Readings in Arkansas Politics and Government

Noblesse Oblige and Practical Politics: Winthrop Rockefeller and the Civil Rights Movement

Noblesse Oblige and Practical Politics Winthrop Rockefeller and the Civil Rights Movement CATHY KUNZINGER URWIN As the first Republican to serve as governor of Arkansas (–) since Reconstruction, a transplant from NewYork, and a member of one of the most prominent families in America, Winthrop Rockefeller has generated more than his share of attention from the scholarly community. In this essay, Urwin focuses on Rockefeller’s attitudes toward race and his actions during two terms as Arkansas’s governor during the early years of the civil rights movement . Her assertion that Rockefeller’s personal commitment to civil rights was long-standing and genuine is hardly controversial. She attributes this commitment to both his family’s established support for racial tolerance and to his membership in the liberal wing of the GOP, long committed to equal opportunity and racial justice. The author then turns to Rockefeller’s actions as governor, focusing on the goal of desegregating the state’s public schools and “busing” as a public policy tool to aid in achieving that goal. With reference to these issues, she considers Rockefeller’s civil rights record “erratic.” But she also argues that, in the Arkansas of the s, his overall position on race relations was liberal, and that, in the words of a contemporary, Rockefeller made racial toleration “acceptable and respectable in Arkansas.” On Sunday, April , , Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller stood hand-in-hand with black leaders on the steps of the state capitol and sang Cathy Kunzinger Urwin, “Noblesse Oblige and Practical Politics: Winthrop Rockefeller and the Civil Rights Movement,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly  (Spring ): –. Reprinted with permission. 2PARRY_pages_157-340.qxd 4/2/09 3:44 PM Page 233 “We Shall Overcome.” Approximately three thousand people, two-thirds of whom were black, had gathered at this prayer service to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., slain three days earlier in Memphis. In his eulogy the governor asked the assembled crowd to “not forget that we are all creatures of God.” Rockefeller was the only southern governor to publicly eulogize King in the days following the assassination.1 Winthrop Rockefeller was unique in Arkansas history. Elected in  and reelected in , he was the state’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction. But it was in the field of civil rights that Rockefeller made one of his greatest contributions to the state’s history. It was not political expediency that moved Rockefeller to adopt the cause of civil rights. In fact, he repeatedly downplayed his association with civil rights during his political career in Arkansas in order to avoid alienating the segregationist vote. Winthrop Rockefeller championed the cause of civil rights because he was raised to do so. Helping to advance African American rights, particularly in education, was a family tradition. John D. Rockefeller, Winthrop’s grandfather, made his first gift to African-American education in June , when he gave two hundred and fifty dollars to the Atlanta Female Baptist Seminary, a school for black women. On Winthrop’s paternal grandmother’s side, the fight to uplift African Americans predated the Civil War. As a girl, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, with her family, helped runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. Atlanta Female Baptist Seminary was renamed Spelman College in  in honor of Laura’s parents. John D. Rockefeller continued to give money and land to both Spelman College and its counterpart for men, Morehouse College.2 This family commitment to African American causes intensified in succeeding generations. Winthrop’s father, John D. Rockefeller Jr., was one of the founders of the United Negro College Fund. The Rockefeller family became involved with the National Urban League in . Winthrop joined the executive board in  and in  became chairman of the Urban League Service Fund’s corporate division.3 In  he donated Standard Oil of California stock worth approximately one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of purchasing a league headquarters building. Rockefeller’s connection to the National Urban League, actively and financially, continued until his death.4 Rockefeller involved himself in other civil rights issues and organizations long before he ever thought of moving to Arkansas. In , while learning the oil business inTexas, he tried unsuccessfully to establish a local  Noblesse Oblige and Practical Politics 2PARRY_pages_157-340.qxd 4/2/09 3:44 PM Page 234 community health organization that would be run by blacks for blacks. His interest had been aroused when his black maid suffered an appendicitis attack.Through a letter to...