In May 1966, the moderate integrationist John Lewis was ousted from the chairmanship of SNCC by the Black Power radical Stokely Carmichael. Committed to a political program that would improve the lives of the poor and working class regardless of their skin color, Mr. Rustin opposed racial preferences . Contrary to contemporary “antiracism” advocates who claim that the existence of racial disparities necessarily constitutes evidence of racism, Mr. Rustin asserted, “That blacks are underrepresented in a particular profession does not by itself constitute racial discrimination.”Another major source of tension between Mr. Rustin and the progressive left concerned American foreign policy. Briefly a member of the Young Communist League in the 1930s, Mr. Rustin followed the path of many a disillusioned ex-Communist by becoming a staunch anti-Communist. Although an early opponent of American military involvement in Vietnam, Mr. Rustin could not, as he wrote in 1967, “go along with those who favor immediate U.S. withdrawal, or who absolve Hanoi and the Vietcong from all guilt.

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Persons: —, John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael, Rustin, “, Mr, ”, antiracism ”, George McGovern’s, leftward, Scoop Jackson Organizations: SNCC, Black Power, Negro, Democratic Party, Young Communist League, Communist, Social Democrats, USA, Socialist Party of America, Soviet Union, Democratic, Coalition for Locations: American, Vietnam, Hanoi, South Vietnam, Soviet, Washington