When he was campaigning for President, Dwight Eisenhower was asked whether he would appoint Negroes to important positions in the Government. He said he would, whenever he found a man qualified for the job available. Last week he found a man eminently qualified, and made him the first Negro ever appointed to a sub-Cabinet position in the U.S. The appointee: Chicago Attorney J. (for nothing) Ernest Wilkins, 60, who will be Assistant Secretary of Labor for International Affairs, representing the U.S. at international labor conferences.
The son of a Missouri Baptist preacher, sturdy, bulb-nosed Ernest Wilkins became a brilliant mathematician and a...