Ralph Bunche: the Genius and Character of a Pragmatic Humanist 1

RALPH BUNCHE: THE GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF A PRAGMATIC HUMANIST 1

RALPH BUNCHE: THE GENIUS and CHARACTER OF A PRAGMATIC HUMANIST “Greatness, more often than not, is the product of a combination of ability and the accident of time and circumstances.” Kenneth B. Clark, “Postscripts”

N. Gregory Young Finance, Real Estate & Law

Ralph Bunche was a great American, whose character and accomplishments are all too often overlooked but worthy of study. Seldom is it remembered, even during Black History Month, that Ralph Johnson Bunche stood shoulder-to- shoulder with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960’s civil (human) rights marches in the North and South. Nor is it much remembered that Bunche was the first black-American (and eleventh American) to win the Nobel peace Prize, or that he won it in 1950 over 28 nominees that included Harry S. Truman, George Marshall, Winston Churchill and Jawaharlal Nehru.

In an increasingly competitive and polarized America where rigid political, ethnic, economic and religious attitudes color the dimensions of general thought, the tendency is to close too soon the public pages on those who have spent their lives strengthening our most responsible institutions. Ralph Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating a truce between the new state of Israel and its neighbors, and for scoring a stunning success for the United Nations in its first role as peace-keeper (a role that is not described in its charter). However, on other assignments, Bunche contributed as much to world peace by mediating crises’ in Cyprus, the Congo, Kashmir, and Suez Canal Zone. He also directed the U.N.’s Trusteeship Division, and quickened the execution of the old “mandate” to decolonize Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Finally, he served as the “first-choice” and most reliable trouble- shooter (and later Under-Secretary) for three Secretaries-General.

For these accomplishments, which marked his rise above nationality, Bunche deserves continuing recognition. However, in a broader historical and social context, his life is especially instructive for Americans as an aid to understanding the construction of character, the importance of the extended family, the corrosiveness of bigotry, and the nature of unpreten- tious leadership.

Born in a one-story, semi-rural Detroit house in 1903, Bunche’s life quickly took shape. His father, a downtown barber (and former circus barker), and mother, who suffered constantly from tuberculosis and rheumatic fever, were ruled by Bunche’s maternal grandmother, “Nana” (actually, Lucy Taylor Johnson, whom he immortalized in a 1969 Reader’s Digest article titled, “My Most Unforgettable Character”). Others in the household during his childhood were Nana’s four nearly adult children (two men and two women) that she had raised alone since the death of her husband from malaria in 1890. Later, in 1909, Bunche’s only sibling, a sister, was born.

The household was an efficient commune. Bunche’s uncles and aunts (all high school graduates) worked and pooled their incomes for running the household, and Bunche also contributed a portion from earnings made from running errands and delivering newspapers. But still the family was usually short of money, a condition that worsened as Mrs. Bunche’s health further deteriorated and doctors’ bills accrued.

Nevertheless, in adulthood, Bunche recalled much of this time fondly, even though mainstream Detroit (at the dawn of Henry Ford-industrialism) accommodated racial, ethnic 2 N. GREGORY YOUNG Fall 1995

and religious divisions. But Nana made things work. She believed “that it wasn’t the times that made a person good or bad, successful or unsuccessful; it was how he was brought up to feel about himself that counted:” and that it was character and dignity, and family responsibility that counted.

Because of the poverty there were few books in Bunche’s household, but they were prized. However, it was the daily newspapers that were grasped, read, and “discussed thoroughly at dinner.” And it was newspaper articles that first prompted Bunche’s interest in people, ideas, and human rights. The articles portrayed the times: Teddie Roosevelt’s adventures and emblematic “Square Deal,” speeches made in black churches, and his Nobel Peace Prize (1906) that was won for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War. These were stirring events, and they hung in the air. And there were highly-charged reports of race- riots, and coverage of W.E.B. DuBois’ leadership in transforming the “Niagara Movement” into the new, multi-racial N.A.A.C.P. (1909). And, later, there was much reporting on Woodrow Wilson’s internationalism, and his riveting concepts of liberation of peoples, international justice, and a League of Nations, for which he won the Noble Peace Prize (1919). Moreover, there were the fast sports stories on baseball that animated everyone.

