UNIVERSITY OF HULL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND CIVIL RIGHTS, 1928-1948. Being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD in the University of Hull by Simon David Topping MA (Sheffield) BA (Ulster) March 2002 IMAGING SERVICES NORTH Boston Spa, Wetherby West Yorkshire, lS23 7BQ www.bl.uk MISSING PAGE/PAGES HAVE NO CONTENT THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL ® BRYNMOR JONES I LIBRARY I undertake not to publish either the whole or any part of this thesis, and not to quote or make a copy of the whole or any part of it without the consent of the author and of The University of Hull. I undertake to allow nobody else to use this thesis while it is issued to me. Theses are issued for use in the library only Name and Address Date Status Signature (Block Capitals) AME •. Sw.m:1 ..:E.fP~'. D EPARTM ENT •.. !k:mS.c112.Etdli5 DEG REE •• t.~Q .... THE UNIVERSITY OF 'HULL Deposit of thesis in actordance with Senate Minute 131, 1955/56, 141, 1970/1 and 343, 1988/89 __~C_-S:e:;..ullV1:...J1:;....u"f~it1~ __~---'trf21"'-'t''i't-''',-,-,;:·Qg~-T- ____h,ereby give my ~onsent that a copy of my thesi: f accepted for the degre~ of Ph D in the un'j~er~ity of Hull and thereafter deposited n the University Library shaH be available f~?r c()llsll11atj()n~ inlerlibnlry Joan and photocopying at the liscretion of the University Librarian ,Signal un~ I ' r~:-::~~'~;:::i':'~~:~:~~:~::":~~"~:t;~:':::~~~:~~-\~:~::-~::~.:::-:~~::.:::::::~~ .... lrs from the date of the degree being awarded the enn,ent required by Senate, and if for similar I asons he or she does not wish details of the thesis to be included in the University Library's catalogues forwarded to any indexing or abstracting organismiot1, he or she should comp1ete and sign sections (1) d (2) below. as appropriate ) I wish access to my thesis to be withheld until ________________ for the following reason, __.....-- ________________________ Signature, --~---------~-., i) I further wish that full.details of the title and subject of my thesis are not to be included in the University Library's catalogues or fonvarded to any indexing or abstnlcting organisation lIntil for the following reason _______ Signature_._______ _ THE EVENT OF THIS FORM NOT BEING HETURNED TO THE POSTGRADUATE fF1CE WITH THE THESIS, IT WILL flE ASSUMEq THAT THE AUTHOR CONSENTS TO ~E THESIS BEING l'vIADE AVAILAllLE, FULLY CATALOGUED AND DETAILS NOTED TC ~y APPROPRIATE INDEXING OR ABSTRACTING ORGANISATIONS ! \ PREFACE. Several years ago I was reading Harvard Sitkoff's "Harry Truman and the Election of 1948: The Coming of Age of Civil Rights in American Politics," in the Journal of Southern History, [37, 1971]. I was surprised to learn that the Republican party had proposed stronger planks on civil rights than the Democrats in both 1940 and 1944. This seemed curious: the "conservative" Republican party offering African Americans more than the "liberal" Democratic party? Of course, I knew about Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, th th Emancipation and the 13 , 14th and 15 Amendments, but it seemed that African Americans had voted for the Democrats for a very long time. Intrigued, I decided to find out when and why African Americans had abandoned the party of Abraham Lincoln and embraced the party of Jefferson Davis. I mentioned this to Robert Cook, my MA supervisor, and his immediate reaction was "there's a book in that." It is not a book as yet, but it has yielded several articles and conference papers and IS now presented as a doctoral dissertation. iv I have incurred a great number of debts, both personal and professional, over the course of the last four and a half years and I would like to briefly acknowledge some of the people who have helped to bring my thesis to fruition. I have been fortunate enough to win a number of research grants to help me carry out my work. I would first like to thank Hans Krannebaum and the Roosevelt Study Center, in Middleburg, the Netherlands, for a grant, in the summer of 1998, to look at the papers of Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman, as well as the Congressional Record. Particular thanks go to Arjen Westerhoff. The Faculty of Arts Research Executive (FARE) twice entrusted me with the University of Hull's money. In 1998 FARE funded a trip to the University of Indiana, Bloomington, to look at the papers of Wendell Willkie, and then in 2000 funded a trip to the University of Rochester, New York, to look at the papers of Thomas Dewey. The staff at the Lilly Library at the University of Indiana were extremely helpful throughout my stay in Bloomington, but a special mention must go to v Helen Walsh and her son Alan for taking the time to show me the sights and sounds of Bloomington. My research was funded in part by an Alfred M. Landon Historical Research Grant funded by the Kansas State