Monthly Report of Labor Secretary, March 3, 1950

[1] By a margin of 240 to 177, the House voted in favor of the bill providing for a voluntary FEPC (the McConnell bill) over that favored by the administration (the Powell bill). New York Times 2/24/50, 1. See Minutes of the Board, 3/13/50, EC, on FEPC for a detailed Report of the Secretary on the struggle in Congress.

[2] Samuel K. McConnell Jr. was the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee. New York Times 2/24/50, 1. This activity was part of the second stage of the battle for a permanent FEPC in the 81st Congress that began in January 1950. For the FEPC supporters’ strategy, see Mitchell’s memorandum to Roy Wilkins, 2/10/50, NAACP II: A-257, DLC; for an extended account of the struggle, see Watson, Lion in the Lobby 188–92. Mitchell’s analysis of the McConnell bill is in NAACP WB-36, DLC; editorial, Crisis 57 (March 1950): 170; and Congress and the Nation 1618.

Leslie Perry reported on the maneuvering to change the House rules that preceded the battle over the FEPC in a note, as follows:

A Dixiecrat-Republican coalition, led by Edward E. Cox (D., Ga.) and Clarence Brown (R., Ohio) members of the Rules Committee, sought to repeal the House rule permitting committee chairmen to by-pass the Rules Committee after twenty-one days. This action was aimed not only at FEPC, but the whole program of liberal legislation.

The Administration was opposed to any change of the rules and could be counted upon to keep loyal Democrats in Mind. It was obvious, therefore, that the Association must concentrate on bringing liberal Republicans in line. Pursuant to this strategy, wires were sent and conferences were had with key liberal Republicans.

On January 20th, 64 Republicans refused to follow the lead of Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin and Minority Whip Leslie C. Arends. They voted with the liberal Democrats to retain the present twenty-one day rule. The Brown-Cox proposal was defeated by a vote of 236 to 183. (Perry’s WB report, 1/50, NAACP II: A-656, DLC)

[3] In addition to Mitchell’s written report that he had circulated, Roy Wilkins, acting secretary, said the labor secretary had reported orally on the FEPC fight on February 22, 1950. The following was Wilkins’s paraphrased account:

As was reported previously, there were a number of methods by which FEPC could have been brought up. It was determined to use the Calendar Wednesday technique because the Rules Committee had repeatedly refused to report out the FEPC bill. Discharge petitions had been gummed up in the dispute between Representatives [Franklin D.] Roosevelt [Jr.] and [Adam Clayton] Powell so that the other two methods aside from this were Discharge Monday (recognition of [John] Lesinski by Speaker [Sam] Rayburn on the second or fourth Monday) or by Calendar Wednesday. The Calendar Wednesday technique is to call up the committees of the House in alphabetical order and whatever legislation had not been considered by other methods was eligible to be considered then. On February 22 it became the turn of the Committee on Education and Labor and H.R. 4453 was called up. The House went into session at noon on February 22 and did not finish its work until 3:30 AM on the 23rd, remaining in continuous session. The entire afternoon of the 22nd was spent in delaying tactics of the opponents of the Powell Bill, such as repeated roll calls, reading of the Journal and reading of Washington’s Farewell Address. In the final analysis it turned out that the Administration forces, led by Representative Powell himself did not have as many votes as they thought they had in support of this measure. The final vote was 221–178 in support of the McConnell Amendment. Of the 221 supporting the McConnell Amendment, 104 were Republicans and 117 were Democrats. Of the 178 opposing the McConnell Amendment, 128 were Democrats, 49 progressive Republicans and 1 American Laborite. There were at all times on the floor of the House over 400 members, which indicated the unprecedented amount of pressure in support of and in opposition to this legislation. Representative Powell did a superb job with the assistance of Congressmen Andrew J. Biemiller, Jacob K. Javits, Vito Marcantonio and others.

