Charles W. Chesnutt to Walter White, 6 September 1930 Charles W. Chesnutt Stephanie Browner Kenneth M. Price Matt Cohen Transcription, encoding, annotation Swift, Bianca Matheis, Caitlin S. Gilmore, Samantha Weakly, Laura K. Barney, Brett Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln The New School University of Nebraska-Lincoln UCARE Program 2022 The Charles W. Chesnutt Archive
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 Charles W. Chesnutt to Walter White, 06 September 1930 September 6, 1930 Western Reserve Historical Society Charles Waddell Chesnutt Papers 1889-1932 MS 3370 Correspondence McCulloch, Roscoe Conkling Parker, John Johnson Davis, Harry E. Bulkley, Robert J. Bulkley, Charles C. Hoover, Herbert Ohio Haiti Liberia typed copy unsigned Chesnutt, Charles W. (Waddell) White, Walter New York, New York Laura K. Weaklycommented out links to unpublished prev/next Brett Barney instituted Stephanie's proofing corrections Laura K. Weaklyproofed Samantha Gilmoreannotated Bianca Swiftproofing and encoding Bianca SwiftTranscribing Encoding September 6, 1930
Mr. Walter White, Acting Secretary, Nat'l. Ass'n. for the Advancement of Colored People, 69 Fifth Avenue, New York City,
My dear Walter:

I intended to write you some time ago congratulating you on the successful outcome of your fight against the confirmation of Judge Parker's appointment to the Supreme Court bench. It was a great fight, and you won a notable victory. Consider the letter written.

I am writing now in answer to your letter of September 4th, with reference to the candidacy of McCulloch for the Senate. Before answering it I called up Harry Davis, with whom I have just been talking over the telephone, and he takes the ground suggested in your second paragraph, viz., that because McCulloch had n't been absolutely bad in matters concerning the Negro prior to his vote for Parker, he ought not to be opposed, but I stand where I stood at the time. I telegraphed Senator McCulloch that his vote for Parker would hurt him with the colored votes of Ohio, and my individual vote and such other votes as I can influence in a quiet way shall be cast against him.

Unfortunately there was no one else to vote for in the primaries, which would have been the best place to oppose him, but when the election comes to I shall vote for Mr. Bulkley, who is a gentleman and a fine lawyer, who has been a personal friend and a patron of mine for many years. His father was an eminent citizen who held a high place in the esteem of Cleveland people, and his son is a chip ofoff the old block.

I sympathize with his views on prohibition, and I have written him that I will support him in the election. I can't imagine him doing anything inimical to the interests of colored people, though of course the party tie is very strong and you can't always tell, but we know what McCulloch did, and though he has explained to Davis the difficulty of his position, he made the wrong decision, and should take the consequence.

I don't see what the colored people owe the Hoover administration, anyway. It has made no effort, so far as I have discovered, to please the colored voters except in the one instance of the Haytian situation, if that was the motive. The U. S. diplomats representing HaytiHaiti and xX Colored man appointed Minister to Liberia since this letter was writtenLiberia are both white men, and if any important presidential offices have been given to colored men they are so few that I do not now recall them.

Mr. Walter White--2

I think the National Association would stultify itself it isif it supported or did not oppose McCulloch's election to the Senate. Whether it would be worth while for it to conduct an active campaign against him, I don't know. Perhaps it could be done better through the local organizations, with the suggestions and advice of the National office. I am not very active in politics or indeed in anything else, but those are my sentiments, for whatever they are worth.

Sincerely yours, CWC:MK