Ike Says He's Sorry
Today's entry in presidential history is something I found to be quite interesting, and a good indicator of how attitudes towards racial equality have progressed over such a short time. On this day of October 10th in 1957, 53 years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after Mr. Gbdemah was refused service in a Howard Johnson's restaurant in Dover, Delaware.
Mr. Gbedemah had been attending the meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers in Ottawa (the capitol city of Canada.) He followed it with a short visit to the United States. En route he stopped in for a glass of iced orange juice at one of the Howard Johnson roadside restaurants just outside Dover, Delaware. He was not served however. Gbedemah was told by the waitress, who was supported by her manager, that coloured people could not be served at the counter though he would be permitted to buy something to take away.
The story leaked to the press giving unwelcome publicity to the Howard Johnson's chain and to the nation. Seeking to make amends, President Eisenhower and Vice-President Nixon invited Mr. Gbedemah to breakfast at the White House. They had breakfast and President Eisenhower developed an interest on the Volta River Project. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the Prime Minister of Ghana, write to Eisenhower a few days later,saying that he considered the Volta River Project as being of supreme importance to the future of Ghana and that they were determined to do all in their power to implement it.
A racial insult may have the catalyst for US aid to Ghana, and shone a national spotlight on a nation in need of some growing up.
Mr. Gbedemah had been attending the meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers in Ottawa (the capitol city of Canada.) He followed it with a short visit to the United States. En route he stopped in for a glass of iced orange juice at one of the Howard Johnson roadside restaurants just outside Dover, Delaware. He was not served however. Gbedemah was told by the waitress, who was supported by her manager, that coloured people could not be served at the counter though he would be permitted to buy something to take away.
The story leaked to the press giving unwelcome publicity to the Howard Johnson's chain and to the nation. Seeking to make amends, President Eisenhower and Vice-President Nixon invited Mr. Gbedemah to breakfast at the White House. They had breakfast and President Eisenhower developed an interest on the Volta River Project. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the Prime Minister of Ghana, write to Eisenhower a few days later,saying that he considered the Volta River Project as being of supreme importance to the future of Ghana and that they were determined to do all in their power to implement it.
A racial insult may have the catalyst for US aid to Ghana, and shone a national spotlight on a nation in need of some growing up.