Purely Commentary
The WASPS and Their Glamorous
Newest
Control of the U S
Roles for American Minorities
National government, despite potpourri political
WASPS: Are They Declining
By Philip
Slomoritz
pressures and the brief
enterprise at
adapting themselves to the attitudes
and outlooks which must deeply
tenure of a Catholic President, remains basically a WASP predecessors,
char-
acterize American society.
WASP, as were all of
his
There is more talk about WASPS—White Anglo-Saxon Protestants—
the top. President Johnson is of a the
republic. The Cabinet numbers 10
Far more
than playing
save one, since the founding Of
the 16 Senate committee chairmen, 15
now than we have heard in some time. We had a Catholic President,
the numbers !important
game as to who Is or is
WASPS, one Jew, one Negro.
the National Security Council,
not a WASP, is to grasp the fact that,
are WASPS, one is a Catholic. Members of
another Catholic is a candidate for the Vice Presidency (Edmund
ethnic
policies are shaped, are all WASPS. The
once the melting pot stops
where foreign and defense
even there,
Muskie), a Jew was nominated for the third highest post in the land,
seething,
the result is a population as thorough.
mix is greater among chairmen of the House committees, but
WASPS hold 14 of the 21 chairmanships. The vast and powerful defense
ly
the Chief Justiceship of the United States Supreme Court, and a Negro
WASP in its basic motivations as
WASPS. While the enlisted military ranks,
was that which preceded the
establishment is dominated by
ethnic groups,
serves on the Supreme Court. Yet, WASP seems to predominate.
Civil
Service,
are
a
blend
of
America's
non -English -Speaking migrations vast
like the Federal is heavily WASP. Catholics are a small minority, and
to
An analysis of note was made in Look Magazine some time ago by
America's shores.
the officer class
holds high rank, Lt. Gen.
Jewish general officers are rare. Only one Negro
mixture
among
junior
officers,
an eminent newspaperman, Fletcher Knebel, who, after reviewing
We were in the habit of thinking
' Benjamin 0. Davis, Jr. There Is a greater
in
contingent
large
Negro
GI
the status of Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Negroes in this country,
but Negroes still fare poorly, despite the
the Army, 1.7 per cent and believing that in our demo-
Vietnam. Negro officers comprise but 3.6 per cent of
reached these conclusions:
cratic society merit can overcome
of the Air Force and only 0.3 per cent of the Navy, traditionally the most
all obstacles. This is not yet alto-
Dollar pressure is helping to crack barriers of the WASP
WASPish of the services.
There is equal significance also to these additional comments gether true. We may be corning
social club. In Kansas City, Mo., last fall, the Kansas City Club
admitted two Jews to membership after an organized drive had in Look:
closer to it, but it is doubtful
The American male social club functions as an auxiliary to the execu- whether Bishop Wicke's optimism
focused publicity on the exclusionary policies of three downtown
tive suite. At the club, where fellowship mingles so intimately with com-
clubs: the Kansas City, the River and the University. In the furor,
on
is
totally justified.
expenses
merce that many executives deduct club dues as business
Mayor Ilus Davis confirmed a rumor that Kansas City had been
their income tax returns, the WASP reigns. One recent study showed that
Indeed, the battle for acquisition
downtown clubs in the United States practice discrimina-
67
per
cent
of
all
eliminated early as a site contender for a $250,000,000 proton ac-
tion against minorities. Membership bars to Catholics are relatively rare of recognition goes on. It has been
no
celerator of the Atomic Energy Commission. Jewish scientists
now, but hundreds of clubs exclude Jews, and there are many where
except via overcome in many schools. The
Negro, Puerto Rican or Mexican-American has ever entered society
connected with the project did not want to live in a city where
such numerus clausus is no longer as
the servants' entrance. It is remarkable that in a pluralistic
they would be barred from the best clubs. In the last few years ,
as America's, the WASP has managed to barricade himself so securely
effective. But in industries, finance,
against the freshness and the ferment of diversity.