When the time came for the House to convene on whether to recommit the McConnell bill or pass it, a tremendous amount of confusion became evident. Representative Powell met first with Representatives Biemiller, Case, Javits, Carroll and Marcantonio to determine what position they would take. Powell and Marcantonio were in favor of recommittal of the McConnell bill, while Representatives Case and Biemiller were against recommittal in order to keep the issue alive and bring it before the Senate. During the discussion, the Acting Secretary expressed his disappointment at the division of opinion since he felt it would hurt the issue. From Representative Powell’s office, the group met with Majority Leader McCormack who told them his mind was definitely made up against recommittal. It was later learned that Representatives Roosevelt and Dawson were leading a considerable bloc against recommittal. They felt this was the only way to keep the issue alive. The Acting Secretary stated that it was evident from the beginning of the roll call that the sponsors of FEPC had made up their minds to keep the issue alive by voting for the McConnell Amendment. He denied rumors that he had stood in the corridors and given orders to vote for the McConnell Amendment.

The McGrath bill, S. 1728, is the bill FEPC supporters are backing in the Senate. Senator Taft is expected to introduce a bill similar to the McConnell bill as a substitute for the McGrath bill. Senator Lucas at first announced that the FEPC bill would be brought up on March 10th, and later changed to April 1st. The Acting Secretary stated that our Labor Secretary now reports that Senator Lucas has gotten an agreement to resume debate on the Displaced Persons bill on April 1. He also scheduled the Kerr Natural Gas Bill ahead of FEPC. The Labor Secretary recommended that the Board authorize a communication to Senator Lucas calling for prompt consideration of FEPC without further postponement.

The board voted that the McConnell bill was “toothless and a farce and designed to defeat the purposes for which the original Powell bill was offered.” It said the only constructive purpose that its passage could serve was to keep the issue alive before the Senate. It therefore called upon the Senate to disregard the McConnell bill and pass the McGrath bill. (Minutes, 3/13/50, EC)

For a further update on the struggle, see Mitchell’s letter of 2/10/50 to Wilkins in the Lodge-Gossett folder in NAACP WB-126, DLC.

[4] See also Mitchell’s letter, 3/3/50, to Wilkins on this meeting, NAACP II: A-257, DLC; 4/3 and 5/1/50; and Report of the Secretary to the Board, 4/10/50.

[5] See, in appendix 1, vol. IV, 6/21/50, as well as the headnote on the Struggle for a Permanent FEPC.

[6] See, among others, 1/31/50; in appendix 1, vol. IV, 7/13/50.

[7] In substance, the appellants alleged that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had long practiced discrimination against African Americans and challenged the reasons the agency gave for canceling the promotional examination for apprentice plate printers in the bureau. The board’s decision resulted from a hearing it held from January 30 through Feburary 1, 1950, on an appeal from a December 29, 1949, decision of the acting secretary of the treasury that there was no racial discrimination connected to the exam. Civil Service Commission press release, 2/24/50 (60-102/49), to which was attached the board’s Basis of Appeal, 2/23/50, copy in MP.

[8] For the NAACP’s first victory before the Fair Employment Board in the case of Vivian L. Braxton, see “FEPC No. 9980,” Crisis 56 (July 1949): 213–14.

[9] See 10/31/49 for the first findings of the Fair Employment Board, which were based on an NAACP case. See, next, 5/1/50.

[10] The charges of disloyalty against the Baltimore veteran, employed by the Post Office, were dropped following the NAACP’s intervention in his behalf. He was represented at a hearing by Frank Reeves and Franklyn Bourne, acting as counsel for the NAACP. Hearings into the four other cases involving complaints from Cleveland were also held. Report of the Acting Secretary, 10/49, EC; Minutes, 3/15/50, EC. See also, most directly, 9/30/49.

