The story behind this event was told by the black weekly, the Pittsburgh Courier14 under the banner headline, 'Bates Stresses Role MRA Played in "Miracle" of Little Rock'. The paper quotes Mrs Bates's husband, L. C. Bates, as saying, 'This week Mrs Bates, a strong foe of Governor Faubus, met the Governor for more than two hours. It was her experience with MRA that gave her the courage to ask for this appointment. It was probably something of Moral Re-Armament in him which made him accept. It is hard to evaluate now, but it may be a turning point. If we instil MRA into the people of Little Rock, it will turn the city from chaos into happiness.'

Six years later the London Observer reported, 'Governor Faubus now seems to be leading a movement to bring about integration in his State ... Whatever the motivations, the results are remarkable. In school integration, better jobs for Negroes and the desegregation of restaurants and hotels, Arkansas has made more progress than any other state, according to the Governor's old adversary, Mrs L. C. Bates, field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Arkansas.'15

Buchman, because of age and increasing ill-health, was not always able to participate in these adventures, but no one doubted who was behind the initiatives. In 1958 the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, at their convention in Detroit, awarded him a permanent trophy as 'the greatest humanitarian of them all'.

The Seinendan delegation and those who accompanied them from Korea and the Philippines were only a fraction of those who came to Mackinac Island in the summer of 1957. Further delegations arrived during the five-month assembly from Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, India, Cambodia and Taiwan. Two special planes arrived from Europe, in addition to other parties from Italy and Germany, the latter including fifty-five students. Fifty-three arrived from Iceland in mid-August, and towards the end Buchman lunched with an influential group of Sudanese, brought by Ahmed el Mahdi, the grandson of the Mahdi, then studying at Oxford.* Another visitor was Charles Assalé, the leader of one of the parties striving for independence in the Cameroons. 'I have eaten the bread of bitterness all my life,' he told Buchman. On his return he became reconciled to Ahmadu Ahidjo, his keenest rival, and together they were able, three years later, to achieve a peaceful agreement with France. Ahidjo subsequently became President, and appointed Assalé Prime Minister. A number of these groups wrote plays to be performed at home, while a party of MPs and others from Ghana and Nigeria took theirs, The Next Phase, to Washington. In addition, individuals and groups were coming from all over America and Canada.

(* He later held a number of cabinet posts in several governments.)

501