Letter from Walter White to President Harry S. Truman

NATIONAL OFFICERS 7.12/7/48 OFFICERS 11-29 President A_ hui B. Spingarn NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE Walter White Secretary Roy Wilkins Assistant Secretary Chairman of the Board Editor, The Crisis Dr. Louis T. Wright ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE Madison S. Jones, Jr. Administrative Assistant Vice-Presidents Thurgood Marsholl Mary McLeod Bethune Nannie H. Burroughs 20 West 40TH Street, New York 18, N. Y. Special Counsel Edward R. Dudley Godfrey Lowell Cabot Marian Wynn Perry Hon. Arthur Capper LOngacre 3.6890 Franklin H. Williams Hon. Harry E. Davis Robert L. Carter (on leave) Douglas P. Falconer Assistant Special Counsel Bishop John A. Gregg Rev. John Haynes Holmes Official Organ: The Crisis Leslia $. Perry Administrative Assistant Washington Bureau Dr. William Lloyd Imes W. E. B. Du Bois Hon. Ira W. Jayne Director, Special Research Isadore Martin Daisy E. Lampkin Field Secretary T. G. Nutter A. Philip Randolph 252-K Gloster B. Current Rev. A. Clayton Powell Director of Branches LeRoy E. Carter Oswald Garrison Villard Rufus W. Smith Bishop W. J. Walls Marion O. Bend Treasurer Daniel E. Byrd Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers Assistant Field Secretaries Assistant Treasurer Donald Jones Dr. Channing H. Tobias Southwest Regional Secretary N. W. Griffin BOARD OF DIRECTORS West Coast Regional Secretary Lucille Black Membership Secretary Atlanta, Ga. Eugene M. Martin Ruby Hurley Youth Secretary Baltimore, Md. Lillie M. Jackson Jesse o. Dedmon, Jr. Carl Murphy Berkeley, Calif. Dr. Buell G. Gallagher Birmingham, Ala. HARRY NATIONAL TRUMAN LIBRARY Secretary, Veterans' Affairs November 26, 1948 Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Dr. E. W. Taggart NICINIVES ARD Labor Secretary Chicago, III. Earl B. Dickerson RECORDS Walter ₱. Offutt, Ir. Cincinnati, Ohio Theodore M. Berry Dr. Nathan K. Christopher CHICK Church Secretary Cleveland, Ohio Henry Lee Moon Des Moines, la. lke Smalls Director of Public Relations Detroit, Mich. Dr. James J. McClendon Eugene, Ore. Hon. Wayne Morse Ft. Worth, Tex. Dr. George D. Flemmings My dear President Truman: Greenwich, Conn. Alfred Baker Lewis Hartford, Conn. Dr. Allen F. Jackson Hyde Park, N. Y. Eleanor Roosevelt Lawrence, N. Y. Rabbi Judah Cahn The National Association for the Advance- Los Angeles, Calif. Norman O. Houston Newark, N. J. Grace B. Fenderson ment of Colored People is greatly concerned about New York, N. Y. Lillian A. Alexander Hon. Jane M. Bolin an increasing tendency on the part of government Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers Marion Cuthbert agencies to associate activity on interracial Hon. Hubert T. Delany Lewis S. Gannett matters with disloyalty. Thus, various investi- John Hammond Rev. John Haynes Holmes gating agents of the government have been asking Hon. Herbert H. Lehman white persons whether they associate with colored Dr. O. Clay Maxwell Hon. Newbold Morris x93 people. Colored people have been asked whether Mary White Ovington Rev. James H. Robinson they have entertained white people in their homes. Amy E. Spingarn Arthur B. Spingarn In addition, there is considerable evidence before Dr. Channing H. Toblas Hon. Charles E. Toney us that many colored government employees, who are Dr. Louis T. Wright Northampton, Mass. S. Ralph Harlow now being charged with disloyalty, have such accu- Oklahoma City, Okla. Roscoe Dunjee Philadelphia, Pa. Theodore Spaulding sations brought against them because they have Pittsburgh, Pa. Jessie M. Vann Richmond, Va. Dr. J. M. Tinsley actively opposed segregation and discrimination in Statesville, N. C. T. v. Mangum their places of employment or in their communities. Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Capper Washington, D. c. William H. Hastie Charles H. Houston Eric Johnston At present, we have information on charges Philip Murray Palmer Weber filed against colored and white government workers NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE in Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Phila- Charles H. Houston, Washington, D. C., Chairman Atlanta, Ga. A. T. Walden delphia, Washington, and Baltimore. If given a fair Birmingham, Ala. Arthur D. Shores Cambridge, Mass. Benjamin Kaplan hearing, these individuals will undoubtedly obtain Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter Chattanooga, Tenn. Maurice M. Weaver complete exoneration. Meanwhile, the government Chicago, III. Sidney A. Jones, Jr. W. Robert Ming, Jr. will have spent considerable time and money in pro- Cincinnati, Ohio Theodore M. Berry Dallas, Texas W. J. Durham cessing their cases. The evidence against them is Erie, Pa. William F. Illig such that it should never have been used in the first Houston, Texas Arthur J. Mandell Ithaca, N. Y. Milton R. Konvitz instance. However, since it was used, the written Los Angeles, Calif. Thomas L. Griffith, Jr. Robert W. Kenny answers furnished by employees are more than suffi- Loren Miller Louisville, Ky. Charles W. Anderson cient to justify dismissal of the cases. Under the Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison Nashville, Tenn. z. Alexander Looby Loyalty Review Board's regulations, agencies are en- New York, N. Y. Harry Bragg Karl N. Liewellyn titled to drop such charges without hearing. How- Donald Crichton James Marshall Morris L. Ernst Irvin C. Mollison ever, in the cases mentioned, the agencies have de- Osmond K. Fraenkel Shad Polier cided to conduct hearings. This is particularly true Arthur Garfield Hays Hope Stevens Paul Kern Charles H. Studin of the Post Office Department where a number of em- Andrew D. Weinberger Pittsburgh, Pa. Homer S. Brown ployees with work records of fifteen years and more Raleigh, N. C. Herman L. Taylor Richmond, Va. Oliver W. Hill are now suddenly charged with disloyalty. Spottswood W. Robinson, III. San Francisco, Calif. Bartley C. Crum Tulsa, Okla. Amos T. Hall Washington, D. c. William H. Hastie Edward P. Lovett Leon A. Ransom Frank D. Reeves Ruth Weyand Wilmington, Del. Louis L. Redding 40th ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Los Angeles, California, July 12-17, 1949, inclusive 25 Winston-Salem, N.C. Curtiss Todd