Monthly Report of Labor Secretary, May 31, 1950

[1] Upon Walter White’s return from a year’s vacation, the board reorganized the top staff, naming Wilkins, who was “acting secretary” during White’s absence, as administrator. Minutes, 5/8/50, EC. For Senate action on FEPC, see New York Times 5/23/50, 1; Congress and the Nation 1618.

[2] Wilkins reported that after he sent his report on FEPC to members of the board as a letter following the Senate cloture on May 19, 1950, the NAACP sent letters to all senators except Democrats in the Deep South. The following was his report:

Practically all Republicans who voted for cloture replied to the letter. One reply was received from a Republican who voted against cloture—Senator Ecton of Montana who said he will continue to vote against FEPC and any procedure to bring it up. One or two Democrats replied to the letter—Senators Lehman and Lucas. The Administrator said another vote would be taken on cloture as soon as a date could be agreed upon when most Senators are likely to be present. He said he had a conference with Democratic Committee Chairman Boyle who said he would use all possible pressure to get more votes for cloture. [The cloture vote was again defeated on July 12, 1952; Congress and the Nation 1618.] 

There was some discussion on this report. Mr. Randolph stated that it seemed to him to be timely for the supporters of FEPC to make known to both parties that they are aware of their betrayal of this measure.

The Board then adopted a motion that the Association protest Senator Lucas’ action as majority leader of the Democratic Party “because his party was committed to passage of the bill; that we point out that the hypocrisy in dealing with it indicates to us that though there is no expressed conspiracy, there is a working agreement between the Democratic administration leaders and the Dixiecrats; that we also protest against the six Republicans who stand in the way of seeing that there is a fair chance of the FEPC bill coming to the floor of the Senate.” (Minutes, 6/12/50, EC)

See notes at 5/1/50 for excerpts of editorials and articles from the Washington Post on May 9 and 20, 1950, that provided background and developments to that point; also see the editorial entitled “Democrats Fail on FEPC,” regarding the defeat of attempts to obtain cloture on the FEPC bill in the Senate on May 19, in Crisis 57 (June 1950): 374–75. New York Times 5/20/50, 1, 8, reported that the 52–32 vote was the first attempt at cloture since new filibuster rules were adopted in 1949 after cloture had been used to block consideration of civil rights legislation then. Nineteen Democrats and thirty-three Republicans voted for cloture; twenty-six Democrats from the South, the border states, and the West and six Republicans voted against cloture. Twelve senators did not respond to the roll call.

The actual vote reported by the New York Times, //, showed that nineteen Democrats voted for cloture—Anderson, Benton, Douglas, Gillette, Green, Humphrey, Hunt, Kilgore, Leahy, Lehman, Lucas, Magnuson, McMahon, Myers, Neely, O’Conor, O’Mahoney, Taylor, and Thomas (Utah)—as did thirty-three Republicans—Aiken, Brewster, Bricker, Butler, Cain, Capehart, Cordon, Darby, Donnell, Dworshak, Ferguson, Flanders, Hendrickson, Hickenlooper, Ives, Jenner, Kem, Knowland, Lodge, Martin, McCarthy, Saltonstal, Schoepel, Smith (Maine), Smith (N.J.), Taft, Thye, Toney, Vandenberg, Watkins, Wherry, Wiley, and Williams. Twenty-six Democrats voted against cloture—Byrd, Chapman, Connally, Eastland, Ellender, Fulbright, George, Hayden, Hill, Hoey, Holland, Johnson (Colo.), Johnson (Tex.), Johnston (S.C.), Kefauver, Kerr, Long, Maybank, McCarran, McClellan, McFarland, McKellar, Robertson, Russell, Sparkman, and Stennis—and only six Republicans cast votes in opposition to cloture—Bridges, Ecton, Gurney, Malone, Mundt, and Young. Those who were not present or voting but who announced their position for cloture were Democrats Chavez, Frear, Murray, and Langer and Republican Morse. Announced against cloture was Democrat Withers. Absent with position unannounced were Democrats Downey, Graham, Pepper, and Tydings and Republican Milliken.

In a memorandum to Wilkins on March 31, 1950, Mitchell had estimated that, based on “some discussion yesterday,” there were 36 certain votes for cloture, 22 probable, and  doubtful. He and his supporters counted 11 probably against and 21 definitely against. Doubtful were Senators Edwin C. Johnson (Colo.), William E. Jenner (Ind.), William Langer (N.Dak.), Edwin Martin (Pa.), Karl E. Mundt (S.Dak.), and Harry P. Cain (Wash.). He said that, in addition to the southerners, Pat McCarran (Nev.) was listed as definitely against.

Those considered to be “probably for” were: Carl Hayden (Ariz.), Sheridan Downey (Calif.), J. Allen Frear (Del.), Claude Pepper (Fla.), Henry C. Dworshak (Idaho), Bourke Hickenlooper (Iowa), Guy M. Gillette (Iowa), Andrew F. Schoeppel (Kans.), Harry Darby (Kans.), Garrett L. Withers (Kans.), Herbert O’Connor (Md.), Hugh Butler (Neb.), Styles Bridges (N.H.), Alexander Smith (N.J.), Frank Graham (N.C.), Milton R. Young (N.Dak.), John W. Bricker (Ohio), Edward Leahy (R.I.), Elbert Thomas (Utah), Joseph McCarthy (Wis.), Lester Hunt (Wyo.), and Homer E. Capehart (Ind).

