[Hoot Gibson]

Happy Chandler a racist
Chandler's first year in office as baseball commissioner was marked by the decision of Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager Branch Rickey to break baseball's race barrier. Although all 15 other clubs disapproved, Chandler welcomed the idea, and in October 1945, the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson to a 1946 contract with their Montreal farm team in the International League. In 1947, Robinson became the first black player to play Major League Baseball.

In 1988, Kentucky Governor Wallace Wilkinson gave Chandler voting rights on the University of Kentucky’s board of trustees (he had previously been an honorary, non-voting member). During a trustees meeting that April, the University’s investments in Africa that April were discussed. The almost-90-year-old Chandler said, “You all know Zimbabwe is all n****r now. There aren’t any whites.” These comments spurred protests, threats of strikes by students, and calls for Wilkinson to replace Chandler on the university board.

Do you expect that a man who was a life-long Democrat who was born in Kentucky in 1898 and active in Democrat politics for most of his adult life would not have ever used a racial slur? My guess is that very few Democrat politicians who were active before the mid 1970s had never used racial slurs during their careers. Is it fair to dismiss the great accomplishments that Happy Chandler made in the area of improving race relations and providing greater opportunities for black Americans during his lifetime? Of course it isn't fair. For all any of us know, Chandler could have been suffering from dementia when he used the term at age 89, just like current president, Joe Biden is.

If always amazes me how liberals always neglect to identify party affiliation when they condemn racists of the 20th century, unless they happen to have been Republicans. Just another reminder - the KKK was founded by Democrats and Lincoln was a Republican. Happy Chandler was a Democrat but he did far more good during his life than bad, and it is unfair to judge him or any other historical figure, outside of the context of American history.