ANTIDISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1947 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ANTIDISCRIMINATION, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 9:30 a. m., in the committee room, Capitol Building, Senator Forrest C. Donnell presiding. Present: Senators Donnell (presiding), Smith, Ives, and Ellender. Senator DONNELL. The committee will be in order. The first witness is the Honorable Fielding L. Wright, the Governor of the State of Mississippi. Governor Wright. STATEMENT OF HON. FIELDING L. WRIGHT, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, JACKSON, MISS. Senator DONNELL. Governor Wright, will you be kind enough to state your full name and your address? Governor WRIGHT. Fielding L. Wright, Jackson, Miss. Senator DONNELL. You are the present Governor of the State of Mississippi? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. When were you elected Governor of Mississippi? Governor WRIGHT. I succeeded to the governorship on the 2d day of November 1946, at the death of Gov. Thomas L. Bailey. Senator DONNELL. Governor, would you state, please, so that we may have something of your background, where you were born and, if you have no objection, when? Governor WRIGHT. I was born on the 16th day of May 1895, at Rolling Fork, Miss. Senator DONNELL. Have you lived all of your life, this far, in Mississippi? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir; I have lived all my life in Rolling Fork, where I was born. Senator DONNELL. You have undoubtedly been over large portions of Mississippi in the course of your experience? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. And are widely acquainted in that State, undoubtedly. Have you had occasion, Governor, also to visit, from time to time, other States in the southern section of our country? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. Are you familiar, generally speaking, with the industrial conditions prevailing in the State of Mississippi? Governor WRIGHT. Generally speaking; yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. What is your educational background, Governor. Governor WRIGHT. I finished high school, went to Webb School, Bell Buckle, Tenn., and the University of Alabama. Senator DONNELL. Did you receive a degree at the University of Alabama? Governor WRIGHT. No, sir. Senator DONNELL. What was your special study in the university? Governor WRIGHT. Well, I was preparing to study law but I didn't complete it. Then I read law and passed the bar. Senator DONNELL. Did you enter the practice of law then? Senator DONNELL. What was the year in which you entered the practice of law? Governor WRIGHT. I was admitted to the bar on September 6, 1916. Senator DONNELL. And you have practiced law in Mississippi from that time until your entry on official duties? Governor WRIGHT. Well, I really didn't practice until after the First World War, because I went into the Army shortly after that. Then I began to practice actively in 1919. Senator DONNELL. Will you tell us, briefly, something of your experience in the war; what rank you had and where you served. Governor WRIGHT. I was a private first class. Senator DONNELL. Where did you serve? Governor WRIGHT. I served in France, One Hundred and Fortyninth Machine Gun, Thirty-eighth Division. Senator DONNELL. And you then came back to this country and entered the practice of law? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. What has been the general nature of your practice, Governor? Governor WRIGHT. I had entered the practice of law, Senator, before I went in the Army; but, as I say, just for a short time. I really hadn't done much practice. Senator DONNELL. And after you returned from the war, the practice upon which you entered, I presume, was of a general nature? Governor WRIGHT. Of a general nature; yes. I was practicing in a small country town of about 1,400 people. Senator DONNELL. And you practiced law in the State courts and I presume the Federal courts in Mississippi? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. Are you a member of the bar of the supreme court of your State? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. Now, Governor, will you proceed with your statement. Senator ELLENDER. Governor, I notice that you have a prepared statement. Would you prefer to read and not be interrupted, or just what is your desire? Governor WRIGHT. It doesn't make any difference. I can read it if that is the custom. If you want to interrupt me, that is all right. Senator DONNELL. Very well, Governor, if you will proceed with your statement, then, we will feel free to interrupt you if we so desire. Governor WRIGHT. I accepted the invitation to come to Washington to offer testimony in opposition to Senate bill 984, National Act Against Discrimination in Employment-I might say here, if you don't mind my interrupting Senator DONNELL. Not at all. Governor WRIGHT. The telegram I received from Senator Ellender, of course, asked me to come to Washington and offer testimony for or against Senate bill 984; but I am offering testimony in opposition to Senate bill 984. Senator DONNELL. Governor, have you read the detailed portions of the bill, or are you proceeding generally upon the theory of the bill as you understand it to be? Governor WRIGHT. I have read the bill, Senator, but let me say this in order that I may make myself entirely clear. I got into Jackson