The Commission on Public Education, chaired by state senator Garland Gray, issued its final report on November 11, 1955. Governor Thomas B. Stanley appointed the Commission on August 30, 1954 and charged it with examining the effect of the Brown v. Board decision and making recommendations for the state concerning the decision. The Commission held public hearings where blacks and whites spoke, but the Commission was all-white, all male, and all legislators, many of whom represented Southside Virginia counties. The Commission's report proceeded from the belief of its members that the Brown decision was bad law and wrongheaded social policy. The Gray Commission wanted to give local school boards "wide discretion" to deal with desegregation, but it was more than willing to tolerate the closing of local public schools and foresaw a move toward private academies. The Gray Commission's emphasis on local handling of desegregation orders from federal courts should not be mistaken for a willingness to accept "token integration." Instead, the Commission clearly saw the localities as the government closest to the people and, therefore, in a position to accomplish what the state might not--avoiding what it consistently called "enforced integration." The Commission repeatedly implied and made provision for a future in which some localities closed their public schools systems and used tuition grants to allow parents to send their children to private schools

In an extra session on November 30, 1955, Virginia Governor Thomas Stanley addressed the General Assembly to discuss the Supreme Court 1954 and 1955 rulings in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Stanley argued that Virginia had made considerable progress toward equality and compliance with the Plessy v. Ferguson rule of "separate but equal." He went so far as to suggest that some black school facilities were superior to some white schools. Stanley was in full support of the recommendations put forth by the Gray Commission and called the special session to introduce a bill calling for a Constitutional Convention. The convention would act on the Gray Commission's recommendations to amend the State Constitution [section 141] to allow tuition grants for private schools.

Stanley addressed the General Assembly a few months after he proposed a referendum that would allow for a Constitutional Convention to amend the State Constitution. (See Governor Stanley's Address to the 1955 Session) Since voters supported the referendum, the first recommendation to the Assembly was the "authorization of the election of delegates to the constitutional convention," however the rest of Stanley's address took a different direction. Stanley shifted the focus away from the issue of school desegregation and presented an overview of the economic conditions of the State over the past two years and forecast for the next two years.

During his inaugural address before the General Assembly and people of Virginia, Almond outlined his expectations and observations for the state on the issues of public education, national security and state sovereignty. Almond issued his infamous call for massive resistance, defined as a "resolute defense against the catastrophe that threatens to overwhelm our public schools." Almond's rhetoric drew attention to a larger struggle, one shaped by the Cold War, and asked Virginians to begin "resisting external aggression [in an effort to] preserve domestic tranquility." Although Almond declared his intention to do every thing possible to "promote and sustain an efficient progressive and well functioning system of public free schools," he consistently equated "efficiency" and "well-functioning" to segregated schooling.

In April 1959, Governor Almond called an extra session of General Assembly to present the findings of the Perrow Commission on Education regarding the school integration/segration issue in Virginia. The primary findings of the report suggested that the state needed to approach the problem in such a way that did not ignore its obligation to follow through with federally mandated orders. "It points out�that the police power cannot be exercised by any agency of a state to reverse or negate a federal decree," Almond summarized. Almond and the Perrow Commission turned to "freedom of choice" for each locality and individual student. While not calling for Constitutional Amendments to remove the section 129 provision to maintain free and open public schools, Almond argued that the Commission dealt "with fact--not fiction." Almond conceded that the massive resisters saw him as a lame surrenderer, but he reversed the charge, argued that "abandonment of public education everywhere in Virginia at this time would smack of defeatism and surrender." Almond considered his and the Perrow Commission's plans the best possible means to continue resistance and uphold segregated schools.

In late January of 1959, Almond called an extra session of the General Assembly to address the school desegregation issue. Federal and state courts had struck down the massive resistance laws and after first pledging to fight them Almond had conceded that some integration in Virginia was inevitable. Almond suggested that Virginia and by extension its governor had fought valiantly against "overriding" power. Virginia was "encompassed by the iron will or arrogated power, buffetted upon the storms of an uneven contest, pierced with the daggers of political expediency, and battered by the unholy alliance to destroy the Constitution." Almond, however, could find no way to resist the federal courts, to as he put it "find the way through the dark maze of judicial aberration and constitutional exploitation." Almond turned to more subtle methods of resistance to integration and plainly said so. Tuition grants could be justified on the grounds that they be provided to student who would be better instructed if they attended another school, with no mention of race. Almond encouraged the continued support of the private school network, as the "consequent confusion of a transition which may invoke conditions justifying its termination would be productive of incalculable harm." In his conclusion, Almond stated that the extra session was called, not as a concession to pro-segregationists, but because he felt it necessary in order to begin taking steps to ensure the preservation of the Virginia public school system.

First passed in the 1956 Extra Session, the Interposition Resolution set forth the Virginia legislature's direct response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. It's rationale developed largely from the editorials written in 1955-1956 by James J. Kilpatrck, the editor of the Richmond News Leader. Kilpatrick resurrected the interposition doctrine from the writings of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and tried to an argument for resistance to the federal courts that drew on constitutional and historical sources. This report on the Interposition Doctrine in 1957 came from the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice. The Committee detailed a constitutional history for interposition and assembled a range of statistical material aimed at preventing integration in schools.

Lindsay Almond appointed The Perrow Commission on February 5, 1959 after federal and state courts had struck down the massive resistance laws. The Commission's charge was to make recommendations by March 31, 1959 for methods to safeguard segregated schools to the maximum extent possible. Unlike the heavily rural and Southside-heavy Gray Commission in 1955, the Perrow Commission was balanced with four representatives from each Congressional district. Mosby G. Perrow, Jr., from Lynchburg had served in the Virginia legislature since 1944 and chaired the commission. The Commission developed what was described as a containment policy, designed to hold school desegregation to the lowest level possible. Tuition grants, local compulsory attendance laws, and a new pupil placement law combined with a "freedom-of-choice" approach to continue resistance to integration by means other than outright racially-based defiance.

