Jackie Robinson’s Worst Nightmare

In response to: ‘Metsochism’ from the June 25, 2026 issue To the Editors: In Andrew Katzenstein’s review of A.M. Gittlitz’s Metropolitans [NYR, June 25] he writes that Jackie Robinson was “a loyal Republican until Barry Goldwater’s nomination in 1964.” This is an exaggeration. Robinson was a Republican-leaning independent, whose main issue was always the advancement of the cause of civil rights and full Black citizenship. In 1957 he bitterly criticized President Eisenhower’s civil rights inaction. One needs to remember that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the white segregationist South still more or less firmly in the Democratic Party, it was not immediately clear which party was more “liberal” on civil rights, and Robinson supported individuals in both parties. In 1960 he campaigned for the Democratic senator Hubert Humphrey, with his strong civil rights record, in the Wisconsin primary. He did not trust John or Robert Kennedy, thinking them weak and easily manipulated by southern segregationists. He supported Nixon in the general election in 1960, a decision he soon came to regret. Robinson was a cold warrior in part because he was convinced that white America would only ...