Page 16 - Jackie Robinson: Patriot

“

I read your statement in the papers advising patience. …It is easy for those

who haven’t felt the evils of a prejudiced society to urge it, but for us who as

Americans have patiently waited all these years for the rights supposedly

granted to us under the Constitution, it is not an easy task. Nevertheless,

we have done it. It appears to me now Mr. President, that under the

circumstances the prestige of your office must be exerted. A mere statement

that you don’t like violence is not enough.

– Jack Roosevelt Robinson, in a letter to President

Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 13, 1957 ”

Telegram from Jackie Robinson to Presidential

assistant E. Frederick Morrow, August 13, 1957.

Courtesy of the National Archives and

Records Administration

Jackie requests that Eisenhower not sign the
first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction,

as it did not go far enough to help African

Americans. The legislation was being negotiated
between Congress and the Eisenhower

administration at the time.
14 Jack Roosevelt Robinson: Patriot