Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

a black mayor. We just saw that happen two days ago in Birmingham, where
there was not a majority, but even more dramatically in a situation in Los
Angeles, where the black population is only 20 percent and there is a black
mayor there. That's because of the individual and his acceptability by the
general population.
Q: Again we're getting a little ahead but do you feel that--now, the black
population has grown here in Chicago itself and generally each ethnic group
that's come into Chicago has started in the central part and then moved
outward. Do you think in time that will happen with the blacks also? That
they will . . .
A: Oh, I think certainly it's a certain percentage of blacks who will move
out of the city. That's happening right now. Many of the suburban areas
are getting more and more black population all the time, and they are people
who moved from the central city. The same kind of thing that motivates
white people to move out of the city into the county, for schools or whatever
else they feel they need there, motivates black people, too. So, for blacks,
it's more economic than racial.
Q: Going back again to the early days of your precinct committee business,
why was it that the Democrats replaced the Republicans?
A: Well, I suppose really the changes started to come as early as the third
term of Roosevelt. There had been, as you know, a rather monumental depression
commencing in the 1930's and by the end of the 1930ts, when Roosevelt had
instituted a lot of programs that were of direct help to poor people, there
came about a transition and a lot of people switched from Republican to
Democrat. But it really didn't hit until about the 1940's. They stayed with
the Republican party during the first couple of terms of Roosevelt. He was
elected in, what, 1932? I would say, the 1932 and the 1936 election, there
were a large number of black people who moved over to the Democratic party.
But starting in the 1940 election and by 1944, it was almost a fait accompli.
Q: So that was the availability of welfare and that sort of thing that . . .
A: No, no, no. Not welfare as much as increased job opportunities and other
kinds of governmental programs, like the FHA [Federal Housing Administration 1,
where people could borrow and buy homes and the bank holiday and subsequent
action that vouchsafed money deposited in banks and the fact that the government
would guarantee that your deposits would not be wiped out in a bank when
banks folded and all. The other economic stabilizers that Roosevelt put into
being, I think, were a great deal more important than anythfng else he might
have done. T don't think that welfare had much to do with it, it was not a
big issue then.
Q: Was there much need for welfare in the 20th ward?
A: Well, there was some--certainly it isn't equal to what it is today. People
were not attuned as much to governmental help as they are today. People sort
of felt that they had to run their own lives and had to work at perhaps not