Editorial

...And the Negro knows it...

...It has remained for the conservative successor of these administrations to begin to fulfill some of the Democrats' pledges to Negroes...

...But Mr...

...The Committee merits the gratitude of all Americans for formulating these standards...

...Our constant exposure to totalitarian pressure and methods during the last two decades has made this trend toward centralization of opinion all the more dangerous...

...Roosevelt and Mr...

...Bertrand Russell once penned a fantasy which predicted that, over the years, "Malenkov's Russia and McCarthy's America" would gradually become indistinguishable...

...the highest post reached by a colored man under the Democrats was a Federal judgeship...

...Our most vital decisions must be made in these areas...

...Nothing dramatizes that fact more than the appointment, last week, of J. Ernest Wilkins of Chicago as Assistant Secretary of Labor for International Affairs...

...Ike vs...

...A second problem was posed for the Committee by Alastair Cooke in a recent Saturday Review: namely, the growing concentration of news and opinion sources...

...The Committee's distinguished scholars, artists and journalists might well investigate two more subtle threats to free culture...

...Anyone who has talked to Negroes who live in or commute to and from Washington will hear them speak in superlatives of a national capital that was once anathema to them...

...One can imagine the impact that will have upon the "colored" nations in particular...

...Integration in the armed services, begun by President Truman, has virtually been completed...

...If this fantasy is not to become a reality, organizations like the American Committee for Cultural Freedom must continue their vigilant defense of our democracy against both Communist penetration and the subtle social changes which promote conformity...

...EDITORIAL Freedom of Speech Observing that, in recent years, "attacks on motives and persona] character have too often replaced criticism of opinions and policies," the American Committee for Cultural Freedom has proposed ethical standards for public debate...

...Wilkins's appointment is that his new job will bring him into contact with the leaders of many foreign nations and their trade-union movements—the first time that Americans have been represented in international labor circles by a Negro official...

...Industries with Federal contracts are being made to comply with the anti-discrimination clause those contracts contain...

...Jim Crow For twenty years, the Democrats gave this country social security, collective bargaining, securities-exchange control, public power and other radical reforms...

...There can be no doubt that a broader respect for them would considerably raise the level of public discussion...

...Still, whatever the antecedents, the GOP is living up to its campaign promises where the Negro is concerned...

...Wilkins's appointment is not the only significant act of this administration in the field of Negro affairs...

...Despite the fact that both Mr...

...This contrasts rather sharply with the efforts of Adlai Stevenson and other Democratic leaders to make peace with the Southern wing of their party...

...What adds importance to Mr...

...Segregation and discrimination in Washington seem to be nearing their end...

...The Democrats, it may be argued, paved the way for many of the steps the Republicans are now taking—and that is true...

...But the government of the "forgotten man" was strangely forgetful of one great block of underprivileged citizens: the Negroes...

...One is the serious lack of public information concerning such critical areas of national policy as atomic energy...

...Eisenhower's campaign in the South, the GOP Administration does not seem to care whether it gets Southern approval for its attitude toward the Negro or not...

...But jungle methods of controversy are not the only danger today...

...After reviewing these sad facts, Cooke concludes that, throughout the nation, "the issues" tend to be chosen and defined by a relatively small group of New York and Washington opinion-makers...

...the result is an "artificial debate" in which the great mass of our people cannot consciously participate...

...Many people have commented on the declining number of independent newspapers and the growing reliance on national syndicates and news services...

...Truman were sincere and ardent champions of Negro rights, their administrations delivered comparatively little...

...These standards, which are similar to those outlined recently by Sidney Hook in The New Leader ["The Ethics of Controversy," February 1], are aimed at eliminating for, at least, reducing) modes of argument not based on the weight of independent evidence...

...This is the first time in the history of the United States that a Negro has been elevated to sub-cabinet rank...

...believe the public can and should know a lot more than it is being told about the atomic era in which it lives...

...And, especially pertinent in view of Mr...

...Many atomic scientists, as well as enlightened Congressmen like Sterling Cole (R.-N.Y...

...The great progress that the Negro undeniably made under the New and Fair Deals was attributable more to the general climate those programs created (as well as to World War II and other "non-political" factors) than to the fulfilment of specific party pledges...

...But the greater the extent of Federal control of information in these areas, the less democratic these decisions will be...

...Comes the fall campaign and Democrats may no longer find a solid Negro voting bloc behind them...