University of Virginia Library

We write, as students members
of the Young Republican Federation
of Virginia, to express our
dismay over the keynote address
delivered to that organization's
annual convention last weekend at
Natural Bridge by Richard
Obenshain, recent candidate for
state Attorney-Genera. The tone of
the speech went against all that we
believe the Republican Party, under
the leadership of Linwood Holton,
has worked for in this state in
recent years.

Specifically, we took offense at
Mr. Obenshain's references to
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson as exemplary of Virginia's
past greatness. In these two figures,
he drew the convention's attention
to symbols of everything which the
South has to regret and which our
country is now trying to overcome.
In this way, he glorified the very
opponents of the Republican
Party's founder, Abraham Lincoln.

At best, Mr. Obenshain demonstrated
a lack of rapport with the
very people he is identified with,
the Young Republicans of Virginia.
At worst, he reflected the attitude
which has denied the Republican
Party to form a broad and viable
coalition of social groups and
interest.

The YRFV was unable to attract
a single black student or young
adult as a delegate to its most
recent convention. The only fortunate
aspect of the unhappy incident,
from the view of the party,
was that no black was present to
hear the inconsiderate remarks
which were intended to keynote
the assembly. Had there been such
a representative, he would have had
no choice but to walk out, as we
did.

It is not sufficient for the
Republican Party to speak of, as
Mr. Obenshain did, "a new dawn
for Virginia." It will be judged not
by its rhetoric, but by its action.