Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown PDF
Preview Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown
Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown Kevin J. McMahon the university of chicago press chicago & london Kevin J. McMahon is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York, Fredonia. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2004 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2004 Printed in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 1 2 3 4 5 isbn: 0-226-50086-1 (cloth) isbn: 0-226-50088-8 (paper) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McMahon, Kevin J. Reconsidering Roosevelt on race : how the presidency paved the road to Brown / Kevin J. McMahon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn0-226-50086-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—isbn0-226-50088-8 (pbk. : alk paper) 1. Roosevelt. Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945—Views on race. 2. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945—Relations with African Americans. 3. United States—Race relations—Political aspects. 4. African Americans—Civil rights—History— 20th century. 5. African Americans—Legal status, laws, etc.—History—20th century. 6. United States—Politics and government—1933–1945. 7. United States. Supreme Court—History—20th century. 8. Segregation in education—Law and legislation— United States—History—20th century. I. Title. e807.m38 2003 323.1′196073′009043—dc21 2003008350 o The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. For My Mom and Dad & For Stephanie contents acknowledgments ix one Introduction: The Day They Drove Old Dixie Down 1 two The Incongruities of Reform: Rights-Centered Liberalism and Legal Realism in the Early New Deal Years 24 three FDR’s Constitutional Vision and the Defeat of the Court-Packing Plan: The Modern Presidency and the Enemies of Institutional Reform 61 four “Approving Legislation for the People, Preserving Liberties—Almost Rewriting Laws”: The Politics of Creating the Roosevelt Court 97 five A Constitutional Purge: Southern Democracy, Lynch Law, and the Roosevelt Justice Department 144 six The Commitment Continues: Truman, Eisenhower, and the Civil Rights Decisions 177 seven Conclusion: The Road the Court Trod 203 notes 223 works cited 269 index 287 vii acknowledgments The effort to forge a civil rights mission on the Supreme Court involved many individuals and years of work. While hardly comparable, the same was true in the research and writing of this book. Early on, Shep Melnick, Sid Milkis, and H.W. Perry, Jr. provided invaluable guidance about how to shape the project and helped me refine the skills necessary to pull it off. Be- ginning in my graduate school days, and continuing until today, numerous friends have spent many hours discussing my arguments, reading my work, or just providing support. They include: Brad Clarke, Pearson Cross, Rick De- wine, Mike Hausenfleck, Amy Higer, Elena Kolesnkikova, Millette Shamir, and Mauri Ziff. Chris Kirkey deserves a special note of gratitude in this regard. Bob Duffy and K.C. Johnson read substantial parts of the manuscript and provided critical advice on how to sharpen its focus. Others who read and commented on portions of the manuscript assisted me in significantly im- proving its quality. They include: Howard Ball, Amy Bridges, Mark Graber, Jim Hurtgen, Ken Kersch, Bill Leuchtenburg, Carolyn Long, George Lovell, Mark Peterson, Dick Pious, Suzanne Samuels, Stephen Skowronek, and Keith Whittington. The anonymous reviewers made excellent com- ments and were especially helpful in working out the kinks of the manu- script. Charlie Derber, Howard Gillman, and John K. White offered en- couragement and important advice at various points along the way. Karen Orren was exceedingly generous in helping me to prepare my ar- ticle “Constitutional Vision and Supreme Court Decisions: Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race” for publication in Studies in American Political Devel- opment. Much of that article appears in the pages of this book. Don Beach- ler read and reread most of the manuscript. Beyond providing invaluable feedback about the work, he has become a close friend with whom I often discuss ideas and thoughts about politics and the law. I owe a special thanks to Mike Paris for his continuing support of this project since its inception. I met Mike in graduate school at Brandeis University, and ever since he has ix
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