The Reuters Slavery Report - A Tale of Two Presidents
A comparison of two former presidents whose ancestors did and did not own slaves.
Reuters news service conducted an investigation of American leaders, and found that over a hundred of them, including Congress members, presidents, governors, and Supreme Court justices, had ancestors that owned slaves.
The most prominent exception – the former president.
He’s the only living president who didn’t have ancestral slave ownership. His father’s ancestors were from Germany, and his mother was born in Scotland, the likely reason for his being an anomaly.
But let’s look at his life and actions, and the actions of another former president.
One of the living presidents who had an ancestor who owned slaves was born in the South. His ancestors were cotton farmers. This former president grew up with a segregationist father.
When he ran for governor of his home state in 1970, he tried to straddle the fence, courting both Black and racist White voters. He won his primary, which at the time was tantamount to winning the governor’s race. He was easily elected governor.
Once governor, he shed any vestiges of being an apologist for segregationists. He famously stated, “the time of racial segregation is over.” While he was considered a moderate to conservative on many issues, his record on racial issues was mostly progressive.
He increased the number of Black state employees and for the first time, portraits of notable Blacks from the state were added to the state Capitol.
As president, he pursued peace in Africa among governments and rebel guerillas and tried to apply pressure to South Africa and Rhodesia to abandon apartheid. He named Andrew Young to be the US Ambassador to the United Nations, the first Black person to hold that position.
He began his political career sending mixed messages but grew from being a moderate to conservative on race relations to a progressive who treated everyone with dignity and respect.
In contrast, the former president who did not have slave holding ancestors has a lengthy history of racist behavior and statements.
He and his father before him had discriminatory practices at their properties.
He called for the execution of the Central Park Five, the five Black and Latino young men who were wrongly accused of the rape and assault of a female jogger.
While running for president in 2016, he received an endorsement from infamous White Supremacist David Duke, an endorsement he begrudgingly distanced himself from, even as he associated with other racists like The Proud Boys.
After the Charlottesville White Supremacist gathering and counter protests, he said that there were “good people on both sides.”
He referred to African countries as “sh--hole countries.”
He speaks fondly and often of the Confederacy.
During a debate in the 2020 presidential elections, he told The Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
As he runs for president again in the 2024 presidential election, the former president continues to burnish his reputation as a race-baiting White Supremacist who doesn’t hide his prejudice tendencies.
On one hand, you have someone whose ancestors didn’t have slaves, but clearly and constantly demonstrates racist, nativist behavior.
On the other hand, you have another former president, born and bred in the cradle of slavery, who learned and grew to having an inclusive world view.
Now, he is a hospice patient in Georgia as his counterpart runs again for president, courting the worst that society has to offer.
Proof positive that history and the past can say much.
Or nothing at all.