The witness had been called for just one purpose to answer, on behalf of other Negroes, Party-Liner Paul Robeson's assertion that the 15 million U.S. Negroes would never fight in a war against Soviet Russia. But, as many a big-league pitcher could have told the committee, Jack Roosevelt Robinson, organized baseball's first Negro and the National League's leading batter, was never a guy to bunt a fat pitch with the bases loaded. Testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Jackie Robinson quickly dismissed Robeson's statement as "silly." But there was something else he wanted to say.
"I don't pretend to...