80TH CONGRESS 2d Session

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

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REPORT No. 1596

AUTHORIZING THE PRINTING OF ADDITIONAL COPIES OF HOUSE REPORT NO. 1585

MARCH 23, 1948.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. LECOMPTE, from the Committee on House Administration, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. Res. 506]

The Committee on House Administration to whom was referred the resolution (H. Res. 506) providing that there be printed 4,000 additional copies of the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (H. Rept. No. 1585) entitled "Foreign Assistance Act of 1948," of which 1,000 copies shall be for the Senate document room, 2,000 copies for the House document room, and 1,000 copies for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the resolution do pass.

80TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session

MOB VIOLENCE AND LYNCHING

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REPORT No. 1597

MARCH 23, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. CASE of New Jersey, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT

To accompany H. R. 5673]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5673) for the better assurance of the protection of citizens of the United States and other persons within the several States from mob violence and lynching, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon and recommend that the bill do pass. The committee had under consideration the following bills: H. R. 41, H. R. 57, H. R. 77, H. R. 223, H. R. 228, H. R. 278, H. R. 800, H. R. 1709, H. R. 3488, H. R. 3618, H. R. 3850, H. R. 4155, H. R. 4528, and H. R. 4577.

As a result of the committee's deliberations, H. R. 5673 was introduced as a clean bill, and is favorably reported by the committee.

NECESSITY FOR ACTION BY CONGRESS

The committee finds that action by the Congress to deal with the matter of mob violence and lynching is necessary because:

A. Millions of Americans are presently held in an inferior status by the threat of lynch law, kept alive by State condonation and immunity of the perpetrators from punishment.

The following table shows the number of undisputed lynchings which occurred in the United States in each of the years 1921 through 1945:

In 1946 at least six persons in the United States were lynched by mobs. In 1947 there was one lynching, one case in which the victim escaped, and other instances in which lynch mobs failed of their

purpose.

The trend in authenticated cases of lynchings has been downward. Yet your committee considers that lynching and mob violence still is a most serious threat to civil rights in the United States.

During the decade from 1938 through 1947 at least 41 persons were lynched; the majority of the guilty persons were not even prosecuted, and no one received the death penalty. Obviously, it is still possible in certain areas for a mob to seize and kill a person with almost certain assurance that they will not be brought to justice.

That mob violence is still a reality in many communities is high lighted by the large number of attempted lynchings. The Tuskegee Institute reports that in 7 of the 10 years ending with 1946, 226 persons, including over 200 Negroes, were rescued from threatened lynchings. Such rescues reflect great credit upon the courage of the rescuers, but the willingness of mobs to make such attempts shows how little fear they have of any unfortunate consequences to themselves.

This immunity from effective prosecution under State law is the vital point. The threat of lynching, and the terror which it inspires, are alive today. They will be kept alive by even an occasional lynching so long as everyone knows that the members of a lynch mob need have no fear of the law.

It was more than a coincidence that a lynch mob went on the rampage in North Carolina last May, the day after a Greenville, S. C., jury had acquitted all 28 defendants charged with the lynch murder of Willie Earle.

The Committee on Civil Rights, headed by Mr. Charles E. Wilson, in its recent report to the President, stated:

The devastating consequences of lynchings go far beyond what is shown by counting the victims. When a person is lynched and the lynchers go unpunished, thousands wonder where the evil will appear again and what mischance may produce another victim. And every time lynchers go unpunished, Negroes have learned to expect other forms of violence at the hands of private citizens or public officials. In describing the thwarted efforts of the Department of Justice to identify those responsible for one lynching, J. Edgar Hoover stated to the committee: "The arrogance of most of the white population of that county was unbelievable, and the fear of the Negroes was almost unbelievable."

The almost complete immunity from punishment enjoyed by lynchers is merely a striking form of the broad and general immunity from punishment enjoyed by whites in many communities for less extreme offenses against Negroes. Moreover, lynching is the ultimate threat by which his inferior status is driven home to the Negro. As a terrorist device, it reinforces all the other disabilities placed upon him. The threat of lynching always hangs over the head of the southern Negro; the knowledge that a misinterpreted word or action can lead to his death is a dreadful burden.

These conditions have existed in certain sections of the country for decades. They have existed and still exist because the States have failed to correct them, a failure amounting, in effect, to State acquiescence and condonation. It is the duty of the Federal Government to act.

B. The strength of our moral leadership in world affairs will be seriously impaired if, as a nation, we continue to condone lynching and mob violence.

Effective leadership by the United States is essential to the establishment and maintenance of world stability and peace.

. To exercise such leadership we must be strong in a military way and our economy must be kept vigorous and sound. In addition, it is essential for us, as a nation, to maintain our moral prestige among the peoples of the world.

If it were ever true that an act of mob violence of the sort dealt with by this bill was a matter resting only on the conscience of the community, or perhaps the State, wherein it occurred, it is no longer true today. It rests upon our conscience as a nation and our position in the world will be seriously impaired if, as a nation, we fail to do all we can to stamp out mob violence and lynching anywhere within our borders.

SUMMARY OF THE BILL

The following is a brief summary of the provisions of the bill: Section 1 sets forth, in part, the constitutional authority for Federal action on the subject. It is not intended to exclude other constitutional bases which also exist for such action.

Section 2 defines a lynch mob as an assemblage of two or more persons which shall, without authority of law, either (a) commit or attempt to commit violence on the person of any citizen because of racial or other like antagonism or, (b) exercise or attempt to exercise, by physical violence against the person, any power of correction or punishment over any citizen or other person in the custody of any peace officer, or who is suspected of, charged with, or convicted of the commission of any criminal offense, with the purpose or consequence of preventing the apprehension or trial or punishment by law of such citizen or person, or of imposing a punishment not authorized by law. Any such violence by a lynch mob will constitute lynching within the meaning of the act.

Section 3 provides that any person, whether or not a member of a lynch mob, who willfully instigates, incites, organizes, aids, abets, or commits a lynching, and any member of a lynch mob, shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 20 years, or both.

Section 4 provides that any State or local officer charged with the duty or possessing authority to prevent a lynching, or having custody of the person lynched, who shall have neglected, refused, or willfully failed to make all diligent efforts to prevent the lynching, and any such officer who, in violation of his duty, shall neglect, refuse or willfully fail to make all diligent efforts to apprehend, keep in custody or prosecute the members of a lynch mob, shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or both.

Section 5 imposes on the Attorney General of the United States the duty of investigating any lynching when he is informed on oath that a State or local officer has failed in his duty to prevent a lynching or to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Section 6 subjects the governmental subdivision in which a lynching, or an abduction followed by a lynching, occurs, and which has not taken all due measures to prevent it, to civil damages in the sum of not less than $2,000 and not more than $10,000 as monetary compensation to the lynch victim or his next of kin.