This is a preliminary report on a study of white reactions to the Watts Riots of August 1965, based on a sample of 583 respondents from six Los Angeles communities. A wide variety of indices of antagonism toward Negroes was related to values and to amount and kind of contact with Negroes. Findings are presented showing that egoism is related to high antagonism, altruism to low antagonism; that lack of intimate social contact with Negroes is related to high antagonism; that the combined effect of egoism and lack of contact is the best predictor of antagonism, as measured by social distance. All these relationships hold when controlled for occupation, education and age.