In Again, Out Again

ARMY & NAVY

Never yet has there been a Negro officer of the U. S. Navy and many a naval officer says privately there never will be. Oscar De Priest, three-term Republican Congressman (1929-35) from Chicago's colored district, appointed three Negroes to the Naval Academy. None got in. One was disqualified for imperfect eyesight, one because of age (limits are 16-20), one flunked the entrance exams. Negro Congressman Arthur Wergs Mitchell who defeated Mr. De Priest in 1934 had better luck. Year ago he appointed James Lee Johnson Jr., who got into the Naval Academy, lasted one semester, was then flunked out (TIME, March 1). Congressman Mitchell protested volubly for a few days. Later he turned up with two new appointees. One of these, George J. Trivers of Philadelphia, got by the physical and scholastic examinations.

Of George Trivers, 20, whose mother was for eight years a chambermaid at Washington's Wardman Park Hotel and recently got a new job as charwoman in the Old House Office Building, Congressman Mitchell had high hopes. Trivers had to work his way through high school and Miner Teachers College, where he was an R.O.T.C. officer, sold Negro newspapers. He got a job with the National Youth Administration. Congressman Mitchell thought he was tough enough to fight his own battles, might force Annapolis and the Navy to swallow their lily-white tradition. Last week Patron Mitchell had a shock. George Trivers' mother let him know that her son had resigned from the Naval Academy.

Irked by his failure to produce a sticker, the Congressman whipped out a statement: "I do not believe he is the fighting type. ... I am only too sorry I did not discover this weakness in him before he was named a candidate. . . ." Academy officials told him Trivers had not complained to them.

George Trivers held his story until he was well away from Annapolis: Instructors had treated him all right but midshipmen warned, "Nigger, stay away from us." During drill his toes were literally stepped on. In the gymnasium he could not pick up a basketball without having it snatched away. He went without sleep because the white boys pounded on the walls until the room seemed ready to cave in. Weak or strong, George Trivers decided enough was enough.

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