Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, Cold Warrior

About Face, 1948–1975

About Face, 1948–1975 The retreat from a prominent position within the Left that had characterized Yergan’s behavior during 1947 intensified during 1948, becoming increasingly public as his attempt to offer a less critical face to the fierce Cold Warriors now ruling postwar Washington met opposition inside the Council on African Affairs. In the People’s Voice Max’s solution was to eject left-wing elements while issuing a series of statements establishing the tabloid’s “non-partisan” credentials.1 Between February and August this sparked an outright schism between pro- and anti-Yergan factions. The media combat turned ugly, eventually involving police, lawsuits, and extreme embarrassment for the organization Max and Robeson had started.2 In a protracted battle mirroring the world situation, Yergan was separated from the executive directorship, divested of the platform that had anchored his publicist persona since 1937. The Council, like the National Negro Congress and Max’s former CUNY post, had fallen hostage to a severe intolerance for left-wing ideas, now approaching incendiary levels. An equivalent paranoia within the Soviet Union and its allies during this of atomic diplomacy claimed hundreds of victims in purges, disappearances, trials, and assassinations. In the shadow of Smith Act deportations and prosecutions, Yergan contemplated the future. In part seeking relief, in part to remake himself, during October 1948 Max took a European trip to codify his opposition to communism. Traveling to Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, he renewed old acquaintances in missionary and governmental circles of Europe’s colonial capitals while working the press coverage of his exculpatory initiative.3 On December 23, 1948, and January 4, 1949, Yergan testified before the grand jury in the Alger Hiss case.4 Although he was only tangentially involved with contributing evidence concerning Hiss, his very private appearance was paradoxically closed to the majority of the 6 231 American populace yet reported extensively by the local and national press. The substance of Max’s Hiss testimony revolved around his own personal history in the Council and the NNC, told from the perspective of his present stance as he sought to further distance himself from the individuals and organizations with which he had been closely identified for the prior decade. His testimony had less to do with Hiss as such than with Yergan’s own endeavor to reposition himself. Now widely available to the general public, the transcript was restricted for half a century. Within the Hiss hearing Max revisited his transition from South African missionary to American activist, maintaining that he had been sought after and cultivated by the Left. Questioned by a surprisingly gentle prosecutor, Max underwent a cross-examination that seems to have been intended to authenticate his version of events in case such a legal record might later become necessary. Since federal government personnel, especially those involved in investigations or attorneys who petitioned for the right to do so, were the only persons potentially eligible to view this text, this seems the most credible explanation for the court having issued him a subpoena. Nothing said hurt or helped Hiss; taking the stand made Yergan a witness in his own behalf.5 On March 30, 1949, Yergan conveyed a memorandum to the South African embassy reviewing (somewhat inaccurately) his prior residence in the country and his Council on African Affairs activities (revised with a rightist slant), alleging communist manipulation, and red-baiting Hunton, Robeson, and Wilkerson. The text recalled the Middledrift drought-relief campaign of 1945–1947, citing what at present he contended was the “grave menace” communism posed and the urgency of Christian state action. This language, laying emphasis upon Christianity and state-based anticommunist policies, played into the hands of the framers of apartheid.6 A month later, on April 23, he had a letter printed in the Herald Tribune . A week after it appeared Phelps Stokes wrote Max about the Herald Tribune letter. “Negroes overstate the Soviet lack of racism; in a recent talk with the Liberian ambassador he stated not more than 5000 Negroes in all of Russia.” Phelps Stokes argued that in the USSR there was “nothing corresponding to interracial problem in this country .” He concluded by saying, “People are beginning to realize that with all the defects our achievements in behalf of interracial understanding and Negro progress in this country are very substantial, and that the sit232 | About Face, 1948–1975 uation is encouraging...