such as the guidance and suggestions given by our conciliators and other staff specialists in innumerable meetings and discussions both in the field and Washington.

"Included among the communities CRS has assisted are the nine large target cities of a Cabinet-level task force on urban problems: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Gary, Newark, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Rochester. ***"

Referring to the types of problems encountered, the report states: "Typically, a community in trouble, north or south, has a broad range of interlocking discriminatory problems as the source of dispute or tension. Although the specific cluster of problems varies with the locale, they frequently include voter registration difficulties; employment inequities in city government and private business; segregation in the schools; discrimination in public facilities, public accommodation or housing; police-community relations and inadequate law enforcement techniques.

"These problem areas cannot easily be compartmentalized. Conciliators who are called in initially to work on a school desegregation problem, for example, find it impossible to resist the community's pressures to become involved in other problems such as housing, use of public facilities, or any number of other community disputes. So common is this experience that by the end of fiscal year 1965, CRS conciliators were still active in 73 of the 120 communities."

Concerning its preventive activities, the report states:

"The Service has several affirmative action programs and seeks to focus these efforts, wherever feasible, on communities before they reach the point of crisis where positions have become polarized and emotion rather than reason prevails. "The increasing demands for CRS assistance have often made it necessary, however, for the Service to direct its efforts primarily toward communities already in a crisis situation.

"As a direct result, fully adequate and timely attention often cannot be given in many situations to opening lines of communications between the white and Negro communities, providing continued on-the-spot consultation on Federal programs having an impact on minority group problems, assisting with programs to assure healthy police-community relations, or helping communities establish or strengthen human relations commission."

Referring to its future activities, the report states:

"Significantly, there has been a steady increase of late in the number of requests CRS has received from large northern urban centers where the largest and most compressed concentrations of deprived minority group people are located. As the focal point of racial difficulties shifts northward, it is anticipated that more of the efforts of the Service will be directed at northern problems." In discussing the role of the Community Relations Service field conciliator, the report states:

"Tension and crisis are as much a part of the normal life of any community as are peace and tranquillity. The job of the CRS field conciliator is to help communities use both phases constructively-for growth toward a better life for all citizens, regardless of race."

With respect to Community Relations Service goals for communities, it is reported that:

"The most important general goal of CRS conciliation activity is to assist communities in every way possible to help themselves achieve voluntary and peaceful compliance with Federal civil rights laws.

"Since CRS usually assists communities in crisis situations, our work is often described by others as that of 'settling' disputes. We have found that one can rarely 'settle' a dispute or 'close a case' when discrimination is involved, however, for it is deep and insidious and hard to root out. CRS is called to encourage compliance, and each apparent 'settlement' of a crisis is more accurately seen as another small step in the never-ending battle against injustice.

"Peaceful compliance will be a reality only if certain long-range goals are achieved in the community. Among them are:

"(a) Respect for Federal law throughout the community;

"(b) Understanding and an attitude of mutual respect among groups in the community;

"(c) The development of confidence and leadership skills among minority group members, so they may move from nonparticipation to full and active participation in all parts of community life;

"(d) The development and encouragement of the kind of courageous leadership among white people that will enable the community to move ahead more effectively;

"(e) Some permanent form of ongoing interracial communication between representative leaders of races. CRS conciliators work for the establishment of a professionally staffed official community or human relations commission as part of the structure of city government-a body which is respected by all sides, controlled by no political or economic interest, can

process complaints and generally keep the issue of equal justice before the people as a vital part of the life of the community."

In dealing with what a conciliator can do, the report distinguishes between mediation, the process of arriving at a compromise solution between two parties, and arbitration, in which the outside agent is given authority to decide upon a solution to the conflict.

Continuing, the report states:

"Voluntary compliance with the law still has 'compliance' as the objective and CRS cannot 'mediate' away individual rights guaranteed by the law. For CRS, conciliation is the moving of both parties to peaceful, voluntary compliance with the law through (a) presentation of facts and interpretation, (b) suggestion of alternatives and solutions. and (c) liaison between groups.

Concerning the sequence of conciliation, it is pointed out that when conciliators enter a town, they usually have advance knowledge about the town and its problems. Thus, they know the names of elected officials, white business leaders and leaders of the minority protest, and it is imperative that contact be made with all of these by the end of the first day, or confidence in the conciliators will be lost.

The report states further that the conciliator must make it clear to everyone with whom he speaks that (a) his mandate is to help bring voluntary compliance with Federal laws pertaining to discrimination; (b) he has no power of legal coercion, only the tools of persuasion and reason; and (c) he works in confidence as required by title X. The report notes further that "Our experience has shown that integrated teams of conciliators, especially in the Deep South, tend to give Negroes greater confidence in the commitment of the Federal Government to their problems. It appears that the use of Negro conciliators has a positive effect on the white community, too, confronting them, perhaps for the first time, with the reality of the desegregated society toward which the country is moving."

In general, the sequence followed by a CRS conciliator is (1) to see persons individually; (2) to see groups of like-minded persons; (3) to bring disputants together privately; and (4) to bring factions together publicly.

