St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-06-22

former North Carolina Senator
James F. Byrnes is being vigorous
ly opposed by the National Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Col
ored People for the post of secre-
tary of state to replace Edward R.
Stettinius, Jr.
The record proving that Byrnes,
for a period of 16 years in the
House of Representatives and in
the Senate fought every measure
designed to benefit the Negro, the
NAACP, in release Friday, paint
ed a black picture for dark peoples
of the world should Byrnes be
named State department head.
"Some very disturbing rumors"
are circulating in Washington to
the effect that Stettinius will be
removed and Byrnes put in his
stead, the NAACP said in a letter
to the nations Negro press above
the signature of executive secretary
Walter White. The magazine News
week has said Byrnes will succeed
Stettinius, while columnists, such
as Walter Lippman, "are urging
publicly that Stettinius be replaced
even before the San Francisco con-
ference ends" the NAACP said.
eff from the vantage point of
secretary of state, Byrnes should
become President, should President
Truman die, Negroes would prob
ably be in the worst position they
have been in since the day of slav-
cry" the NAACP communication
went on, adding that even if Byrnes
never became President, as secre-
tary of state, he would be "almost
as bad not only for American Ne
groes but for colored people
throughout the world"
Becoming a congressman in 1915,
Byrnes, according to the NAACP's
records, voted first for a bill to
prohibit intermarriage of Negroes
and whites in the District of Column
bia. In 1922, he voted against pas
sage of the Dyer anti-lynching bill,
and against House Joint Resolu-
ton, authorizing a loan of $5,000,-
600 to Liberia. Five times during
his career in the House he voted
against legislation beneficial to
Howard university.
Elected To Senate
Elected to the Senate in 1882,
Byrnes again went into his perse-
cution campaign against Howard
university, voting three times
against needed benefits to the
school. The remainder of his Off
cial Senate record included four
mo" votes against various phases
of the anti-lynching bill.
Brutal in his insistence that the
Negro maintain an inferior status
in the United States, Byrnes, in
his speeches, urged every type of
restriction on the race from sup
preston of the Negro press to CEN
sorship of sermons delivered in the
Howard school of religion.
Immediately following World
War 1 and in the midst of the race
riots of 1919, he said:
eff the two races are to live to-
gether in this country it may as
we'll be understood that the war has
in no way changed the attitude of
the white man toward the social and
political equality of the Negro. If
as a result of his experience in the
war he does not care to live in this
land without political and social
equality, then he can depart for any
country he wishes, and his depart
ure will be facilitated by the white
people of this country, who desire
no disturbing factor in their midst.
He referred editorials in the
Crisis and A. Philip Randolph's
Messenger magazine to the Attor-
ney General in 1919, with the re-
quest that the writers of them be
prosecuted under the espionage act
In 1917 when the national serv-
ice bill was being considered
Byrnes opposed CONSUMPTION, not
because it violated democratic prin-
ciples, but because, as he stated:
"Under the War Department.
CONSUMPTION bill they would have
the right to assign a (white) boy
from South Carolina to serve in
Company a. Regiment b. by
the side of a Negro from Indiana
If they did this they would not
have to go to Europe for war. It
is true that the Secretary of War
states that in the past they have
endeavored to segregate the races
and he states he presumes that in
the future it will be done, but yet
there is in the bill nothing that
would prevent it."
Supreme Court Gronts
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