Statement by the President Concerning the Supreme Court Order in the Little Rock School Case.

THE SUPREME COURT of the United States has rendered a unanimous decision and has spoken in the matter of desegregation of Central High School at Little Rock, Arkansas.

I appeal to the sense of civic responsibility that animates the vast majority of our citizenry to avoid defiance of the Court's orders in this matter.

All of us know that if an individual, a community or a state is going continuously and successfully to defy the rulings of the Courts, then anarchy results.

In addition, states and localities have a Constitutional duty to maintain peace and order. If state and local officials, in awareness of the gravity of this duty, will maintain peace and order, then lawless elements will not be able by force and violence to deprive school children of their Constitutional rights.

I hope that all of us may live up to our traditional and proud boast that ours is a government of laws. Let us keep it that way.