7
7
The Value of Having an Enemy
True to the principles enunciated by Margaret Mead, every
culture handcuffs hostility within the group. But in exchange for this
imprisonment of anger, the culture offers a set of outsiders it's
acceptable to loathe and sometimes kill. These are the folks we call
enemies.
A charismatic leader's invocation of the enemy's image is
frequently what draws the social organism together.14 Orval Faubus,
governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, knew how to pull together the
social beast. He did it by creating an enemy that didn't exist. In 1957,
Faubus was facing an uphill battle for re-election. His popularity was
down. He had upset liberals by allowing utilities and railroads to raise
their rates, and had stepped on the toes of conservatives by increasing
taxes. But Faubus had an ace up his sleeve--the creation of a
bogeyman. Three years earlier, the Supreme Court had ruled that
schools must be integrated. The South was outraged. Numerous
Southern politicians were trying to capitalize on the issue, but none
knew how to turn it into a full-scale, headline- grabbing drama with
themselves at the center. None, that is, but Faubus.
The governor's opening move was simple. He phoned the
Deputy Attorney General in Washington to ask what the Feds planned
to do to head off violence when Little Rock's schools opened their
doors in September to both black and white kids. The Attorney
General's office was perplexed. As far as they could tell, Little Rock
seemed remarkably peaceful. So the Feds flew an official in to find out
what the governor knew that they didn't. Faubus played it cagey. He
had evidence that violence would indeed erupt, he said, but it was "too
vague and indefinite" to turn over to anyone else.
"Violence," said the mayor of Little Rock in astonishment, "There
was no indication whatever [of it]. We had no reason to believe there
would be violence." Governor Faubus declared that the mayor was
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