Letter, Eugene "Bull" Connor to Franklin Roosevelt

CITY OF BIRMINGHAM INDUSTRIAL CENTER OF THE SOUTH BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA EUGENE (BULL) CONNOR August 7, 1942 COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY WALTER G. .THOMPSON EXECUTIVE SECRETARY President Franklin D. Roosevelt The White House Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. President: RE: RACIAL POLICIES As Commissioner of Public Safety of the largest city in the State of Alabama, I feel that it is my patriotic duty to call to your attention a problem which is going to cause serious trouble unless abated by you, for there is no doubt that federal agencies have adopted policies to break down and destroy the segregation laws of this State and the entire South. Unless something is done quickly by you, we are going to face a crisis in the South, witness the annihilation of the Democratic Party in this section of the Nation, and see a revival of organizations which will usher in an era that will tend to destroy the progress made by law abiding white people, who have conscientiously labored to aid and help negroes to become better citizens. The N. Y. A. has preached social equality and stirred up strife. The United States Employment Service and the Fair Employment Practices Committee are causing plenty of trouble when there ought to be unity. I can't see for the life of me why anyone should desire to start civil strife in the South when there is a war to be won, and the South is doing its part, as the record will disclose. A large portion of our negroes have venereal diseases, which, I think, is the number one problem of the negro race today, not Social Equality, as the agitators and some federal agencies are advocating. I believe in curing them, and we are making notable progress in this city. When the downfall of the doctrine of white supremacy is advocated and taught by agitators and federal officials, who know absolutely nothing about the negro problem in the South, what happens? Negroes become impudent, unruly, arrogant, law breaking, violent and insolent. Any effort now by any person connected with the federal government officially, or socially, to destroy segregation and bring about amalgamation of the races will hinder the Southland in its war efforts, revive organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, which I never joined, and result in lawlessness, disunity and probable bloodshed.