The
conservative political bosses, which are most of them, and their allies in
newspapers and radio pressed their Wallace equals Communist rhetoric even
harder. I can't believe that only the most rabid Red-baiters
actually fall for these lies; however, it seems that a growing number of Americans believe H.A. is a “dupe” or “fellow traveler” or a “pink.” We have tried a variety of responses to
educate Americans, but so far none have worked well.
H.A.
does not always help by saying things like, “I’m not following their [the
Communist – AS] line. If they want to
follow my line, I say God bless’em.”
He
has even tried appealing to fair play and liberty, and a little scare tactic by
saying, “Our most precious freedoms are being undermined by the cry of ‘Red!,
Red!’” and the surefire way of bringing communism to the United States is to
let “reactionary capitalists drive the country into a depression.”
We
are also getting pressure from overseas.
London [Clement Attlee Prime Minister of Great Britain – AS] is
insistent on holding a conference to establish a German state from the
American, British, and French occupation zones.
R.A. refused any conference that did not include the Soviets. He knows that nothing frightens Soviet
leaders more than a revived Germany with the potential to reassert its power in
central Europe. H.A. is also working to
prevent the creation of a fifty-year military mutual defense pact proposed by Britain,
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. To H.A. it is obvious that any military
agreement will be seen by the Soviets not as a defense agreement, but as an
offensive alliance against them. The
Soviets are paranoid and we cannot feed this paranoia.
Although,
it is getting harder and harder to deal with the Soviet Union. The Soviet’s orchestrated the removal of almost
all non-communists from the government of Czechoslovakia. The only exception is the Foreign Minister Jan
Masaryk – the son of the famous and beloved Tomas Masaryk [First President of
Czechoslovakia 1918 to 1935 – AS].
Fulfilling
his promise from the State of the Union Message, H.A. asked Congress to enact
the recommendations from his Civil Rights Commission. If Congress does not act, he said he would
issue executive orders to end segregation in the federal government and the
armed services. The reaction of southern
politicians was immediate and hostile.
South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond held a press conference saying
that the national Democrats could no longer take the South for granted and
“they talk about breaking down the laws which knowledge and experience of many
years have proven to be essential to the protection of the racial integrity and
purity of the white and Negro races alike … As a nation we have favored the
protection of racial autonomy and integrity in other lands, such as Palestine
and India, but a different doctrine is sought to be applied here at home.” [In private Governor Thurmond’s protection of
racial integrity has not been so strong.
When he was 22 years old Mr. Thurmond impregnated his family’s 15
year-old maid and subsequently had a mixed blood daughter. – AS] The Mississippi House Speaker, Walter Sillers
Jr., was more direct calling R.A.’s civil right’s policies, “damnable,
communistic, unconstitutional, anti-American, anti-Southern legislation.”
Southern radio and newspapers were rabid in their rhetoric against H.A.’s
efforts. The White House was swamped
with letters expressing the deep seated fears and hatred associated with the
diseased minds advocating white supremacy.
The
combination of powerful southern Democrats and conservative Republicans ensured
that the civil rights legislation would not move, but R.A. saw his responsibility to attempt
to move the legislation forward, educate the American public, and demonstrate
that the oppressed have a friend in the White House. In addition, H.A. thought it was the right
thing to do.
The
fear and hatred expressed by the Whisky Rebels, Strom Thurmond, Walter Sillers,
and many others reflect beliefs that are deeply ingrained in America. Eventually our Jim Crow laws will be
overturned and society will change to embrace concept of equality. Perhaps someday soon polite society will be
aghast at the language of militant white supremacy; however, a lingering base
fear and loathing will exist for generations.
Language will transform to use code words that mask the target and the
rationale for this undying fear and loathing.
I’m sure that unscrupulous politicians and political parties even fifty
years from now will be using coded language to capture political power by
unifying the southern states and capture border and other states where this fear
and loathing still pervades our society.
However,
today, I get to see the faces twisted with hatred spewing fearful obscene epitaphs
without any attempt at restraint.
© 2015 Ron Millar
© 2015 Ron Millar