Historical Society, Inc. I would like to thank David Haury and all the staff at the KSHS for their co-operation during my time with them. I was also greatly assisted by the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, by their award of the Herbert Hoover Grant in 2000. Everywhere I went in America I was impressed by the knowledge and dedication of librarians and archivists, but no more so than at the Hoover Library. Special tribute has to be paid to Pat Wildenburg (and family) for both his considerable knowledge and his equally considerable hospitality and friendship. In Rochester, I am indebted to Mary Huth and the archival staff at the Rush Rhees Library, I am also very grateful to Mary Menard for her generous hospitality during my stay with her. Thanks are also due to Tony Badger and the vi Mellon Fund for their assistance while I was looking at the NAACP papers at Cambridge University. Professor John Ashworth and Dr John White were entrusted with supervising this thesis and I am deeply indebted to both. I am especially appreciative of JA's skill as a historian and "Jay Dubya's" considerable knowledge of the civil rights movement and eye for detail. Thanks to Henrice Altink for proof reading, tea and sympathy, Emily Gilbert for putting me up during my stint at the LSE, Sean Kelly for various instances of hospitality and Dave Masterson (and the staff of the Hooper Building, University of Lincoln) for his indulgence while I was writing up. Thanks are also due to my fellow GTAs at Hull and especially Dave Evans, my office mate for three years. I am extremely grateful to the all the staff of Department of American Studies at the University of Hull for their help and support over the last four and a half years; I would like to pay particular tribute to Dr Jenel Virden and Dr John Osborne. vii Very special thanks go to Dr William Riches, recently retired from the University of Ulster, for his support, faith and countless references over the last ten years. Without Bill's guidance and encouragement my career path would have been very different. Love and thanks to my family for their unfaltering support. My parents, George and Ena, have always valued education and I hope I have repaid their faith in me, while my brothers, Phil and Andrew, have always been there for me. It is to my family that this thesis is dedicated. SDT, Hull, March 2002. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. AAA Agricultural Adjustment Administration AFL American Federation of Labor ANP Associated Negro Press BAAS British Association for American Studies CIO Congress of Industrial Organisations ER Eleanor Roosevelt Papers FEPC Fair Employment Practices Commission FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt FDRP Franklin D. Roosevelt, Papers as President FDRP-PSF Franklin D. Roosevelt, Papers as President, President's Secretary's Files, 1933-1945 GOP Grand Old Party HH Herbert Hoover Presidential Papers HH-CC Herbert Hoover, Presidential Papers, Subject File, Colored Correspondence HH-RNC Herbert Hoover, Presidential Papers, Subject File, Republican National Committee LLS Lewis L. Strauss Papers MOWM March on Washington Movement NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NCAPT National Campaign for the Abolition of the Poll Tax NRA National Recovery Administration ix NYT New York Times OWl Office of War Industries PAC Political Action Committee PCCR President's Committee on Civil Rights PRP Papers of the Republican Party PWA Public Works Administration RAC Republican American Committee RNC Republican National Committee SADC State Anti-Discrimination Commission SCHW Southern Conference on Human Welfare TED Thomas E. Dewey Papers WPA Works Progress Administration Journals. JNH Journal of Negro History. JSH Journal of Southern History. MVHR Mississippi Valley Historical Review. rQ Political Quarterly. RP Review of Politics. x INTRODUCTION. The Mantle of Lincoln. "The party of Lincoln," announced the most senior African American Republican, "has not always carried the mantle of Lincoln." The party had to take the initiative in "reaching out to minority communities," the African American community In particular, "and not just during an election year campaign." There was a need, he continued, to give minorities a "competitive choice" in the forthcoming election. The speaker was Colin Powell at the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia.) Yet any African American Republican over the previous one hundred years could have made the same statement. In 1944, for instance, Robert R. Church, one of the few African American Republicans to operate with any kind of influence in the South, told the party that it had to be "courageous enough to rededicate itself to the principles upon which it was founded." Powell's speech demonstrates that the words of Church, and countless others, had gone unheeded.