This household made Bunche what he was, and even the dual tragedies of his mother’s death and father’s flight (when Bunche was thirteen) did not alter his character or upset his interest in humanity. Moreover, throughout his life he recalled for others his mother’s final injunction: “[Life gives] trials and tribulations to test us. But [it] arms us against them with hope and faith and dreams. [What’s more] nothing is ever lost until [it is] abandoned, and then everything is lost, [so] . . . don’t ever let anything take away your hope and faith and dreams.”

Bunche was always a good student, but his mother’s inspiration, and Nana’s prodding, made him a better one. He graduated from Jefferson High School (in Los Angeles) in 1922, and was named class valedictorian. He got his baccalaureate from U.C.L.A. in 1927, and again was named class valedictorian (B.A., Summa Cum Laude). His commencement speech may have been the root of his future:

“Humanity’s problem is how to be saved from itself. It did not require the Great War to convince us of this ␣.␣.␣.␣Prejudices, antipathies, hatreds still disrupt with their sinister influences the equilibrium of the world. The war has, however, contributed its ‘jot of good’ [for] it set mankind in universal quest of a panacea␣.␣.␣.␣The future peace and harmony of the world are contingent upon [our] ability ␣.␣.␣.␣to effect a remedy ␣.␣.␣.␣If we are to develop our personality to their fullest, we must add a fourth dimension to this ordinary self . . . and expand . . . from our narrow, immediate world.␣.␣.␣.␣ [And] if the mission of this education be filled . . . . We shall have become more altruistic and less selfish. We shall love more, and hate less. We shall have become internationally-minded . . . . We shall not only have developed the intellect - we shall have educated the heart.”

In 1928 Bunche graduated from Harvard (M.A., with Honors), and again in 1934 (Ph.D., with special recognition). In between he completed field studies in Africa on French and British colonial administrations, and established the political science department at Howard Univer- sity.

After 1934 Bunche’s pace became even more intense. He organized and participated in many conferences on human rights, and came into close contact with W.E.B. DuBois, Eleanor Roosevelt, and a broad spectrum of rights advocates and leaders. However, a two-year research assignment funded by the Carnegie Foundation and directed by Gunnar Myrdal propelled him into new investigations, resulted in the publication of the internationally- RALPH BUNCHE: THE GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF A PRAGMATIC HUMANIST 3

acclaimed treatise, “An American Dilemma,” and drew him forever away from teaching. Hired by the State Department (Office of Strategic Services) for his expertise concerning Africa, Bunche’s intense interest in international affairs, and genial personality, pulled him into the circle of strategies that was planning the United Nations.

At times Bunche was criticized for being too liberal (and was, at one point, investigated for suspected communist sympathies), and it was claimed that he used his U.N. position erroneously by allowing his induction into the American “civil” (human) rights movement. And, in contrast, some black leaders complained during the tide of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X that he was too bland. But in every interpretation Bunche is shown as a man of unsurpassed integrity, and by every political measurement his work on behalf of the United Nations reflected unswerving diligence and scholarship, crowned by objective application. Ralph Bunche improved his times. He died in 1971, six months after resigning from the United Nations, a great man, and a great black man, whose life and times are worth study, and whose character which emerges from such study, is well worth emulation. 4 N. GREGORY YOUNG Fall 1995

Bibliography W & A Durant, The Lessons of History, (Simon & Schuster, 1968). Jim Haskins, Ralph Bunche: A Most Reluctant Hero, (Hawthorne, 1974). Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change, (Harper & Row, 1963). D. L. Lewis, W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race, (Holt, 1993). Peggy Mann, Ralph Bunche: UN Peacemaker, (Geoghegan, 1975). E. Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979). G. Myrdal, An American Dilemma, (Harper & Row, 1944). B. Rivlin, Ralph Bunche, The Man & His Times, (Holmes & Meir, 1988) (including “Postscripts.” by Kenneth B. Clark). B. Urquhart, Ralph Bunche: An American Life, (W.W. Norton, 1993). United Nations, Basic Facts About the United Nations, (1989).

Other References Bunche, R. (May, 1969). “My Most Unforgettable Character.” Reader’s Digest. Bunche, Dr. Ralph J. (February, 1972). "Legacy." Ebony Magazine. United Nations: “Resume of Ralph Johnson Bunche;” and Biographical Notes (1970); and “Statement by Secretary-General on Death of Ralph J. Bunche” (Press Release SG/SM/ 1603, 9 December 1971). Young, A.S. Doc (1993). “Ralph Bunche: American Hero.” The Los Angeles Sentinel.