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Text
from
HELEN BULLARD
Consultant
July 29, 1963
PERSONAL
Dear Ivan,
I have just sent you a most inadequate telegram but after trying all week-end
to put down something that would convey what I really feel, I finally gave up.
When wewere children, we used to play a game called "May I?". The leader would
say, "You may take a baby step" and you would say, "May I?", and the leader
would say "You May" and you would take it. Sometimes the leader would say very
grandly, "You may take a giant step!" and those were the shining moments. I
have the awed feeling that "SOMEBODY" said the same thing to you and that
SOMEBODY was either your conscience or it was the grammar school teacher under
whom you memorized "My strength is the strength of ten" .... or maybe it was
one of those reve things of a person sensing that it was the thing to do. I
have no way of knowing but whatever it was, it was your finest moment.
The other thing I wanted to tell you was that I was not only proud of what you
did but how you did it. If you had hedged or if sou had compromised.... but
you didn't and your testimony had the same effect that Mr. Kennedy had when he
said, "We do this because it is right."
It may be our salvation, this lesson of learning that right has a tangible
weight.
I am deeply proud of you and I wish this letter could more adequately tell you
how proud. JI do not think that any action by any elected official in the South
has ever taken the courage that this must have taken and in the scheme of time,
this is no small thing.
Sincerely,
4
elen Bullard
TOOMBS, AMISANO & WELLS
Architects & Engineers
70 Fairlie Street, N. W., Atlanta 3, Georgia, Telephone 524-2801