"Ickes symbolized for black (and many white) Americans the engaged, moral reformer, committed to the cause of assuring the underdog an elevated status in the American system. In 1936 he told a gathering of black Americans that he had "always felt it to be my privilege, no less than my duty, to do everything in my power to see that the Negro was given that degree of justice and fair play to which he is entitled." It was his sense of "fair play" which led him to support Marian Anderson in her celebrated conflict with the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939 and to introduce her to a huge throng massed before the statue of Abraham Lincoln. The Journal of Negro Education remarked that the "brevity and force" of Ickes' speech that day was destined to rival Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Due largely to Ickes' efforts, a number of prominent blacks were brought into the administration during the thirties and forties to serve as race relations advisers in the New Deal departments and agencies."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Republican Party (United States) politiciansPoliticians from PennsylvaniaUnited States Secretaries of the Interior
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes (March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American politician. He served as [[w:United States Secretary of the Int
8 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Harold L. Ickes →
Related Quotes
"This is what the "New Deal" means to me, an era of acute social consciousness and realization of mutual responsibilit…"
"Relations between the United States and the Third Reich opened in 1939 on a distinctly sour and strident note. It beg…"
"What constitutes an American? Not color nor race nor religion. Not the pedigree of his family nor the place of his bi…"
"It is impossible to carry the American people along with you on a program of caution to forestall a threatening posit…"
"In the early days our forefathers could cut down a forest or exhaust the fertility of a farm and then blithely move t…"
"What we were striving for was a kind of modified form of communism."
"One man alone was clearly inadequate to keep the government honest when it came to race. [Clark] Foreman, in consulta…"
"No man should be in public office who can't make more money in private life."
"The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s histo…"
"Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and, the studies clearly show, are ultimately harmful and costly fo…"