The “probables against” were: Ernest McFarland (Ark.), Eugene Millikin (Colo.), John Williams (Del.), Millard Tydings (Md.), Forrest Donnell (Miss.), James P. Kem (Mo.), Zales Ecton (Mont.), George Malone (Nev.), Robert Kerr (Okla.), Guy Coirdon (Ore.), and Arthur Watkins (Utah).

Those “for cloture” were: Estes Kefauver (Tenn.), William Knowland (Calif.), Brien McMahon (Conn.), William Benton (Conn.), Glen H. Taylor (Idaho), Scott Lucas (Ill.), Paul H. Douglas (Ill.), Owen Brewster (Maine), Margaret Chase Smith (Maine), Leverett Saltonstall (Mass.), Henry Cabot Lodge (Mass.), Arthur Vandenberg (Mich.), Edward Thye (Minn.), Hubert Humphrey (Minn.), James E. Murray (Mont.), Kenneth Wherry (Neb.), Charles Tobey (N.H.), Robert Hendrickson (N.J.), Dennis Chavez (N.M.), Clinton Anderson (N.M.), Irving M. Ives (N.Y.), Herbert Lehman (N.Y.), Robert A. Taft (Ohio), Elmer Thomas (Okla.)., Wayne Morse (Ore.), Francis Myers (Pa.), Theodore F. Green (R.I.), Chan Gurney (S.Dak.), George Aiken (Vt.), Ralph Flanders (Vt.), Warren Magnuson (Wash.), Harley Kilgore (W.Va.), Alexander Wiley (Wis.), and Joseph O’Mahoney (Wyo.). Memorandum to Roy Wilkins, 3/31/50, RW, C-21, DLC.

A direct outcome of this struggle was the board’s acceptance of Mitchell’s recommendation that the association distribute the voting records of lawmakers to show their positions on civil rights. Minutes, 9/11/50, EC. See 10/2/50.

For background on the struggle to reform the cloture rule, see, in appendix 1, vol. IV, 10/3/52, as well as the headnote on the NAACP and the Filibuster.

[3] 5/18/50, Hearings 242–308. See also, among others, 12/31/50, 11/5/51.

[4] Related to this concern about the importation of agricultural workers to the detriment of Americans was the NAACP’s work to protect migratory workers. At its June 12, 1950, meeting, the board voted to request that Truman appoint an African American to the President’s Commission to Investigate Conditions among Agricultural Workers. Minutes, 6/12/50, EC.

[5] See, in appendix 1, vol. IV, 6/7/50; 6/7/50, Hearings 285–302.

[6] Mitchell’s fears would be further confirmed in 1952 and 1953, when he fought to get construction jobs for members of Local 544, Baltimore Carpenters Union. Mitchell’s memorandum to the files, 2/8/52, and other materials in NAACP IX: 215, DLC.

Discussing segregation in Washington in the wake of the international uproar caused by the Daughters of the American Republic’s barring of Marian Anderson, the renowned African American contralto, from singing at Constitutional Hall in Washington in 1939, a Crisis contributor explained that all playgrounds, tennis courts, swimming pools, golf courses, and the Rock Creek Park picnic area were segregated. In sum, the contributor stated: “Civil rights for the Negro in Washington—the plain, ordinary, garden variety of fundamental American rights—just do not exist.” Additionally, the individual said, “colored people in the nation’s capital are denied the right to attend any theater in the city except their own neighborhood movie houses.” Civil rights were abolished not by statutes but by tradition. Daly, “Washington’s Minority Problem,” Crisis 46 (June 1939): 170–71. For this developing struggle, see, most immediately, 7/17 and 7–8/50, 10/2 and 12/21/50.

In a letter of March 10, 1950, Mitchell told Wilkins that Oscar Chapman had announced the previous day that the six pools would be integrated. Because he supposed Chapman was being criticized for his action, he urged Wilkins to have the board send the Interior Department secretary congratulations and to have the branches do likewise. See letter in “Lodge-Gossett” folder, NAACP WB-126, DLC. Mitchell reported Chapman’s response at 7/17/50.

[7] See 5/31, 10/2, and 12/21/50; Congress and the Nation 1515–16.

[8] See 3/15/50, Hearings 1928–32; among others, 12/21/49, 4/3/50.

[9] Mitchell told the House Committee on Un-American Activities that the powers the bill would vest in the proposed three-person loyalty board were “so sweeping that almost any organization,” ranging from a college fraternity that held secret meetings to a labor union that refused to reveal its list of members, might have been affected under the Mundt bill, HR 7595. See 5/3/50, Hearings 2297. See also 3/3/50.

[10] Mitchell wrote Wilkins on March 10, 1950, that the Senate Judiciary Committee had approved S 2311, the Mundt bill, which was against “so-called subversive activities.” See letter in “Lodge-Gossett” folder, NAACP WB-126, DLC. See also Wilkins memorandum to White, 7/21/50, on “Suggestions on Memo to Branches in re: Communist Infiltration,” where he noted that the NAACP convention in Boston had adopted a resolution concerning this problem. Wilkins explained that the purpose of the memorandum to the branches was to advise them “against hasty and ill-considered action [in calling] anybody and everybody a Communist.” Copy of the memorandum is in RW, C-22, DLC.