From colonial liberation to Cold War liberalism: Walter White, the NAACP, and Foreign Affairs, 1941–1955

Abstract

With the USA's entry into World War II, international politics again commanded significant attention from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]. Walter White, the NAACP's secretary, actively promoted an international solidarity movement to pressure the USA and European powers to commit to a world without colonies. The NAACP's participation in this movement lasted through to 1948. By 1951 White and his association had abandoned that solidarity, cut its ties with the African-American left, and embraced liberal anti-Communism. In exchange for this support, the NAACP received an unkept promise of influence in the formulation of domestic race relations policy. This article examines the foreign policy choices that the NAACP made between 1941 and 1955; the leadership styles that facilitated these choices; and the Cold War pressures on black America that helped push White and the NAACP into the liberal anti-communists’ camp.