St. Paul recorder., 1963-11-07
ISSUES: GOOD
AND BAD
BY p. L. PRATTIS

ENeW Ork Times, FORMER PRESIDENT
Dwight Eisenhower is revealing
himself much more intimately than
he ever has before and he is CIV
ing expression to opinions and con-
Victfons about which he exercised
more caution when he was in the
White House.
have been struck by what he
has written about the elimination
of discrimination in Washington,
DC. Death came to discrimination
in Washington during the Eisen-
hover administration. There has
been a persistent effort on the part
Of some persons to give major
credit to the Eisenhower admins
tratton.
do not wish 10 take credit away
from President Eisenhower for
anything he did TO rid Washington
of the great moral evil of segrega-
tion, but can't give HIM the
major credit because that would
rob those persons who deserve
major credit. The facts are as fol-
lows:
In the middle forties, the Rosen-
wald Fund (Which had meant so
much in the promotion Of Negro
education) was scheduled, accord
ing to the terms Of Mr.. Rosen-
wald's will, to go out OF business.
There was some money left and
the directors Of the Fund asked
themselves what should be done
with it.
The decision was made to
launch q major attack on segre-
cation in the nations capital and
a committee was organized, the
Committee to Abolish Discrimin-
alton In the Nations Capital.
The remaining ROsenwald money
was placed at the disposal of
this committee.
Prof. Joseph D. Uohrnann, then
at the University Of Chicago (later
Cook County sheriff. was employed
to supervise a team Of social scden-
fists who would dig into segrega-
tion in all its aspects in the Dist
riot Of Columbia the schools, in
employment, in housing, in the
law, in churches. There were at
least a dozen categories Of segre-
cation studied. The results Of the
study were contained in IL large
volumes.
However, the most important
result of the Committees work
came from the discovery Of an
anti discrimination measure,
made into law in the District of
Columbia in the early 1905. 1t
was learned that although this
law had been allowed to relax,
1t had never been repealed.
AS soon as Negro groups learned
that the law was still in existence,
they began to file suits under it.
OF course these suits, filed during
the Truman administration, were
fought. It took years for them to
find their way to the Supreme
Court for decisions. Eventually,
the Supreme Court upheld the val
idity Of these civil rights ordin-
ances. This came about during the
Eisenhower administration.
Operators Of hotels, restaur-
ants, theaters, ETC., Immediately
became subject to suits II they
Disseminated. AS a result, dis
elimination vanished, almost
overnight
I would not say that President
Eisenhower was not in favor Of
elimination of discrimination in the
capital. would not even contend
that he did not give 1t a quiet
nudge on the way out. But he did
not initiate the fight to do away
with it and was never associated
with the fight in its basic as
poets.
The Rosenwald Fund, the Right
Rev. Angus Dun, chairman of the
Committee to Abolish Discrimina-
ton, DR.. Joseph Dohmann, Mary
Church Terrell and the many Ne
groes who filed suits under the
unearthed old civil rights law, de-
serve the credit for ridding Wash
ington of overt discrimination.