Party politicians always
opposed taking a strong federal stand against an established
state policy within the South for fear of what would happen to
that party within the South. Party unity had almost always been
put above civil rights or justice.
However, these same party politicians could not ignore world
opinion. Even from a narrow political point of view, a party
could not permit the nation's world image to become tarnished,
lest the electorate become dissatisfied. World leadership brought
with it the need to be concerned with world opinion. Racism was
no longer a local or state question. In fact, as W. E. B. DuBois
had predicted, it had become the leading question of the
twentieth century. At the end of the Second World War, Walter
White, then executive director of the N.A.A.C.P., toured Europe
and drew conclusions concerning the effect of the war and the
course of the future. In his book Rising Wind, White
demonstrated a relationship between the oppressed peoples of the
world, racism, and imperialism. Though a relative moderate,
White warned of a future worldwide racial conflict.
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