874 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

between the time that I was elected and today you can't find any
inconsistency. If anything I have moved more to the liberal side. I
have decided, for example, that open housing should be unqualified.
I took the position during the campaign that it should not apply to
single family house sales. I now feel that, in spite of the constitutional
question involving the private sale of an individual to another, that
open housing — the interest in open housing — transcends this, that
the situation in this country does demand that there must be a lack
of emphasis on race.

The biggest race questions that are arising today come, I submit
to you, from the civil rights militants who are trying to create an
unhealthy black racism in this country. And we've got to do some-
thing about that. I've always thought that the whole purpose of civil
rights was one thing — that eventually, if everything goes the way
we'd like it to go, I can sit down with a man of any color or creed and
talk to him and not even think of the fact that he is a Negro or a
white, or his religious affiliation, or anything about him, I can ap-
praise him as an individual based on his individual work. That's
what this is all about. Not black racism or white racism.

(Prospects for National Office)

Q. Governor, you are speaking out more and more on national is-
sues. Are you pledged to serve the full four years as Governor?

A. I was elected to serve four full years, and I would say this just
to give you a hint: We don't have a Lieutenant Governor here, and
under the Constitution I suppose what happens if I would move to
the national scene is that we would have a Democratic Governor very
quickly. Now, that doesn't sound very likely to you does it?

Q. Are you then saying that you're pledging yourself to serve four
years?

A. You'll have to draw the conclusions that you wish to draw. I
am not anticipating any move out of the Governor's office at this
moment. I'll put it that way.

(Republican Platform — Welfare)

Q. Governor, even though you are not going to be on the platform
committee at the Republican Convention, are you still going to make
any effort to have the platform to include that the Federal govern-
ment take over the welfare program?

A. I'm going to try to do that, yes; I believe very strongly in that. I
brought that up before the Republican Governors' Conference in an