A Terrible Thing to Waste

Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican

David Hamilton Golland (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

408 Seiten

2024 | Foreword by Paul Fletcher
University Press of Kansas (Verlag)
978-0-7006-3061-5 (ISBN)

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Arthur Fletcher (1924–2005) was the most important civil rights leader you've (probably) never heard of. The first black player for the Baltimore Colts, the father of affirmative action and adviser to four presidents, he coined the United Negro College Fund’s motto: “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Modern readers might be surprised to learn that Fletcher was also a Republican. Fletcher’s story, told in full for the first time in this book, embodies the conundrum of the post–World War II black Republican—the civil rights leader who remained loyal to the party even as it abandoned the principles he espoused.The upward arc of Fletcher’s political narrative begins with his first youthful protest—a boycott of his high school yearbook—and culminates with his appointment as assistant secretary of Labor under Richard Nixon. The Republican Party he embraced after returning from the war was “the Party of Lincoln”—a big tent, truly welcoming African Americans. A Terrible Thing to Waste shows us those heady days, from Brown v. Board of Education to Fletcher’s implementing of the Philadelphia Plan, the first major national affirmative action initiative. Though successes and accomplishments followed through successive Republican administrations—as chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights under George H. W. Bush, for example, Fletcher’s ability to promote civil rights policy eroded along with the GOP’s engagement, as New Movement Conservatism and Nixon’s Southern Strategy steadily alienated black voters. The book follows Fletcher to the bitter end, his ideals and party in direct conflict and his signature achievement under threat.

In telling Fletcher’s story, A Terrible Thing to Waste brings to light a little known chapter in the history of the civil rights movement—and with it, insights especially timely for a nation so dramatically divided over issues of race and party.

David Hamilton Golland is professor of history and coordinator of humanities at Governors State University. He is the author of Constructing Affirmative Action: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity.

Introduction1. Origins, 1924-1945

2. A Terrible Thing to Waste, 1946-1960

3. Moon Shot, 1961-1969

4. The Man with the Plan, 1969-1971

5. Roller Coaster, 1971-1979

6. Bush for President, 1980-1989

7. Man of Rage, 1990-1995

Conclusion: The Conundrum of the Black Republican

Notes

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	20.04.2024
Zusatzinfo	black-and-white photographs 24
Verlagsort	Kansas
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-7006-3061-9 / 0700630619
ISBN-13	978-0-7006-3061-5 / 9780700630615
Zustand	Neuware