Jews have been admitted, however sparingly, to social clubs in
In short, WASP dominance of the economic, political and social founts being a WASP gives one an advan:-
many cities, including three clubs in Los Angeles: the University,
of America is as wide today as it was five years ago, when E. Digby Balt- tage. For the non-WASP there is a
zell, a University of Pennsylvania sociologist, completed his brilliant book,
the Stock Exchange and the Chancery. The door opened at New
The Protestant Establishment. Baltzell warned his fellow WASPS that they greater advantage: when he suc-
York's University Club when a Jewish vice president of a corpo-
must move over or wither It is my central thesis," he wrote, "that in
ceeds it is truly as a result of
order for an upper class to maintain a continuity of power and authority,
ration was sponsored by his nationally known WASP corporate
especially in an opportunirian and mobile society such as ours, its mem- merit and superior abilities.
superior. There was the fear of some members that the mighty
bership must, in the long run, be representative of the composition of
* * *
society as a whole.
corporation might withdraw its patronage should the bid fail. In
And it Is the thesis of this article that just such an ethnically com-
Chicago, the exclusive Chicago Club now accepts Jewish members
posite Establishment—from the executive suites of the corporations to the
Humphrey
Endorsement
banks, the clubs, the university administrative halls and the government-
on a regular basis, following the cracking of the barrier several
policy cloisters—is in prospect for America, not tomorrow, nor five years For the Presidency
years ago. In New York, the boycott of athletic contests sponsored
from now, but perhaps two decades hence, when the graduates of today's
heterogeneous college campuses move into positions of leadership. There
by the New York Athletic Club, which excludes Negroes from
Our endorsement of Hubert
looms a requiem for WASPS not as individuals but as the unchallenged
membership, became major sports-Page news this winter. Our
ruling class of America. Michael Young. a British sociologist, pointed out a H. Humphrey for the Presi-
fundamental truth in his delightful spoof, The Rise of Meritocracy, when
instant communications play subliminally but powerfully on old
he said that "for hundreds of years society has been a battleground be- dency dates back to May 3.
stereotypes. Thanks to television, millions of people have seen
tween two great principles—the principle of selection by family and the
principle of selection by merit." The American WASP. is no more prone
We reiterate our support,
Negro athletes move into near-dominance of major professional
to aid and abet his children than the Jews or the Catholic—we are all loving
sports in the span of a single decade. The magazines have chron-
considering it an obligation, in
practitioners of nepotism—but because the WASP held the power reins
icled the emergence of the "chic" Catholic, Jacqueline Bouvier
so long, he was able to scatter his offspring through the Establishment. this trying period in the his-
Most important of all is the profound change that has taken place
Kennedy and William F. Buckley. Jr. The prototype Jew for the
in the student bodies of the great prestige universities, which a few years tory of our country, to plead
ago resembled the lawns of WASP country clubs. Then came the hybrid
literate masses is the recently retired UN Ambassador Arthur J.
the cause of a great liberta-
• stampede caused by the GI education law after World War II, plus soaring
college-entrance rates and the shift of bedeviled admissions officers to
Goldberg.
rian.
selection by merit instead of family ties. The college-board exams became
Prophets, however, still cannot envision just how our predicted
the chief fulcrum for admission. The high school senior and the private
Our appeal is not to Jews as
multiracial hierarchy will work. Personal trust in the fine glue
school senior had to score. high or be content to enter Yazoo State
Jews but to Americans as
prep Yale. In one generation, stude nt
of commerce and politics. WASP trusts WASP, Jew trusts Jew,
Twenty five per cent of the recent graduates of Ivy League colleges are Americans.
etc. How does America operate when the first Jew occupies the
Jewish .
