Tennessee's chicken-necked Boss Ed Crump once found it convenient to play ball with Memphis' Republican Negro boss. That was when there was a Republican in the White House and the Negro boss had Federal patronage to dispose of. Since Roosevelt, there has not even been a Negro boss.
With the candidacy of Wendell Willkie, Negro political hopes revived. Big, coffee-colored Dr. J. B. Martin, a Memphis druggist for 30 years, president of a Negro baseball league and owner of the Memphis Red Sox, took over the leadership, organized Republican Negroes for a campaign. The Crump machine took one quick look and went...