The story of the Monroe lynching was one of many that the NAACP’s Walter White told to President Truman in the Oval Office that September. “My God!” exclaimed Truman. “I had no idea it was as terrible as that.” He promised to do something, and soon thereafter appointed a special commission to recommend legislation dealing with all deprivations of Negro citizenship rights. At a time when Negro leaders had trouble getting themselves into the White House at all, much less getting a delivered promise out of it, Truman’s action made him an overnight hero.
