Did Jim Crow tarnish the legacy of FDR? A look at Fear Itself by Ira Katznelson

The following volume adds a new dimension to the study of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the rise of the civil rights movement. Does Roosevelt's compromising stance with Jim Crow and Southern segregationists tarnish his legacy?

Katznelson, Ira. Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2013.

            Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a colossal figure in the Twentieth Century America. When much of the world turned toward totalitarianism in response to the worldwide depression, FDR receives credit for using democratic solutions and saving American democracy. Ira Katznelson discusses the impact of the New Deal and the impact of the Roosevelt administration in his book, Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time. Katznelson investigates the period between Roosevelt’s administration and the inauguration of President Eisenhower. While Roosevelt and the New Deal is a frequently plowed topic, Katznelson brings a distinctive twist to this often-discussed issue. He believes that while the New Deal was transformative, Roosevelt had to make a “Faustian” bargain to accomplish his goals. The passage of New Deal legislation proved impossible without cooperation from legislators from the segregated South, who maintained a fierce hold on Jim Crow segregation.

            Ira Katznelson is a political scientist and historian. He received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University and taught at Columbia University, University of Chicago, and The New School for Social Research. In 1969 he co-founded the academic journal Politics and Society. His focus is the liberal state with a focus on the United States. In his examination of the New Deal, Katznelson looks at the international context of the New Deal and the triumph of democracy over totalitarian forms of government. Roosevelt’s New Deal proved to be a defense of democracy but a victory with a price. Roosevelt’s struggle for democracy required his partnership with forces hostile to democracy or forces which undermined democracy. During World War II, Roosevelt partnered with Soviet Russia in the battle against Nazi Germany. Only through an alliance with the brutal dictator, Joseph Stalin would victory over Hitler arrive. If Roosevelt wanted to see his vision of the New Deal made into law, he compromised with racist Southern legislators. Among the worst was Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi, who regularly attacked blacks, Jews, and Catholics. For many Bilbo was a comical figure, but his hatred and vitriol poisoned the image and culture of Mississippi. While some Southern politicians viewed Bilbo as an embarrassment, they still held comparable political positions and stood lockstep with him in defending white supremacy and Jim Crow.

Theodore Bilbo. www.gettyimages.fr

  When Roosevelt assumed the office of Presidency, Southern congressmen possessed a great deal of legislative power. Most Southern legislators faced few successful opponents and enjoyed long careers in Congress. Long careers translated into seniority, which placed many Southerners into important committee chairmanships. Roosevelt learned that he could not pass bills without these representatives and senators. Because of his frequent visits to Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt considered himself an honorary Southerner. When faced with racial injustices and atrocities Roosevelt kept his silence. In 1935 Congress took up an anti-lynching bill in 1935, which faced furious opposition from Southern legislators. Passage was possible if the President offered his support, but Roosevelt refused to support the bill. In a conversation with Walter White, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt explained the President’s silence,

The President feels that lynching is a question of education in the states, rallying good citizens, and creating public opinion so that the localities themselves will wipe it out. However, if it were done by a Northerner, it will have an antagonistic effect. (167)

Walter Francis White Wikipedia

The bill failed after Southern senators refused to allow it to come for a vote, crushing the bill with a filibuster. Concerning racial justice, “the Roosevelt administration pursued a strategy of pragmatic forgetfulness.” (168) Blacks benefited from the programs of the New Deal, but Roosevelt never pushed progressive civil rights legislation.

Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, 1930. rarehistoricalphotos.com

            During the early years of the Roosevelt administration, Southern legislators were enthusiastic supports of New Deal legislation, but Roosevelt allowed the Southerners to insert discriminatory sections into his programs. Southerners removed farm workers and household servants out of the Social Security Act. Communities built by the Tennessee Valley Authority faced strict segregation. Roosevelt firmly believed that without Southern congressmen his legislation faced ruin, therefore, he made a deal with the devil and refused to confront Southerners in Congress over oppressive Jim Crow segregation and white supremacy. But the Southerners rejected parts of Roosevelt’s agenda. Their opposition to the labor movement crippled unions, especially in the South. During the Truman administration, Southerners allied with Republicans defeated the Taft-Hartley Act which further blocked union development. But Southern partnership with Roosevelt against isolationism became crucial to early efforts of building military readiness. While Northern Democrats and Republicans remained uneasy about involvement in Europe, Southern Democrats became firm allies with Roosevelt in military buildup. Katznelson explains their importance saying,

            When war broke out in Europe, the Southern legislators became Roosevelt’s most dependable allies in the move to build up the armed forces. While the Nazis praised the South’s racial policies, Southerners failed to see a correlation between the Nazi racial agenda and Southern white supremacy. Southerners stood firmly behind Roosevelt in his effort to expand the military and then win the war. Katznelson explains the importance, Without the South, strict neutrality would have persisted, aid would not have followed so readily to U.S. allies, and no person would have been subject to conscription for longer than one year. Britain would have found it more difficult to resist a Nazi invasion, and the United States would have been far more vulnerable when Japan attacked, and Germany declared war early in December 1941. (281)

            Fear Itself is a valuable addition to the many works on Roosevelt and the New Deal which normally celebrate the President’s achievements. Katznelson deals with issues of international compromise as well as Roosevelt’s willingness to excuse racism. The readiness of Roosevelt to tolerate the worst type of racial oppression is clearly a crack in his legacy, according to the author. Katznelson appears ready to accept the neccesity of a Soviet alliance due to the need to defeat the Nazis. He admits that the Depression was an emergency which threatened the existence of American democracy. Then why would cooperation with Southern Democrats not present a similar condition? Katznelson does not lay out other options which Roosevelt either ignored or rejected, yet he appears to imply that this was an opportunity Roosevelt missed because of a lack of courage. With the double emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II, one could suggest that Roosevelt looked toward the long-range goal of dealing with civil rights once the Depression and the War ended. This is speculation but a deeper examination into Roosevelt’s options could bring clarity. Katznelson briefly deals with the large influx of military bases in the South but a fuller discussion regarding the role of Southern legislators would prove interesting.

            Fear Itself is a fascinating look at Roosevelt and the compromises made to pass New Deal legislation. While many lionize Roosevelt, it is apparent that Katznelson’s thesis complicates the legacy of Roosevelt. Would a stand against the worst excesses of white supremacy jeopardize the New Deal or would Civil Rights appear a generation earlier? During a time when politicians are eager to remove Confederate statues and memorials are other Southern politicians far behind? One finds the names of many of the Southern Democrats such as Walter George, Carl Vinson, Richard Russell, James Eastland, and many others on government buildings and memorials in the South and Washington, D.C. Do their New Deal and defense accomplishments overshadow their commitments to white supremacy? Does Roosevelt’s pragmatism and blindness to the worst excesses tarnish his legacy? These are questions that continue to present themselves to historians and political scientists in the future.

Find Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time. by Ira Katznelson on Amazon