Wallace in Boston

President Kennedy will not carry a single Southern state in 1964, thanks to the "so-called civil rights issue," Alabama's Gov. George Wallace told newsmen yesterday. The President's stand on civil rights, Wallace added, has also hurt him in the East and Mid-West.

Wallace predicted that "four or five" Southern states would select unpledged electors, while the rest would give their electoral vote to the Republican candidate. He seemed unimpressed with the possibility of a Southern-oriented third party, stating that he was not a member of the "so-called National States Rights Party," but that "like Mr. Kennedy, I'll take any vote I can get."

Later, during a discussion with Vermont's Gov. Phillip Hoff broadcast over WNAC-TV, Wallace argued that segregation was "a political, not a moral question."

"I believe sin emanates from the heart," Wallace said, admitting that "if you negregate anyone because you hate him. that's sinful." He claimed, however, that he supported segregation because it was in the interests of both races.

Wallace attacked Hoff's contention that conditions in the South were a diagrace to the rest of the country, saying that when President Kennedy made it possible to "walk in the shadow of the White House at night without being attacked, then he can come down to heathen Alabama and Mississippi."

He also rejected the charge that segregation was harmful to the image of the U.S. in Africa and Asia, saying that "they ought to worry about what we thing of them. The average native of those places doesn't know where he is, much less where Mississippi and Alabama are. When they start rejecting 25 cents out of every aid dollar because it comes from the old Confederacy, then I'll start worrying."

Hoff described for Wallace the experience Vermont had had with laws prohibiting racial discrimination. Wallace counteroll with "What is the percentage of Negross in Vermont?"

"Relatively small," Hoff replied.

Wallace constantly emphasized the existence of racial tension and discrimination in the North. Referring to Mrs. Louise Hicks, chairman of the Boston School Committee, he stated, "Everyone said if you voted for her you would be voting for segregating and you all voted for her anyhow."

Wallace injected himself into the current Harvard parietals controversy. During his press conference, one reporter asked him if forbidding Harvard students to entertain women in their bedrooms would involve a question of civil rights.

"You just can't believe everything you read the papers," Wallace replied. "We in Alabama won't believe everything we read about y'all if y'all won't believe everything you read about us.