Role of local leadership and black political organizations in changing race relations
Landrieu discusses how political opportunities were increasingly opened for African Americans during the administration of Chep Morrison in the 1940s and 1950s into his own in the 1970s. He describes Morrison's position on race relations as progressive for its time, though moderate in retrospect, and argues that although Morrison could have pressed for more significant changes, important changes did begin to take place in the 1950s. By the 1970s, Landrieu argues that his own success in appointing African Americans to key public positions was crucial to ensuring African Americans' political participation. This passage is especially illuminating because in it, Landrieu contrasts the role of local executive power to that of black political organizations in effecting change. While he acknowledges that black political organizations did play an important role in making politics more equitable, ultimately he suggests that their success and their reliance on "patronage" would spell their own demise.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Moon Landrieu, January 10-11, 1974. Interview A-0089. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
Blacks who had been out of the system then began
to get into the system. They got into the system in very very minor
numbers prior to our administration. To the best of my knowledge Chep
had no blacks working in the administration. When I say he was a
moderate, it was more an expression of doing separate but equal. Before,
it was separate but unequal. During Chep's years, Chep at least tried
to build black playgrounds and black swimming pools
and began to share some of the city's revenues with the blacks. Looking
back at that, you know, in the terms of todays perspective, you say,
"My God, how backward can you be? How conservative can you
get?" But that was frankly, a moderate position. Most moderate
in the entire state by far. I think Chep would have done a great deal
more. In other words, I think philosophically he was more liberal on the
racial issue than his record would indicate simply because he always
wanted to run for Governor, which he did do three times, and knew quite
well that one of his major handicaps was that he was looked upon as a a
racial liberal in this state. Well, you can fairly well understand that
if you are running against a Jimmy Davis kind of state-wide candidates
who just traditionally ran against blacks. You know, just ran against
the old southern way of life and against integration. That was the
battle cry in this state as it has been in every southern state for any
successful office seeker.
- WALTER DeVRIES:
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As you look down the road, will the power of the organized black groups
continue to grow?
- MAYOR MOON LANDRIEU:
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No.
- WALTER DeVRIES:
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Are they at a peak now?
- MAYOR MOON LANDRIEU:
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Well, I would have to go back just a little bit. There were several black
organizations in the city that were fairly
significant politically that were attached to the Morrison group.
Perhaps there were some unseen favors that were done that caused that
attachment, some philosophical attachment too, because the blacks
generally liked Chep very much, loved him. But they didn't enjoy a
great deal of patronage. I would suspect very little. During the Scuro
years the same thing was true. He had several black groups attached to
him and perhaps did some minor favors for them. But never any public
expression in terms of philosophy. In fact, he was always on the stated
conservative side. We had as Councilmen, I think I had gotten the Mayor
to appoint, sort of got every Councilman who doesn't have any stated
patronage, but at least you've got a little muscle with the Mayor and
say, "I'd like you to appoint this guy to the board for me if
you could." When Tom Scuro's administration was finished I
think there were three blacks serving on boards and commissions across
the city. One on the Parkway Commission, one on the Planning Commission,
and one in the Civil Service Commission. I had gotten two of those
blacks appointed, and another friend of mine, Councilman Ciasio was
instrumental in getting another one. But those are the only three that
have ever served in any position in government on any board or
commission, ever in this city. He had only one black that was working as
an aide to the Mayor. It was a minor job at
about $600 per month. When I got elected, having run on a
platform of equality and openness . . .
- JACK BASS:
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Did you have a campaign theme as such?
- MAYOR MOON LANDRIEU:
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I guess you could say we ran on a slogan, "The man who tells the
truth, wins." But I went on television and said that I proposed
to appoint blacks to departments and that I hated racial prejudices and
that I proposed to open this city up for everybody and give everybody
equal opportunity. We have. We began to bring blacks into the
administration in large numbers. Three Department heads, counting Model
City, that would be four, I think we have five Deputy Department Heads,
members of boards and commissions in significant numbers, and we've done
fairly well, even though a lot of the boards are staggered and it takes
time, we've done well and we've moved employment up from . . . almost to
where it is equal to, fairly close to being equal right now to the
population ratios, certainly greater than the voting ratios. A lot of
those people came from the political organizations. Blacks in the
political organizations are generally far better educated than their
counterparts in the white political organizations of several years
earlier. Virtually every one is a college graduate, some with Masters
degrees, the kind of individual that would not
have participated in the white political structure because they didn't
need it. They were lawyers, they were otherwise employed, white lawyers
and doctors and businessmen; they didn't need the political system. They
were out making money in private enterprise. But the young black
professional correctly saw the political system as a way into the
mainstream of American life. Part of the problem was, okay, so you want
to bring blacks in, but who are they? When you and I grew up, you've got
white friends, and this friend has friends and you end up identifying
with a great many people who you would ultimately bring into the
administration. But when you think in terms of bringing blacks in, you
start numbering them and you run out of numbers very quickly. The
political organization provided that kind of input. Of course, their
strength, the more patrons they got, the stronger the political
organizations looked and became. But patronage ultimately will kill
anything. Success will kill anything. In some instances, I think, their
strength has been greatly exaggerated. The press, you know, something
new, it was bold, so the press began to accord great political powers to
several black organizations.