White citizens of the U. S. South expect a Republican President, for political reasons, to treat Negroes as near-equals. That is a prime reason why they have almost always voted solidly Democratic since Reconstruction.* On the other hand, Southern voters expect a Democratic President to cooperate in keeping Negroes firmly in their social place.
Last summer President Roosevelt, a Northern Democrat, received a delegation of Negro Elks in his office, allowed himself to be photographed with them (TIME, Aug. 12). Still more shocking to Southern sensibilities was it when Mrs. Roosevelt addressed...