[11] This was one of the cases Mitchell cited as exemplifying the dangers of the loyalty program, in his opposition to a bill that would establish a three-person loyalty board with powers that were, he said, “so sweeping that almost any organization” could have been affected, “ranging from a college fraternity” to a labor union that refused to divulge its members. 5/3/50, Hearings 2297. See also the headnote on National Origin, Alienage, and Loyalty in volume I.

[12] This ruling was especially significant in that it would lead to the victory before the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Company, Inc. on June 8, 1953. See 6/15/53 and other reports in 1953 and 1954, vol. IV.

[13] The measures, S J Res 200 and H J Res 9, were introduced, respectively, in the Senate and House by Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Mass.) and Rep. Ed Gossett (D-Tex.). They called for a proportional system of electing the president and vice president. H J Res  was reported March 26, 1950, by the House, and S J Res 200 was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 3, 1950. No further action, however, was taken by either chamber. Congress and the Nation 1522–23.

[14] See, in appendix 1, vol. IV, 2/50; 8/31/50 for the measure’s defeat; Watson, Lion in the Lobby 332–33. Davis initiated the NAACP’s opposition to the amendment in a letter of January 20, 1950, to Wilkins in which he said that the measure, proposed by Henry Cabot Lodge, would destroy the political influence of African Americans, labor, and all liberal and splinter groups in the North. He said it would reduce the political influence of the whole North while increasing that of the South. Wilkins and Mitchell followed up by initiating a full-blown campaign against the Lodge-Gossett resolution that included enlisting the support of Rep. Clifford Case (R-N.J.) and other lawmakers against it and organizing the NAACP branches in opposition to it.

At its meeting on February 14, 1950, the NAACP National Board of Directors reaffirmed its “complete opposition” to the resolution. Two days later, Wilkins, in a telegram, informed Representatives Emanuel Celler, Kenneth B. Keating, Adolph J. Sabath, Ray J. Madden, John McSweeney, and James J. Delaney of the board’s action. The resolution was “a fearful weapon for destroying political freedom in the guise of reforming our system of election,” he said, urging them to oppose it. In a letter of March 10, 1950, Mitchell informed Wilkins that the House Rules Committee had rejected the resolution one day earlier. Also in the WB’s Lodge-Gossett collection is an article by James Loeb Jr., “Forward to Reaction,” supporting Davis’s position that Loeb prepared for publication in the ADA World in February 1950. Materials are in NAACP WB-126, DLC. See also Minutes, 3/13/50 and 8/31/50, EC.

[15] Mitchell’s appearance before the Board of School Commissioners in Baltimore was part of a broad and intensive campaign to expand job opportunities for skilled workers in the construction industry that he initiated in 1949 in conjunction with the Baltimore NAACP branch. See his memorandum to Lillie M. Jackson, president, Baltimore Branch NAACP on “Complaint of Local 540, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, A.F.L,” 8/21/50, as well as a five-point outline of “The Problem,” to which is attached a report, “Branch Action and Results” (n.d.), all in NAACP WB: 35, DLC.

Perry was actively cooperating with the Washington office of the Displaced Persons (DP) Commission since its inception. In recent months, the office had worked on amending the ECA of 1948 in order of eliminate the unfair eligibility date, increase the total number of DPs to whom the United States would offer asylum, and correct other well-known inequities. On April 5, 1950, the Senate passed the Kilgore-Ferguson bill by a vote of 58 to 15 to liberalize the Displaced Persons Act. President Truman signed the changes into law on June 16. Report of the Washington Bureau, 4/30/50, in Report of the Secretary to the Board for April, 5/8/50, EC; Congress and the Nation 221.

[16] See also Congress and the Nation 1522, 23.

[17] See note 4 above.

[18] See note 9 above.

[19] Roy Wilkins reported to the board that he had received a letter from John S. Wood, chair of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, giving permission for Mitchell to file a statement in opposition to the Mundt bill. Minutes, 4/10/50, EC. See 5/3/50, Hearings 2296–2302.

[20] Minutes, 3/13/50, EC.