Documents and Letters
"When President Eisenhower reluctantly sent in Federal troops to protect the students and ensure their right to be at Central High, Jackie Robinson, now a coffee and food vending executive, was reasonably pleased although he believed that decisive Presidential action on civil rights was overdue." -National Archives
"Jackie Robinson sent this message to Presidential assistant E. Frederick Morrow in August 1957 as the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction was being negotiated between Congress and the Eisenhower administration. Public citizen Robinson--along with race leaders such as Ralph Bunche, A. Philip Randolph, and the publishers of the popular black newspapers--the Chicago Defender, [Baltimore] Afro-American, and the [New York] Amsterdam News--considered the emerging final version of the 1957 Civil Rights Act too weak and urged Eisenhower to veto it." - National Archives
"Although Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most prominent spokesman for civil rights, other movement leaders, including A. Philip Randolph, James Farmer, and Julian Bond, actively opposed the war in Vietnam or at least resented the increased amount of Federal money going toward the conflict--resources that otherwise could be spent on domestic problems. Some, like Robinson, believed that King's open opposition endangered the credibility of the movement as charges of Communist infiltration continued to be leveled by white conservatives. Polarization and disillusionment seemed to be taking place in every sector of society." - National Archives
"Presidential candidate Richard Nixon wrote this letter 4 days before the 1960 Presidential election. The annotations in black ink are Nixon's. Robinson was pressured into taking an unpaid leave of absence and ending his triweekly column with the liberal New York Post when he publicly endorsed Nixon. Originally the ex-player worked on behalf of liberal Minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey but when Humphrey was eliminated early in the primaries, Robinson's support was up for grabs. Robinson viewed Nixon's civil rights record as more promising than Kennedy's, especially after meeting with both candidates." - National Archives
"During the 1960 Presidential campaign an angry exchange occurred between JFK's "kid brother" Bobby Kennedy and Robinson after it became clear the latter would not support John Kennedy for election. Robinson, still a Chock full-o' Nuts executive, publicly stated that John Kennedy courted bigoted southerners while also claiming to support sit-ins and blacks' civil rights aspirations. In turn, Bobby accused Jackie of being anti-union. At the time he wrote this letter, Jackie believed he saw evidence that the administration was moving in the right direction, but he regarded the pace as too leisurely." - National Archives
"By this pivotal stage in the civil rights struggle, Robinson was fully aware of the lengths to which some Southerners were willing to go to resist desegregation. Not only had governors--including Mississippi's--resisted efforts to integrate lower-level schools, but they had attempted to block lawful efforts by black students to attend state colleges. Even more disturbing was the violence committed against civil rights freedom riders and marchers which was sanctioned, or at least condoned, by local white authorities. One of the worst cases had occurred recently in Birmingham, AL when firehoses, billy-clubs, and attack dogs were pitted against unarmed demonstrators. These brutalities and other incidents, culminating with Medgar Evers's death in June caused a coalition of civil rights groups to organize the massive March on Washington in August. That assemblage of more than 250,000 Americans, white and black, was intended to show public unity and a desire for more effective Federal protection than that afforded by the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960." - National Archives