On page 206, Mr Folsom ask the question, “…Why was he [Roosevelt] so unhelpful to black Americans on racial issues?” Then he asks “Why, for example, did he refuse to endorse the antilynching bills that were filibustered by southern Democrats in the Senate in 1937 and 1938?” He then explains that, “That would have been politically possible and politically desirable for someone determined to promote liberal ideas.”
It is pointed out, “In Roosevelt’s first term, lynchings of black Americans shot back up over 40 percent to almost 1.4 per month.”
Mr. Folsom notes that “…from a political angle, blacks had just begun voting for Democrats in the 1930s. Alf Landon [Republican] in his presidential campaign, and other Republicans later, were clamoring for an antilynching bill. Roosevelt had a good opportunity to steal their thunder, solidify blacks in the New Deal coalition, and pursue a noble, liberal idea.”
It is noted that “Eleanor Roosevelt urged her husband to lend his support, and she publicly endorsed the bill herself. By refusing to join her, he was clearly sacrificing what was possibly the most noble liberal idea of the twentieth century.”
The fact that: “Black literacy had risen from 20 to 84 percent from 1870 to 1930, and Booker T. Washington and others had been promoting self-help and black upward mobility for decades.”
Other things pointed out by Mr Folsom is that:
“In the midst of the antilynching debate in 1937, two blacks accused of killing a white merchant in Mississippi were heinously killed by a blowtorch. That kind of thing had happened before, but this time several white groups in Mississippi – including the Methodist Women’s Society – petitioned the governor for federal action to prosecute lynchers. In September 1937, Senator Harrison [Democrat] told his fellow Mississippians publicly that Congress would pass an antilynching bill in the next session. ‘There is no way to stop it,’ he lamented. But with a six-week filibuster in early 1938, Harrison and his southern [Democrat] colleagues did stop the antilynching bill from reaching the senate floor. Roosevelt again refused to endorse the bill, or use any political capital to make it pass.”Mr. Folsom also notes how “Roosevelt also refused to publicly support a constitutional amendment to abolish the poll tax, a device that had been used for decades to keep blacks from voting”
And “in a similar vein, Roosevelt refused to pressure the racist American Federation of Labor ‘to let the Negro enter skilled trades,’ even when urged to do so.”
It is noted that “Roosevelt’s hesitancy to court black voters is puzzling. As shrewd as the president was in mobilizing different groups into his New Deal coalition, he tended to keep blacks at a distance. He did win the black vote anyway, so his election-winning skills came through.”
Then there is the shoddy way Roosevelt treated known black personalities such as Jesse Owens and Joe Louis.
After Jesse “Owens won four gold medals in Berlin at the 1936 Olympics, defying Adolf Hitler and the overly racist Germans. Yet Roosevelt refused to invite Owens to the White House, or even to send him a congratulatory telegram.”
Mr. Folsom noted that, “The Story is similar with Joe Louis. Roosevelt gave Louis little attention until he revealed astonishing popularity with whites as well as blacks.”
Similar when Joe Louis had problems with the IRS and had too “…continue boxing just to pay the interest.” Roosevelt ignored the problem in spite of the fact that he was willing to help out such people as “Lyndon Johnson” and others who had problems with the IRS.
Also “Roosevelt chose not to ask the White House Correspondents’ Association to admit even one black reporters.”
Again we have to extend our thanks to Historian Burton W. Folsom, Jr. of Hillsdale College for the above information in his book “New Deal or Raw Deal”
You can reach us at wetrack@windstream.net
Have a nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment