Walter White to Charles Chesnutt, 2 February 1932
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548
Official Organ: The Crisis1
February 2nd 1932
My dear Mr. Chesnutt:
You perhaps have noted in the papers that among those who have been mentioned as a possible successor to Mr. Justice Holmes2 on the Supreme Court bench is your fellow townsman and friend, Newton D. Baker.3
Naturally, we are checking up very carefully on the record of every person mentioned to date. Because of your intimate acquaintanceship with him, would you give me as detailed a picture of his attitude on the race question as you can? I will, of course, treat it as strictly confidential.
Among the other things we ought to watch in Baker's record is that he does believe in residential segregation and, if I remember correctly, signed a pamphlet as a member of the "Shaker Heights Protective Association"4 during the trouble Charlie Garvin5 had in Cleveland some years ago.
I wish you would make your opinion as detailed and as full as you feel it ought to be.
With cordial personal regards, I am
Ever sincerely, Walter Secretary. Mr. Charlest W. Chesnutt 1646 Union Trust Building Cleveland, Ohio WW:CTFCorrespondent: Walter Francis White (1893–1955) was a Black civil rights activist and writer. He began working at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1918, at its New York City headquarters, as assistant to James Weldon Johnson, the Association's first Black Executive Secretary. He investigated lynchings and riots, sometimes passing for White, and he became Executive Secretary in 1930. He helped desegregate the armed forces after WWII, and under his leadership the NAACP established its Legal Defense Fund. He nominally remained executive secretary until his death in 1955.
1. For readability, the remainder of the letterhead is not transcribed at the top of the letter but is included in this footnote as unformatted text. The letterhead can be seen in its entirety in the accompanying image of the letter. The text of the remainder of the letterhead is as follows: "NATIONAL OFFICERS PRESIDENT J. E. SPINGARN VICE PRESIDENTS HON. ARTHUR CAPPER BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ARTHUR B. SPINGARN OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD TREASURER MARY WHITE OVINGTON EXECUTIVE OFFICERS WALTER WHITE SECRETARY ROY WILKINS ASSISTANT SECRETARY DR. W. E. B. DUBOIS EDITOR OF THE CRISIS ROBERT W. BAGNALL DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES WILLIAM PICKENS FIELD SECRETARY DAISY E. LAMPKIN REGIONAL FIELD SECRETARY HERBERT J. SELIGMANN DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS Baltimore Carl Murphy Boston Joseph Prince Loud Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter Chicago Jane Addams Clarence Darrow Cleveland Hon. Harry E. Davis Detroit Hon. Ira W. Jayne Hon. Frank Murphy Emporia, Kan. William Allen White Indianapolis F. B. Ransom Los Angeles Dr. H. Claude Hudson Dr. J. A. Somerville New Haven George W. Crawford New York Lillian A. Alexander Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop Dr. W. E. B. DuBois Rev. John Haynes Holmes James Weldon Johnson Florence Kelley Hon. Herbert H. Lehman James Marshall Ella Rush Murray Mary White Ovington Rwv. A. Clayton Powell Arthur B. Spingarn J. E. Spingarn Charles H. Studin William English Walling Dr. Louis T. Wright Northampton, Mass. Dr. William Allan Neilson Orange, N. J. Dr. Vernon F. Bunce Philadelphia Isadore Martin Richmond Maggie L. Walker Springfield Rev. G. R. Waller Topeka Hon. Arthur Capper Washington Nannie H. Burroughs Hon. James A. Cobb Charles Edward Russell NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE Chairman Arthur B. Spingarn Chicago Clarence Darrow Edward H. Morris Cambridge, Mass. Felix Frankfurter Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter New York Morris L. Ernst Arthur Garfield Hays James Marshall Herbert K. Stockton Charles H. Studin ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU. 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE—WASHINGTON, D. C., May 17–22, 1932." [back]
2. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1902–1932), a legal scholar, was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1902–1932. In 1932, at 90 years old, Holmes stepped down. [back]
3. Newton D. Baker (1871–1937) was a White lawyer and Democratic politician born in West Virginia. He earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University in Virginia, and practiced law in West Virginia and then in Cleveland, Ohio, where he founded a prestigious corporate law firm, Baker, Hostetler, and Sidlo, in 1916. In Cleveland, he served as city solicitor (1901–1909) and mayor (1912–1915), then as U.S. Secretary of War (1916–1921). In early 1932 he was interested in being a presidential candidate, but did not publicly announce; his name was also circulated as a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee. [back]
4. The Shaker Heights Protective Association was formed in 1925 after the sale of a home in the Shaker Heights neighborhood to Black surgeon Dr. Edward A. Bailey. Incorporated in 1912, Shaker Heights was designed by the Van Sweringen Company with restrictions that prohibited industrial uses; specified home design, size and cost; and sought to prevent the sale of homes to Blacks. In 1925, the company adopted a covenant that required company approval of all sales, or a waiver by any purchaser that included signatures of the majority of owners of the surrounding lots. Newton D. Baker, the former Cleveland mayor, who lived in Shaker Heights, supported the new restrictions. The NAACP published a press release December 4, 1925, entitled "Newton D. Baker Ex-War Secretary on Cleveland Segregation Committee." [back]
5. Charles H. Garvin (1890–1968) was a prominent physician, writer, and educator in Cleveland, Ohio. During World War I, he was the first Black physician commissioned by the Army. Garvin also served as a chief instructor at Western Reserve University, a board officer of Howard University, an active member of the Cleveland branch of the NAACP, the editor of the National Medical Association's journal, and the president of the Cleveland branch of the National Negro Medical Association, and on the executive committee of the Cleveland branch of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. [back]
