Posted on 06/06/2003 7:25:59 AM PDT by dead
As is usually the case, a very small minority were members of the klan and it was usually those who felt that if the negros were given equality, they themselves would be the bottom of the social and economic ladder. Some called them white trash.
Harry truman was many things. But racist was never one of them. The Pendergast Political Machine in its day was much like the Daley machine in Chicago. It controlled St. Louis and much of the Democratic party in Missouri. Harry Truman had to deal with this situation. To make it in politics in Missouri one had to get Pendergast's suport. Pendergast had strong ties to the KLAN.
In Harry Truman's first elected office, as a county commissioner, he hired blacks to work for the county. He had been supported by Pendergast but refused to back down when Pendergast demanded that he fire the blacks and hire no more.
When Harry refused the Pendergast machine wanted to destroy Harry, but Harry was a genuine World War I hero. He was very popular with the people. If the machine took him down the Pendergast people knew that a Republican would replace him. They bit their lips and kept Harry. But it was Pendergast that gave in.. Not Harry Truman.
Harry Truman was willing to loose the support of the Southern Democratic party in 1948. Harry openly campaigned fordesegregating the military and it cost him much of the South in 1948. In his 1948 speech before the Democratic Convention he said, "To hold the black man down in the gutter, I would have to get down there with him. I will not do that."
To accuse Harry S. Truman of being a racist is the most flagrant lie. It is a typical liberal tactic. That is to accuse someone you admire of having the same defect as someone you despise. They do it often when it is not true.
Harry Truman was not a racist by any means. There were many times Truman put himself in great political jeopardy by taking a pro civil rights stance. And that is a totally documented fact. Just get copies of any newspaper that covered the 1948 Democratic convention. It will tell you a lot about the beliefs and political will of Harry Truman. A Southern paper will list in perjoritive terms all the things that Truman had been doing for blacks for a generation.
The phrase most often used to describe Truman in 1948 was that he was a N-Word Lover and always had been.
The Ever Present Presence of the Master
On Corridor H West between Elkins and Weston, four-year-old "Robert C. Byrd Highway" signs have been joined by shiny new blue ones that read, "Robert C. Byrd Appalachian Highway System." Have you seen these on other corridors?
Our curiosity got the better of us, and so for the past month we have endured full-body security precautions to get into the secret Robert C. Byrd Sign Shop. Finally, after the CAT scan, we were taken by a shadowy escort far beneath the Allegheny Front, on the old southern route of Corridor H, into a space originally designed for a tunnel but now much enlarged. There we found Pitney Arbogast working at a giant computer. He turned off the monitor as we approached. He was quite affable and willing to answer our questions.
According to Mr. Arbogast, new signs became necessary after the Robert C. Byrd Highway was added to the Robert C. Byrd Freeway, Robert C. Byrd Expressway, Robert C. Byrd Drive, and Robert C. Byrd Bridge. "The truckers didn’t know where they were," he said. "Some of them tried to drive onto the Robert C. Byrd Lock and Dam. So we made up a sign to let them know they were always on the Robert C. Byrd System. Now they can't get lost."
"That Appalachian Highway System is nearly forty years old, isn't it?"
"Oh, yes, but you know the Interstates are even older and they just got around to putting up signs for the ‘Eisenhower Interstate System’."
"We thought the Appalachian Regional Commission was President Kennedy’s idea. Why not call it the John F. Kennedy Appalachian Highway System?"
"Not in West Virginia."
"Can we expect more new signs?"
"You bet. Once we realized how confusing it was for the truckers, we began to think of the ordinary citizen. There’s the Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, Technology Center, Aerospace and Technology Center, Hospitality and Tourism Center, Cancer Research Center, Hardwood Center, Visitors Center, Community Center, High School, and Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing. And many more parks, centers, schools, institutes, and federal buildings to come. Not to mention the statues. People need to be reassured that it's all one thing, really."
Mr. Arbogast turned on the monitor. Immediately, a set of signs in authoritative hues of deep blue, brown, and black appeared on the screen: "Robert C. Byrd Economic System." "Robert C. Byrd Educational System." "Robert C. Byrd Financial System."
We agreed that the signs looked smooth and reassuring. Mr. Arbogast said they weren’t finished. "By the end of the week, we have to decide whether to add "Appalachian," for consistency. What do you think?"
We sympathized with the difficulty of his work. "Robert C. Byrd Appalachian Financial System" conveyed a certain ambiguity.
Our shadowy escort was becoming impatient. He was so shadowy we could not glimpse his face no matter how quickly we turned our heads. "That"s what comes of leaving these things to narrow-minded technocrats," he said.
"What would you suggest?"
"Skip the small stuff. Go direct to the ‘Robert C. Byrd System of Life As We Know It’."
They told Truman that if he wanted to be elected he would have to join the Klan. Truman was no fool, he could not say "Hell NO!" so he went through the motions. Truman used the anti-catholic stance of the Klan as an excuse to not join. I am sure that he was opposed to any organization that was anti catholic, but he was opposed to the racial views of the Klan too. Truman had read nearly every book in the Independence Mo. library. He knew the Klan was anti Catholic long before he applied. What Harry did was use an acceptable excuse for not joining the Klan. One could politically survive as a pro catholic. One could not be elected to office as pro black. One could not be elected in West Virginia as pro black either in that era. But Byrd was was openly, and willing member and supporter of the KLAN. Truman found a way to avoid having to join.
In the 1940's and 50's a pro civil rights candidate could not be elected in Southern, Ohio. Fifty years ago Pike County Ohio (South Central Ohio) openly advertised that no N-Word had ever spent the night in Pike County Ohio and lived to tell about it. At that time NONE HAD. If that was a situation in Ohio in the 50's imagine the situation in Missouri in the 20's. But truman was openly pro civil rights when Byrd was openly anti civil rights. It was Byrd who was openly opposed to the racial policies Harry Truman. It was Harry Truman that Desegregated the US military. It was Truman that Byrd was trashing in his pro KLAN speaches.
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