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Robinson, Now a 'GOP Hero,' Hated GOP

RNC touts baseball legend who compared party to Nazis

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 14, 2009 9:40 AM CDT

(Newser) – Whoops. The RNC’s new “GOP Heroes” website devotes a page to baseball legend Jackie Robinson, declaring him a “great Republican” who campaigned for Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. There’s just one problem: Robinson was a registered independent who professed he’d “never identified with one party or another,” and condemned the GOP for its racial tactics, notes Greg Sargent of The Plum Line.

Robinson did indeed campaign for Nixon and Rockefeller, but Goldwater’s primary defeat of Rockefeller wounded him badly. He called 1964’s GOP convention “one of the most frightening experiences of my life,” full of hatred directed at Rockefeller and his racially enlightened stance. “A new breed of Republicans had taken over the GOP,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.”

[Images (5)]

[Quotes (1)]

Jackie Robinson and his wife, Rachel, pose in their Connecticut home in 1962. (AP Photo/File)

From left are Brooklyn Dodgers' John Jorgensen, Pee Wee Reese, Ed Stanky and Jackie Robinson in an April 15, 1947 file photo. (AP Photo)

Jackie Robinson looks pensive at his Stamford, Conn., home, in this June 30, 1971 file photo, as he discusses the death of his son Jack Jr. (AP Photo)

Brooklyn Dodgers' infielder Jackie Robinson is shown in this April 18, 1948 file photo. (AP Photo)

Brooklyn Dodgers' Jackie Robinson steals home plate successfully as Boston Braves' catcher Bill Salkeld is thrown off-balance, Aug. 22, 1948. (AP Photo/Jack Harris)

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The hatred I saw was unique to me because it was hatred directed against a white man. It embodied a revulsion for all he stood for, including his enlightened attitude towards black people. - Jackie Robinson, on the 1964
GOP convention

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 23 comments

dj-spellchecka

Oct 15, 2009 5:52 AM CDT

the convention jack robinson witnessed was the beginning of the southern racist embrace of the gop that has now reached it's endgame. goldwater won the four "deepest" southern states in '64, something no republican had done since the civil war....nixon took notice and created the "southern strategy" now the 'solid south' is deep red

yummines

Oct 15, 2009 3:26 AM CDT

Wow, now there is critical proof that the GOP is lying and trying to boost their own egos. "Look we got the support of a famous black baseball player." Then it is proven that the baseball player had no relation to any political parties, only partly supported nixon, and compared the GOP to nazis. That is some true irony right there...

hamsammichs

Oct 14, 2009 9:58 AM CDT

"Where is the economy, unemployment, the auto industry? Obviously not to be found on Newser."

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race • Jackie Robinson • Barry Goldwater • Republican Party • Republican National Committee • Nelson Rockefeller

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Robinson, Now a 'GOP Hero,' Hated GOP