History has often been characterized by the presence of unlikely heroes, who have turned out to achieve great successes in contexts seemingly far from their own characteristics, or to achieve results beyond their reach. The battle over civil rights in the United States turns out to be one of the most important cases in this regard. The victory of the anti-segregationist front was in fact achieved thanks to the decisive action of a man seemingly out of context, William McCulloch, an ultraconservative white man, who, involved in one of the most important battles in history, decided to fight it following the teachings of Edmund Burke.
His biography
William McCulloch was born on November 24, 1901 near the small town of Holmesville in the state of Ohio. He received his law degree from the University of Columbus in 1925 and began practicing law in the same year. Distinguished as one of the earliest members of the nascent American conservative movement, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the state of Ohio in 1933, becoming first minority leader in 1936 and then speaker in 1939. During his term as speaker the Buckeye State was still struggling with the effects of the Great Depression; however, he nevertheless managed to pass balanced budgets, turning the state deficit into a surplus. It was during this period that McCulloch became one of the most vocal supporters of the civil rights movement, endorsing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Despite being forty-two years of age, he temporarily abandoned his brilliant political career in 1943 to serve his country during World War II. McCulloch would fight for two years in Europe, rising to the rank of captain.
Piqua's Conservative
Returning to the United States, in 1947 he was elected to the federal House of Representatives for Ohio's Fourth District. During his long tenure in the lower house of Congress, he maintained a strongly conservative stance, tending to be in line with Senator Robert Taft, siding with prudent fiscal policy as well as school prayer. However, defining William McCulloch's career more than any other issue was the civil rights struggle he began in Ohio and now extended to the federal level. The struggle of the Representative from rural Ohio seemed seemingly devoid of any political meaning. In fact, the black population of his town, Piqua, amounted to only 2.7 percent. In fact, the overwhelming majority of citizens residing in his district were white, at a time when racial discrimination and prejudice were extremely common.
His passionate support toward that cause was generated firstly by his family history, as he was descended from abolitionists who had sided with the Union during the Civil War. Second, by his deep moralism, stemming from his adherence to the conservative current of thought. Indeed, his small office in Piqua had a single decoration, a printed transcript of Edmund Burke's speech to the electors of Bristol, in which he remarked that politicians were expected to make available to their constituents not only their wits but also their judgment, and that the latter should not be a slave to the opinion of the electors themselves. This speech underscored the clear difference between representative democracy and the imperative mandate, in that in a representative democracy politicians must take into account the nation's interest and act for the best even if the latter conflicts with the opinion of the voters.
Civil rights battle
In 1957 and 1960 McCulloch argued in favor of civil rights legislation, but in both cases it was subject to profound changes by the Senate after passing in the House. In both cases the upper chamber had prevented the adoption of reforms that could effectively solve the problem of segregation. Appointed Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee in 1959, four years later, in the midst of the civil rights battle that was ripping through the country, he introduced his own bill on the subject. This initiative was intended to put pressure on the Kennedy administration, which was then called upon to push its supporters in Congress to introduce its own bill. The final breakthrough came a few months later when Burke Marshall, assistant attorney general for civil rights, decided to meet with McCulloch. The Ohio representative promised to use his important position to secure passage of civil rights reform in Congress, but in return the bill would have to be far more comprehensive than its predecessors, thus representing a real resolution of the ongoing social feud in the United States. McCulloch also demanded that the Republican Party should be held equally responsible with the Democrats for the passage of the bill. The representative succeeded in limiting the more extreme aspects from the bill, preventing it from causing problems among more moderate civil rights advocates.
Celler's and McCulloch's efforts were thwarted by Howard W. Smith, chair of the House Committee on Rules, which was charged with directing how a bill should be introduced and debated in the lower chamber. Smith tried to prevent any discussion of the bill to prevent it from later being voted on by the House. With McCulloch's help, Celler filed a petition of discharge aimed at removing consideration of the bill from the Committee on Rules. Faced with the prospect of a humiliating defeat, Smith agreed to allow the bill to be voted on. That process ended on February 10, 1964, with the passage of the bill by the House of Representatives. Aware that passage in the Senate would prove far more complex, McCulloch worked hard to get the upper chamber to limit certain aspects of the bill without, however, distorting the bill by rendering it effectively ineffective.
His efforts were successful and the Senate finally passed the bill on June 19, 1964 with some amendments. The House passed the Senate amendments on July 2, 1964, and President Johnson signed the bill the same day. The passage of the Civil Rights Act represented the end of racial segregation in the United States and also paved the way for the resolution of the social problem of minority voting rights, which was solved the following year through the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The aftermath
The end of racial segregation brought important benefits to the United States, both on the domestic front and on the international front. The passage of the Civil Rights Actcontributed greatly to stabilizing the tense political and social situation within the United States, greatly improving the country's institutional resilience. At the same time, these achievements deprived the Soviet Union of an important propaganda weapon widely employed against the United States in previous years. The importance of the resolution indicated by the U.S. federal government'samicus brief in Brown v. Board of Education, which asserted, "The United States is seeking to show to all the peoples of the world of every nationality, race, or color that democracy is the most civilized and secure form of government ever devised by man. The existence of racial segregation in the United States has a negative effect on our relations with other nations. Racial discrimination provides millstone to the mill of communist propaganda."
The stabilization of the U.S. social situation and the end of communist propaganda about racial segregation would later contribute to the U.S. victory in the Cold War. An outcome that could never have been achieved without a strict, moral conservative from the state of Ohio, who, in keeping with Burke's teachings, put his wits and judgment at the service of his constituents, risking his own career without ever bowing to the blind conviction of public opinion.
A political science undergraduate at the University of Naples Federico II, he completed the post-graduate course "Leadership for International Relations and Made in Italy" at the Fondazione Italia USA as a fellow and attended the Heritage Foundation's summer academy. He writes for various blogs. His fields are international relations, strategic studies and English-speaking conservatism.
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