Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown

310 Pages·2003·1.22 MB·English

by  Kevin J. McMahon

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