In this press release, Senator Byrd expressed his views on the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. According to Byrd, this decision was the "most serious blow that has yet been struck against the rights of states in a matter vitally affecting their authority and welfare." Byrd called to those in authority to "exercise the greatest wisdom in shaping our future course."

In this address to the Maritime Association in Norfolk, Byrd denounced "evils" of the pending civil rights legislation that he believed was simply an effort to punish the South. Byrd feared that the 1957 civil rights bill would lead to the creation of a "special bureau which would send its agents into the South and originate suits against Southerners�they would be tried in Federal courts without jury subject to contempt of court proceedings." To combat this, Sen. Byrd along with other members proposed a bill, S 1735, which would guarantee a trial by jury. Many, including Assistant Attorney General Warren Olney III, openly criticized the bill as nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the President's attempt to enforce civil rights.

Voting record, on major domestic issues, of Harry Flood Byrd : Candidate for democratic nomination to U. S. Senate in primary election August 6.

This speech supported the actions of the white leaders of Prince Edward County and dismissed the charges of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Byrd saw the NAACP as a threat to the well=being and tranquility of the country, an outside organization that interfered in southern communities. The NAACP, he stated, "neither provide for education of their children nor accept assistance from the white people of the county�[the NAACP] is more interested in the integration of public school children than it is in the education of colored children." In contrast, Byrd cited the founding of the Southside Schools, Inc corporation led by R.B. Hargrove and intended to provide segregated education for the black children in Prince Edward.

Byrd's speech on the U.S. Senate floor labelled the 1957 Civil Rights Bill "the most vicious bills ever presented to the Congress." Byrd considered the bill an example of federal "bayonet force." The bill, he considered, would set up the Attorney General as an "American Caesar."

Oliver Treyz, the president of ABC Television Network, notified Almond of the upcoming new installment of ABC's show, Close Up!, an emotionally challenging documentary that chronicled often controversial issues of the time. The season opener, called A Walk in My Shoes, traced the life of a black man and attempted to capture life in the 60s from his viewpoint and many others. The letter came at a time when other national television stations, including NBC, began broadcasting controversial programs, capitalizing on the increasing racial tensions in the South. Some of these programs received conflicting responses, including backlash from many white southern viewers who saw the programs as instigating and inciting racial turmoil.

Arnold, the president of Remmie Arnold Pen Co. Inc, a prominent pen and pencil company out of Petersburg Virginia, objected to what he considered racially inflammatory programming on the major television networks. His specific discontent stemmed from an April 10th program broadcast by NBC that was carried on the local stations. Though Arnold never names the program, it can be inferred that it was a broadcast with reporter Chet Huntley on the cause of desegregation in the South. According to Arnold, "...instead of helping in some way to solve [race problems] they are being distorted and breeding more unrest, which makes the problem harder for us to solve." He called on the Almond to exercise his powers to prevent future programming from being shown throughout the state. Arnold condemned NBC for feeding such programming to local stations and accuses them of giving "instructions to the dissenters of the colored race throughout the entire country."

CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow described a telecast based on the school closing situation in Norfolk Virginia and scheduled to be aired in late January. According to Murrow, the intent of the program was to present the school desegregation problem of Virginia in an unbiased way so as the people of the country could get a better understanding of what was going on. CBS anticipated a large viewing audience for the program and planned to broadcast it during a weekday time slot. The letter requested an interview with the Governor to get his opinion and that of the General Assembly

Norman La Salle, a fourteen year old Arlington resident, wrote to Almond to express his concern over the school integration situation. His letter came just prior to the Almond's scheduled meeting with President Eisenhower to discuss the school situation. La Salle compared the Arlington situation to that of Prince Edward and asked the Governor why they too could not follow the same course of action in preventing desegregation. La Salle also criticized the "nine dictators" referring to the Supreme Court justices and objected to their exercise of federal power over the states. He said that in Arlington, "it seems to me people here want some measure of integration...[but]some measure can never be."

Ashby Reardon, president of Mutual Ice Company in Alexandria, Virginia, wrote to support of Almond's decision not to visit the White House. Reardon thought that the snub was consistent with "the election of Governor Faubus [and] the opinion of Judge Hutchinson on Prince Edward." Reardon felt all three actions were contributing considerably to the South's resistance to federal action on the issue of desegregation. According to Reardon, "if we only can prevent rioting from breaking out in the entire South, then what can they send troops for?"

Georgia resident Miss Para Lee Brock wrote to Edward R. Murrow, CBS reporter, to respond to his upcoming program about the Norfolk, Virginia, school situation. Brock was an independent television writer and producer who had the opportunity to preview the program and offer feedback. According to Brock, the broadcast overall was a solid attempt at an unbiased representation of the school segregation situation in the South. However, Brock took offense at the opening sequence of the program which highlighted the small percentage of black students who attended one of the closed schools. She called it "propaganda" and an attempt to ridicule the South. Brock attempted to defend the massive resistance campaign, however, and she called on Murrow and the network to allow a Virginian the opportunity to respond to these statements and offer their justification as well.

WSLS conducted its survey to "determine the tastes and desires of its viewers and the needs of the communities which it serves." This document included a list of individuals and organizations that were contacted during the survey and how well the staff of WSLS has integrated into the community.