Civil Rights Issues
Fielding L. Wright's run as vice-presidential candidate was largely a protest against the nomination of President Truman and the inclusion of civil rights proposals in the Democratic Party platform. In his 1948 gubernatorial inaugural address, Wright described racial segregation as an "eternal truth" that "transcends party lines". Wright was a product of his era and the prevailing social attitudes of that time, which are well summed up in a paragraph from The Washington Post, (December 21, 2001), which reported that:
Negroes made up half the population. Their Governor, Fielding Wright, told them: "If any of you have become so deluded as to want to enter our white schools, patronize our hotels and cafes, enjoy social equality with the whites, then true kindness and sympathy requires me to advise you to make your homes in some other state."
Social attitudes were changing however, and the editor of the Arkansas Gazette, in the aftermath of the 1948 election, noted that "Unpleasant as all this was, the Dixiecrats inadvertently performed a great service for the South by demonstrating that the race issue is no longer a certain ticket to public office for any demagogue who cares to use it."
Read more about this topic: Fielding L. Wright
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