OF THE USA!
The moderate New York newspaper read:
SENATOR DOUGLASS DILMAN SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT LAST NIGHT: FIRST NEGRO TO ACHIEVE COUNTRY’S HIGHEST OFFICE
The pro-administration Washington newspaper read:
CONGRESS AND VOTERS RALLY TO SUPPORT SENATOR DOUGLASS DILMAN
The pro-segregationist, Zeke Miller Washington newspaper read:
NEGRO SENATOR MADE CHIEF EXECUTIVE BY FLUKE; JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEETS TO DEBATE CONSTITUTIONALITY; CITIZENS PROTEST “UNFAIR” RULE OF MAJORITY BY MINORITY; REPRESENTATIVE MILLER PREDICTS “DISSENSION, DISUNITY, VIOLENCE”
The Negro Washington newspaper read:
HALLELUJAH! EQUAL RIGHTS AT LAST! COLORED PRESIDENT OF SENATE BECOMES PRESIDENT OF US ALL! WORLD APPLAUDS TRUE DEMOCRACY!
Several things were evident at once. To no one would he be simply a public servant who, by the law of succession, had become President of the United States. To both sides, and the middle, too, he would be the “Negro” who had become President. To the press of his own race he was the colored man, the black Moses, who had come to lead his people out of bondage and save them. To the press of the enemies of his race, as represented by Congressman Zeke Miller’s newspaper chain, he was a black and ugly thing pulled out from under a rock to wreak vengeance on the magnolia-scented South, to destroy the Grand Republic by enforcing equality between black godless brutes and white Christian human beings, to enforce his nigger ideas on their chaste daughters. To the sensational press he was a zoo object, a freak, for the time a story and circulation builder, who could be contended with seriously later. To the press of his Party he was still a senator, to be rallied around until the Party line toward him could be straightened out. To the moderate, conservative, thoughtful press he was—he reached for the respected and balanced New York daily again and reread its headline—the first Negro to achieve the country’s highest office.
Douglass Dilman considered this headline. It was true, and it was fair. But how many others, black or white, would be this reasonable? Slowly his eyes went down the columns of news datelined Washington, D.C. It was all solid reportage of his being sworn in, of the tragedy in Frankfurt that had led to his being sworn in, backed up by full quotations from Tim Flannery’s release explaining the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. At the bottom of the lead column was a box containing the suggestion that the reader turn to the main editorial on page sixteen.
Dilman put down his fork and knife, took up the New York newspaper, turned to page sixteen, folded it back and then in half. Immediately he found the main editorial headed T HE N EW M AN IN THE W HITE H OUSE , and then he settled in his chair to read what followed:
At 10:35 last night (EDT), a new, eligible American male was sworn in as President of the United States, to succeed a popular predecessor who died before fulfilling his full four-year term. In itself, this sudden changing of the guard was neither historic nor unusual. It has happened eight times before in our history. But last night, for the first time, there was a difference.
When Presidents Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy died in office, their unexpired terms were filled out by men who had been their campaign running mates, by men second in line of succession, by men who had appeared beside them before the electorate, and by men of their own race and color. While public and Congressional acceptance of a second choice, a substitute President, was not always simple and smooth—as witness Andrew Johnson’s troubles when he succeeded Abraham Lincoln in 1865—at least the transitions were familiar enough to cause no national unrest or uneasiness.
However, the overnight accession of Senator Douglass Dilman, to fill the unexpired term of his popular predecessor, presents numerous
The moderate New York newspaper read:
SENATOR DOUGLASS DILMAN SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT LAST NIGHT: FIRST NEGRO TO ACHIEVE COUNTRY’S HIGHEST OFFICE
The pro-administration Washington newspaper read:
CONGRESS AND VOTERS RALLY TO SUPPORT SENATOR DOUGLASS DILMAN
The pro-segregationist, Zeke Miller Washington newspaper read:
NEGRO SENATOR MADE CHIEF EXECUTIVE BY FLUKE; JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEETS TO DEBATE CONSTITUTIONALITY; CITIZENS PROTEST “UNFAIR” RULE OF MAJORITY BY MINORITY; REPRESENTATIVE MILLER PREDICTS “DISSENSION, DISUNITY, VIOLENCE”
The Negro Washington newspaper read:
HALLELUJAH! EQUAL RIGHTS AT LAST! COLORED PRESIDENT OF SENATE BECOMES PRESIDENT OF US ALL! WORLD APPLAUDS TRUE DEMOCRACY!
Several things were evident at once. To no one would he be simply a public servant who, by the law of succession, had become President of the United States. To both sides, and the middle, too, he would be the “Negro” who had become President. To the press of his own race he was the colored man, the black Moses, who had come to lead his people out of bondage and save them. To the press of the enemies of his race, as represented by Congressman Zeke Miller’s newspaper chain, he was a black and ugly thing pulled out from under a rock to wreak vengeance on the magnolia-scented South, to destroy the Grand Republic by enforcing equality between black godless brutes and white Christian human beings, to enforce his nigger ideas on their chaste daughters. To the sensational press he was a zoo object, a freak, for the time a story and circulation builder, who could be contended with seriously later. To the press of his Party he was still a senator, to be rallied around until the Party line toward him could be straightened out. To the moderate, conservative, thoughtful press he was—he reached for the respected and balanced New York daily again and reread its headline—the first Negro to achieve the country’s highest office.
Douglass Dilman considered this headline. It was true, and it was fair. But how many others, black or white, would be this reasonable? Slowly his eyes went down the columns of news datelined Washington, D.C. It was all solid reportage of his being sworn in, of the tragedy in Frankfurt that had led to his being sworn in, backed up by full quotations from Tim Flannery’s release explaining the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. At the bottom of the lead column was a box containing the suggestion that the reader turn to the main editorial on page sixteen.
Dilman put down his fork and knife, took up the New York newspaper, turned to page sixteen, folded it back and then in half. Immediately he found the main editorial headed T HE N EW M AN IN THE W HITE H OUSE , and then he settled in his chair to read what followed:
At 10:35 last night (EDT), a new, eligible American male was sworn in as President of the United States, to succeed a popular predecessor who died before fulfilling his full four-year term. In itself, this sudden changing of the guard was neither historic nor unusual. It has happened eight times before in our history. But last night, for the first time, there was a difference.
When Presidents Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy died in office, their unexpired terms were filled out by men who had been their campaign running mates, by men second in line of succession, by men who had appeared beside them before the electorate, and by men of their own race and color. While public and Congressional acceptance of a second choice, a substitute President, was not always simple and smooth—as witness Andrew Johnson’s troubles when he succeeded Abraham Lincoln in 1865—at least the transitions were familiar enough to cause no national unrest or uneasiness.
However, the overnight accession of Senator Douglass Dilman, to fill the unexpired term of his popular predecessor, presents numerous
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