Concerning the phases of his work, the report states that the conciliator operates in three phases of a community's life; precrisis, crisis, and postcrisis. In the precrisis phase, he is concerned with factfinding and affirmative actions; in the crisis phase, he devotes himself to the reduction of tensions and the resolution of conflict; and in the postcrisis phase, he is concerned with reintegration and affirmative action.

In order to demonstrate the manner in which CRS conciliators operate and what they actually do, the report contains case histories of experiences in four towns. In each instance, the discussion is broken down into (1) the setting; (2) the problem; (3) CRS conciliation activities; and (4) after the crisis; problems and possibilities.

In the foregoing summary of the activities of the Community Relations Service, an attempt has been made to cover only the highlights of the 59-page report submitted to the Congress by the Service. Complete details will be found in the report itself.

Administrative data

Concerning expenditures and personnel, according to the Federal budget for fiscal year 1967, the Community Relations Service expended $815,000 in fiscal year 1965, of which $414,000 represented personnel costs. The estimated expenditure for fiscal year 1966 is $1,300,000, of which $929,000 represents personnel costs; and for fiscal year 1967, $2 million has been requested, of which $1,314,000 represents personnel costs.

The total number of permanent personnel was 67 in 1965; an estimated 67 in 1966; and an estimated 108 in 1967. The average general schedule grade was 10.6 in 1965; an estimated 10.6 in 1966; and an estimated 10.2 in 1967. The average general schedule was $11.150 in 1965; an estimated $11,904 in 1966; and is estimated at $11,060 in 1967. (This compares with an average general schedule salary of $7,984 throughout the executive branch.)

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE

General

As noted earlier in this memorandum, title X was added as an amendment to the civil rights bill on the floor of the House of Representatives. Although it was contained in the original bill, as transmitted by the President in the 88th Con

gress, and retained by House Judiciary Subcommittee No. 5, it was dropped by the full committee when the bill, H.R. 7152, was reported to the House. Since the bill was not considered at all by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, but was taken up directly from the Senate Calendar, there is no formal legislative history available. It is therefore necessary to examine the surrounding events to determine the basis for placement of the Community Relations Service in the Department of Commerce.

In his message to the Congress on civil rights, transmitted on June 19, 1963, President Kennedy stressed the urgent need for voluntary action in the solution of racial conflicts. After noting that he had urged the creation of biracial human relations committees in every city, he stated that a similar agency was needed on the Federal level to work with local committees in an effort to ease tensions and suspicions, to help resolve interracial disputes, and to work quietly to improve relations in any community threatened or torn with strife.

President Kennedy noted further that the Department of Justice and its Civil Rights Division had performed yeoman service of this nature in various cities and throughout the country. He continued, stating that:

"*** the problem has grown beyond the time and energies which a few otherwise burdened officials can make available-and, in some areas, the confidence of all will be greater in an intermediary whose duties are completely separated from departmental functions of investigation or litigation.

"It is my intention, therefore, to establish by Executive order (until such time as it can be created by statute) an independent Community Relations Service to fulfill the functions described above, working through regional, State, and local committees to the extent possible, and offering its services in tension-torn communities either upon its own motion or upon the request of a local official or other party. Authority for such a Service is included in the proposed omnibus bill. It will work without publicity and hold all information imparted to its officer in strict confidence. * * 99 [Emphasis supplied.]

H.R. 7152, as originally introduced in June 1963, provided for the creation of a Community Relations Service in title IV, thereof, as an independent agency, headed by a Director, appointed by the President without Senate confirmation, and with no fixed term.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, then Attorney General of the United States, testifying with respect to a Community Relations Service before the House Subcommittee on July 26, 1963, noted that the efforts of Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall and others had contributed to the achievement of at least precarious peace in a number of cities. He continued, stating that:

"The administration's efforts will continue. But they cannot adequately substitute for the work of a regularly constituted organization which could devote its full energies to mediation in seriously troubled areas. [Emphasis supplied.] "In all, it seems to the administration that there is a real need for a Federal service with a congressional mandate to provide mediation assistance to communities where racial tensions are rising or have erupted. Title IV of H.R. 7152 would create such an organization under the name of the Community Relations Service, to be headed by a Director appointed by the President.

"The Service would be able to provide assistance to a troubled community, either upon request or upon its own motion, whenever it concluded that peaceful relations in the community were being threatened. It would seek the cooperation of nonpublic agencies, as well as State or local bodies."

Subcommittee No. 5 of the House Committee on the Judiciary, in recommending an amended version of H.R. 7152 to the full committee, retained as title V, the Community Relations Service, in its original form.

In its report on H.R. 7152, filed on November 20, 1963 (H. Rept. 914, 88th Cong.), the House Committee on the Judiciary adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute and stated that the "substitute deleted the title establishing a Community Relations Service ****

On February 10, 1964, Representative Ashmore of South Carolina offered title X as an amendment to H.R. 7152, and it was adopted by a voice vote. Title X added the Community Relations Service, in a form almost identical to that which had been contained in title IV of the administration's bill, except that it placed the Service in the Department of Commerce and provided for the appointment of the Director by the President, subject to Senate confirmation. In addition, it limited the term of the Director to 4 years, and specified that the Service would be limited to a Director and six employees. The limitation as to the number of employees was eliminated in the Senate.