at midnight Saturday night-from the campaign, you know, in which I have been speaking over the State-and I read the bill. I wrote this statement Sunday. I have not analyzed it too carefully, only just read it over, but I haven't given it any careful study, of course—as careful a study as I would have liked to have done if I had had plenty of time; but I have read the bill. Senator DONNELL. All right; proceed. Governor WRIGHT. I accepted the invitation to come to Washington to offer testimony in opposition to Senate bill 984 not simply because it is my belief that it is a bill inimical to the best interests of Mississippi and the South, but because it is also my firm conviction that this proposed piece of legislation is dangerous to the United States and all of the people of our Nation. In appearing in opposition to this proposed measure, it is my belief that we represent not only the people of Mississippi, but that we represent the best interests of all of the people of the United States. One of the fundamental concepts on which this great Government of ours was founded is the belief in individual freedom and individual initiative. This was the motivating spirit which impelled our forefathers to break away from the old countries and to seek a new life in a new world. This belief further inspired them to wrest control of their new land from the mother country and form a new nation—a nation which had as its fundamental law the fairest and most just document of government ever conceived by man-the Constitution of the United States. Senator DONNELL. Governor, if you don't mind my interrupting for just a moment, in regard to your own biography, when did you first enter public life? Governor WRIGHT. 1928. Senator DONNELL. And in what capacity? Governor WRIGHT. I went to the State senate in 1928. Then I was elected to the house of representatives. Senator DONNELL. The National House of Representatives? Senator DONNELL. Or in the State? Governor WRIGHT. The State. I served in the house from 1932 to 1936. Then I served as speaker of the house from 1936 to 1940. Then I served as lieutenant governor from 1944 until Governor Bailey's death last November. Senator DONNELL. And you are now a candidate for election to the office of Governor and are serving as Governor at this time? Governor WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Senator DONNELL. Go right ahead. Governor WRIGHT. Now, is it the committee's desire that I read this, or do you just want it put in the record? Senator DONNELL. We will put it in the record in any event, Governor; but we should like to have your ideas and if you think you can best express them by reading it, it will be fine; or if you prefer to give us, extemporaneously, your views, that will be equally acceptable to the committee. We suggest that you use your own judgment in regard to the matter. Governor WRIGHT. I shall be glad to read it but I just thought, since time is limited, I might make some statements independently of this. Senator DONNELL. We want to hear you fully, Governor. You go right ahead. Governor WRIGHT. With this Constitution as the fundamental law of the land, certain broad rights were guaranteed to the individual citizens of the country. The Constitution, with its amendments, guarantees to every individual the righth to do things for himself. And under its mantle the individual is limited in his achievements solely by his abilities to create and produce. Under the protection of this great document and inspired with the breath of freedom and free enterprise which is the very essence of our country's greatness, the United States of American has grown into the strongest nation in the world. Americans pushed their original limited frontiers 3,000 miles across the North American wilderness. American ingenuity developed and produced an amazing assortment of machines and devices for the improvement of our way of life and for the comfort and convenience of our citizens. American courage and productive genius enabled us to withstand every foreign war and to survive a period of bloody civil strife. And in the last great conflict American production supplied the world and produced in unbelievable time an unprecedented amount of material of every kind. The United States of America grew great on the system of free enterprise-on a system which was unhampered and unfettered by anything like the dangerous legislation which we now consider. And it has always been one of the outstanding talking points for our way of life that here in the United States a man is limited only by his own abilities. A man may rise from the most humble home in the land to the highest office in the Nation. A man may come from the poorest of homes, yet build a financial empire. No, it didn't take an act such as proposed in Senate bill 984 to bring Andrew Jackson from the hills of Tennessee to the Presidency. It didn't take an act like this to raise Abraham Lincoln from the humble log cabin in Kentucky to the highest office within the gift of his people. It didn't take such an act to assist Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller in building their vast industries from humble beginnings. No, gentlemen, and it did not take an antidiscrimination act to lift Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver into positions of great attainment and leadership and to a high level of respect among both white and black alike. |