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 support Black civil rights if they believed it would help in the struggle against the Soviet Union. And he was worried that if the Democratic Party became the exclusive party of African Americans, the Republican Party would become the non-Black and anti-Black party, something that has been realized beyond Robinson’s most fervid imaginings. Robinson’s politics were complex, not always consistent, with some missteps, but they reflected the dilemmas of Black politics in the 1950s and 1960s. To claim he was simply a loyal Republican is a considerable distortion.

Peter Eisenstadt
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania