THE "TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT": The South and Its Reaction to the Roosevelt- Washington Dinner at the White House in October, 1901 Takahiro Sasaki The triumph of racism was one of the most significant social and political features of the life in Southern states at the turn of the century. The "settlement" of the race question was reaching its final stage by the establishment of legal segregation and disfranchisement. Absolute sepa- ration of races in all public places became the rule. Physical violence, in the form of lynching, was often employed against blacks who seemed to have crossed the color line, in the hope that such punishment would help to keep black Southerners reminded of their own "place" in so- ciety. Therefore, the news of President Theodore Roosevelt having taken dinner with a black educator, Booker Taliaferro Washington, at the White House in October, 1901, came as a great surprise to the South1). Roosevelt was severely criticized for unduly attacking the foundation of Southern white civilization. Why did the South react to the incident as violently as it did? What was its reasoning for its vehement criticism of the President? The excitement of the South over the dinner incidentlasted for about four weeks. During this period,practically all the newspapers published in the South joined the controversy,each explainingin its own way how the Southern positionfor the races could be justified. Through examinationof newspaper comments and editorials,this paper attemptsto describeand analyzethe prevailingracial attitudes of white Southernersliving at that time. 48 Theodore Roosevelt Invites Booker T. Washington On September6, 1901,while attending the receptionat the Pan- American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President William Mc- Kinley was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz.Eight days later,his death promoted Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency. The South receivedthe news with mixed feelings.To many South- erners,Roosevelt had appeared too "radicar"to become a "safe"pres- ident. The Jackson (Mississippi)Daily Clarion-Ledger,for example, wrote on the day Roosevelt took the oath of office,that he was "a man of fairabihty" but also one "ofaction," and for that reason he was to be feared. "He is too radicalin his views,"asserted the editorial,"and representsthe most extreme wing of the Republican party." Therefore, the writerconcluded, he was "notthe man the businessinterests or the people at largewould willinglyentrust with power, as there is nothing in his past lifeby which to calculatehis future acts2)." Others,however, remembered Roosevelt'sSouthern family connec- tionsand hoped that for the firsttime since the CivilWar the South would have a presidentwho had an understandingof itsproblems. The Galveston (Texas) News wrote: "The fact should not be forgotten that the Presidentof the United Statesis halfSouthern, and, more than this,is betteracquainted with the Southern people,by a personalcon- tactwith them, than any Presidentsince the time of Andrew Johnson3)." The Wilmington Morning Star agreed, claiming that Roosevelt "has always spoken kindly of the South, from which his mother sprang4)." As soon as he became President,Roosevelt publicly announced his intentionof improving the qualityof federalappointments in the South by appointinga Democrat whenever a qualifiedRepublican could not be found. He tunred to Booker T. Washington, the principalof the Tuskegee Institute,for advice on Southern appointments. Shortlyafter he became President,Roosevelt invitedWashington to come to the White House "on eitherthe 27th or 28th" of September5), At this meeting,Roosevelt said franklythat he would not appoint a largenum- ber of blacks to officein the South, but added that those he would appoint would be men of high characterand abilitywho had the con- 49 fidence of their white and black neighbors. He also told Washington that he wanted to appoint native Southern white men of high character "regardless of political influences or political consequences6)." It was probably at this time that the name of Thomas G. Jones, a Democrat and ex-Governor of Alabama, was mentioned by Washington as a possible candidate for future appointment. John Bruce, a United Statesdistrict judge in Alabama, died on October 1. On the following day, Washington sent his secretary Emmett Jay Scottto the White House with his letterrecommending that the Presidentappoint Thomas G. Jones to the federaljudgeship vacated by the death of Bruce. Jones, Washington wrote, "is a gold democrat, and is a clean,pure man in every respect."Thus recommending Jones to Roosevelt,Washington added: "I do not believethat in allthe south you could selecta betterman through whom to emphasize your idea of the characterof a man