- Jun 4, 2011
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I have a huge amount of respect for Jesse Owens, not only for being a republican or smashing color barriors, emabarassing Nazis and Hitler in person, but because he was a great guy. What I didn't know is that FDR wanted nothing to do with him. I have battled in a few threads on how the Southern Strategy was absolute nonsense, but I forgot about the FDR snub. Funny how the left lionizes FDR and in no way would you say he was more conservative than any republican even Tom Dewey. But it was republican presidents supporting him from Eisenhower to Ford (He died in 1980). Ironically the only democrat President to celebrate him was one of the most conservative ones from the South in the 1970s...Jimmy Carter.....again the Southern Strategy is a myth, a bunch of complete bs.
Unfortunately, President Roosevelt did not receive or contact Jesse Owens, who later commented: “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me…The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”17
Ironically, Owens defeated racism on the world stage but could not escape it at home.
A number of other presidents and first ladies honored Owens during and after his lifetime, and the track and field star remained in the public eye long after his retirement from amateur sports in 1936. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Owens “Ambassador of Sports,” and asked him to represent the United States at the 1956 Olympics; Owens also traveled to Asia on behalf of the nation during the Cold War as a goodwill ambassador.18
In 1972, he was welcomed to the White House by First Lady Patricia Nixon in celebration of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.19
Meanwhile, Owens raised three daughters with his high school sweetheart, Ruth.
In a White House ceremony held in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on August 5, 1976, President Gerald R. Ford awarded the star athlete the highest civilian honor possible: The Presidential Medal of Freedom. The citation read:
I am writing today to ask that you make provision for the successful contestants of the Olympic games in Germany to be officially received by yourself upon their return home without regard to race or color. I am certain that you are not aware of the electric effect such an action on your part will have upon the twelve million Negroes in America…16
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Owens at a ticker tape parade held in his honor in New York City
The Ohio State University Archives, Jesse Owens Photograph Collection
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Unfortunately, President Roosevelt did not receive or contact Jesse Owens, who later commented: “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me…The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”17
Ironically, Owens defeated racism on the world stage but could not escape it at home.
A number of other presidents and first ladies honored Owens during and after his lifetime, and the track and field star remained in the public eye long after his retirement from amateur sports in 1936. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Owens “Ambassador of Sports,” and asked him to represent the United States at the 1956 Olympics; Owens also traveled to Asia on behalf of the nation during the Cold War as a goodwill ambassador.18
In 1972, he was welcomed to the White House by First Lady Patricia Nixon in celebration of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.19
Meanwhile, Owens raised three daughters with his high school sweetheart, Ruth.
In a White House ceremony held in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on August 5, 1976, President Gerald R. Ford awarded the star athlete the highest civilian honor possible: The Presidential Medal of Freedom. The citation read:
To Jesse Owens, athlete, humanitarian, speaker, author -- a master of the spirit as well as the mechanics of sport. He is a winner who knows that winning is not everything. He has shared with others his courage, his dedication to the highest ideals of sportsmanship. His achievements have shown us all the promise of America and his faith in America has inspired countless others to do their best for themselves and for their country.20
Show Me More
President Ford presents Jesse Owens with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1976
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
Show Me More
Owens stood before the crowd that day and emphasized:
I don't care where anybody lives, I don't care what they do, because you can be born into anything in this Nation, as I was born in the cottonfields of Alabama, and today I stand before you and shake hands with the Commander-in-Chief of our Nation.21
Jesse Owens returned to the White House in 1979 to receive a Living Legacy Award from President Jimmy Carter. Carter spoke before a crowd of honorees, recognizing: “a young man who possibly didn’t even realize the superb nature of his own capabilities went to the Olympics and performed in a way that I don’t believe has ever been equaled since.”22
Jesse Owens died a year later from lung cancer on March 31, 1980. He posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President George H.W. Bush in 1990.23
Arash Markazi, “Family of Jesse Owens auctioning off Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal,” ESPN, March 21, 2018, Jesse Owens' Medal of Freedom now at auction.
www.whitehousehistory.org
Unfortunately, President Roosevelt did not receive or contact Jesse Owens, who later commented: “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me…The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”17
Ironically, Owens defeated racism on the world stage but could not escape it at home.
A number of other presidents and first ladies honored Owens during and after his lifetime, and the track and field star remained in the public eye long after his retirement from amateur sports in 1936. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Owens “Ambassador of Sports,” and asked him to represent the United States at the 1956 Olympics; Owens also traveled to Asia on behalf of the nation during the Cold War as a goodwill ambassador.18
In 1972, he was welcomed to the White House by First Lady Patricia Nixon in celebration of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.19
Meanwhile, Owens raised three daughters with his high school sweetheart, Ruth.
In a White House ceremony held in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on August 5, 1976, President Gerald R. Ford awarded the star athlete the highest civilian honor possible: The Presidential Medal of Freedom. The citation read:
I am writing today to ask that you make provision for the successful contestants of the Olympic games in Germany to be officially received by yourself upon their return home without regard to race or color. I am certain that you are not aware of the electric effect such an action on your part will have upon the twelve million Negroes in America…16
Show Me More
Owens at a ticker tape parade held in his honor in New York City
The Ohio State University Archives, Jesse Owens Photograph Collection
Show Me More
Unfortunately, President Roosevelt did not receive or contact Jesse Owens, who later commented: “Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me…The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”17
Ironically, Owens defeated racism on the world stage but could not escape it at home.
A number of other presidents and first ladies honored Owens during and after his lifetime, and the track and field star remained in the public eye long after his retirement from amateur sports in 1936. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Owens “Ambassador of Sports,” and asked him to represent the United States at the 1956 Olympics; Owens also traveled to Asia on behalf of the nation during the Cold War as a goodwill ambassador.18
In 1972, he was welcomed to the White House by First Lady Patricia Nixon in celebration of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.19
Meanwhile, Owens raised three daughters with his high school sweetheart, Ruth.
In a White House ceremony held in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on August 5, 1976, President Gerald R. Ford awarded the star athlete the highest civilian honor possible: The Presidential Medal of Freedom. The citation read:
To Jesse Owens, athlete, humanitarian, speaker, author -- a master of the spirit as well as the mechanics of sport. He is a winner who knows that winning is not everything. He has shared with others his courage, his dedication to the highest ideals of sportsmanship. His achievements have shown us all the promise of America and his faith in America has inspired countless others to do their best for themselves and for their country.20
Show Me More
President Ford presents Jesse Owens with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1976
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
Show Me More
Owens stood before the crowd that day and emphasized:
I don't care where anybody lives, I don't care what they do, because you can be born into anything in this Nation, as I was born in the cottonfields of Alabama, and today I stand before you and shake hands with the Commander-in-Chief of our Nation.21
Jesse Owens returned to the White House in 1979 to receive a Living Legacy Award from President Jimmy Carter. Carter spoke before a crowd of honorees, recognizing: “a young man who possibly didn’t even realize the superb nature of his own capabilities went to the Olympics and performed in a way that I don’t believe has ever been equaled since.”22
Jesse Owens died a year later from lung cancer on March 31, 1980. He posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President George H.W. Bush in 1990.23
Arash Markazi, “Family of Jesse Owens auctioning off Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal,” ESPN, March 21, 2018, Jesse Owens' Medal of Freedom now at auction.
"Running Against the World"
The 1936 Summer Olympics were unlike any other. In Berlin, Germany, under the shadow of Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s Nazi r...
