Arthur Fletcher (1924–2005) was the most important civil rights leader you've (probably) never heard of. The first black player for the Baltimore Colts, the father of affirmative action and adviser to four presidents, he coined the United Negro College Fund’s motto: “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Modern readers might be surprised to learn that Fletcher was also a Republican. Fletcher’s story, told in full for the first time in this book, embodies the conundrum of the post–World War II black Republican - the civil rights leader who remained loyal to the party even as it abandoned the principles he espoused.
Dr. David Hamilton Golland presented the story of Arthur Fletcher's life and his ideals via a virtual event hosted by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Library, and Museum on February 11, 2021. Brooke Clement, Acting-Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum served as the moderator, with remarks by Gleaves Whitney, the Executive Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.
The upward arc of Fletcher’s political narrative begins with his first youthful protest - a boycott of his high school yearbook - and culminates with his appointment as Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Richard Nixon. The Republican Party he embraced after returning from the war was “the Party of Lincoln” - a big tent, truly welcoming African Americans. A Terrible Thing to Waste shows us those heady days, from Brown v. Board of Education to Fletcher’s implementing of the Philadelphia Plan, the first major national affirmative action initiative. Though successes and accomplishments followed through successive Republican administrations - as chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights under President George H. W. Bush, for example, Fletcher’s ability to promote civil rights policy eroded along with the GOP’s engagement, as New Movement Conservatism and Nixon’s Southern Strategy steadily alienated black voters. The book follows Fletcher to the bitter end, his ideals and party in direct conflict and his signature achievement under threat.
In telling Fletcher’s story, A Terrible Thing to Waste brings to light a little-known chapter in the history of the civil rights movement - and with it, insights especially timely for a nation so dramatically divided over issues of race and party. Purchase A Terrible Thing to Waste via University Press of Kansas, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
Watch the Program Here
When
February 11, 2021
Program Supporters
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum
About Dr. David Hamilton Golland
Dr. David Hamilton Golland is Professor of History, coordinator of humanities, and president of the faculty senate at Governors State University. He holds a Ph.D. from the City University of New York and an MA from the University of Virginia. His books, Constructing Affirmative Action: the Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity (University Press of Kentucky, 2011) and A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican (University Press of Kansas, 2019) have garnered positive reviews in the American Historical Review, The Journal of American History, and The Journal of Southern History.