to hold officethan you can do through ex-Gov- ernor Jones7)." The appointment of Jones was made public on October 7. The Southern press welcomed the news. Praisingthe courage and broad- mindedness of the new President,the Montgomery Advertiserwrote: "The selectionof so prominent a Democrat by a Republican President revealsat one bold strokeMr. Roosevelt'sgreat capacityfor the high officehe holds8)."The White House received"a floodof congratulatory telegrams"from allover the country9).Even the Jackson Daily Clarion- Ledger, which had been very criticalof Roosevelt,was beginning to change itsmind. The appointment of Jones was "a most courageous thing to do," and, in the opinion of the paper, was "to be attributed primarilyto the desireof the President"to become "the Presidentof the whole country" who "faithfullyand conscientiouslyadminister the affairsof the country" to the best interestsof the people10). After he recommended Jones to Roosevelt, Washington left the capitalon a speaking tour in Mississippi,where he receivedword that the Presidentwould liketo have another conferencewith him. Finish- ing his work in Mississippi,he hurried to Washington, D.C. Arriving therein the afternoonof October 16, he went to the house of his friend, WhitefieldMcKinlay, a black businessman and Republican politician, 50 with whom Washington often stayed during his visitsto the nation's capital. When he reached McKinlay's house, he found an invitation from Roosevelt to dine at the White House that evening at seven- thirty11).Washington went to the White House at the appointed time, and dined with Roosevelt, his wife, his daughter Alice, his three sons and Philip Bathell Stewart, a Republican politicianfrom Colorado and old friend of Roosevelt's12).After dinner they discussed the Southern question and Roosevelt's plans concerning the South. Later that night Washington leftthe White House and took a train to New York13). On the followingday the Washington Evening Star brieflyreported that "Prof.Booker T. Washington was in the cityyesterday, and dined with the Presidentlast night14)." Most other newspapers,either in the North or in the South,did not even mention the incident.But suddenly the next day, October 18, the newspapers in the South were flooded with comments and editorialsconcerning the dinner at the White House. PresidentRoosevelt, wrote the Charleston (S.C.) News and Courier, "shocked severelyhis recentlyacquired Southern friendsand admirers by invitingProf. Booker T. Washing on to dine at the White House15)." "Nice things were said ," wrote the Jackson Daily Clarion-Ledger, "about the President'snew Southern policyand his expressionsof kind- ness for the Southern people were gratefullyreceived." The editorial continued: The Clarion-Ledger,which has frequentlyexpressed its dis- gust at the anticsand spectacularperformances of "Teddy the Terrible,"and said ithad no confidencein and littlere- spectfor him when he succeeded McKinley as President,had begun to believethere was more in him than "frothand fus- tian,"and often applauded his acts. It hoped for the best. But allthis is gone. Roosevelt has dashed allhopes to the ground, and the South, the land that gave his mother birth, now looks upon him with loathingand contempt16). The Pattern of Southern Racial Thinking The idea that Negroes are an inferior race had roots deep in the 51 experienceof the United Statesand had long been used as a basisfor the defense of slavery. Slavery demanded that Negroes as slaves be meek, faithfulpeople who would fitthe Sambo image createdin the slaveholders'mind. Above all,slaveholders believed that slaverywas performing the functionof racialcontrol. By the 1830's,Southerners were agreed thatthe civilizationthey enjoyed restedentirely upon pre- servationof order in theirplantation society. Any attempt to disturb the existingorder seemed to them a possiblethreat to theircivilization. The CivilWar ended slavery,but much of itsracial ideology survived. After Reconstruction,white Southernersturned to segregationin the hope that itwould fulfillthe functionof racialcontrol that slaveryhad performed in the ante-bellumsociety. When Theodore Rooseveltinvited Booker T. Washington to dinner, it aroused these Southern sentiments.As the Memphis Commercial- Appeal put it,the South "isa white man's country." It would continue to be as such "as long as clean blood flows through the veins of the white people." The civilizationof the South as a "white man's coun- try" rested upon effectivecontrol of blacks,who, if leftalone, could pose menace to the white civilization.Roosevelt's act, by breaking down the color line,was thereforeregarded as "a crime" againstthe South and its civilization17).Similarly, speaking before some four hundred young women, Joseph Harris Chappell, the presidentof the Georgia Normal and