WASP crrigAceeitioon,
i c i: s i leght;Ut e6Opl isl e
r =oLin de b r e ge ra ads t&t:s f. i ltig arvai li ti thtr a l;
White House; a Negro presides at General Motors; a Puerto
We deny the entity of a
170 Negroes in an undergraduate population of 4,800, as against only 20
Rican mayor guides New York City; a Mexican-American is the
Negroes just four years ago. The Harvard Business School, elite training Jewish voter. It is an Ameri-
ground for future corporate bosses, is now graduating many Jews.
chief executive officer of Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., and a
It is especially interesting after the study reported in Look that can election, placing great re-
WASP graduate of Vassar runs the International Ladies' Garment
only a few days ago, the Institute for Religious and Social Studies sponsibility on the American
Workers' Union? Nobody really knows.
sponsored
by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, in its an- voter, and we plead with our
Only one thing seems sure. "Squaredom," in the words of
Digby Baltzell, "will always run the society—any society." By nouncement of a new program for ministers of all denominations, fellow Americans to make real
that, he means that tomorrow's leaders will be powered by the made public this letter that has been addressed to his fellow clergy- the American way of life, per-
men by Bishop Lloyd C. Wicks of the Methodist Church:
petuating the American demo-
same bundle of drives—ambition, status, get-aheadism, success,
The former white Protestant domination, so evident in many cratic ideals.
thrift, progress—as those of today. The Black Nationalist, out-
of
our
folk-ways
and
culture
patterns,
is
coming
to
an
end.
The
numbered 10 to one in color, must don his tie and button-down
It is our conviction that Vice
word which signifies this change is 'pluralism'—variety within President Humphrey stands
shirt, or he'll never make it to the executive suite. Unless the
the family of man. We are faced with the question, 'Can the for the basic principles that
hippie learns to handle the computer input, he'll wind up begging
various members of the human family discover those resources
for his flower and pot money, and no industrialized nation can
which make for creative, dynamic living under the same general are so vital to our existence,
tolerate a society of beggars. Only the roaring steel furnaces of
roof?' We are fortunate, indeed, that our friends in the Institute and we pray for his success
Pittsburgh, with their towers of white-collar clerks and executives,
for Religious and Social Studies Fellowship are providing an op- on Nov. 5.
can make the land safe—and profitable--for Bob Dylan and Joan
portunity to explore this complex social terrain.
Baez. For every guitar, there must be a hot ingot.
Because the WASP domination does affect so many of us it is Weizmann Institute's
And so, even as they sing a requiem for WASPS in the Cath-
vital
that viewpoints of other faiths should be known. Thus, one of
olic cathedral, the synagogue and the African M.E. church, they
the leading organs of the Catholic Church, the Pilot of Boston, Honor for Reuther
will be chanting the WASP litany—onward corporate soldiers,
The Weizmann Institute of
marching on to work. And a wry prospect.it is too—all those free commented on "The ASP Look":
Walter
Look magazine has documented a fact that no one ever seriously Science deservedly selected
souls trapped forever in our WASP bag. •
namely that th is here United States of America is owned
P. Reuther for the distinct honor
So . . . we may be trapped . . . or remain trapped! And while
analyzing conditions, a sub head attached to the Knebel article in Look
admonishes: "The Black Nationalist must don his tie for the executive
suite."
In the course of his analysis of existing conditions, Knebel makes
interesting observations which reveal data about WASPS and non-
WASPS. For instance, he points out:
Writer Stewart Alsop recently described the ViAfiPS as a "dwindling
minority" in America. Dwindling they may be in 'repute and allure, but
minority they decidedly are not—unless Alsop refers to the in-WASP, a
special category to which he and his brother, the columnist, presumably
belong.
No matter how you slice the figures, the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
is still the majority in the United States, numbering roughly 116,000,000
souls—pardon—people, or about 53 per cent of the population. To arrive
at this figure, you start with our 200,000,000 inhabitants and, dealing in
round numbers, subtract about 50,000,000 Roman Catholics, 22,000,000 Negroes,
almost 6,000,000 Jews, more than 4.000.000 Eastern Orthodox, about 1,000,000
of Orential and Polynesian descent, about 550.000 American Indians and some
650,000 others, including Eskimds, Muslims and Bhutanese. There are more
exact, it tortured, methods of depicting the American mosaic, but none of
them nudges the WASP from his majority posture—for remember always
that the WASP does not have to attend church to retain his standing,
prejudices or behavior patterns. He can be agnostic, atheist or lazy.
And based on Look mamazine
following:
studies, Knebel calls attention to the
50 Largest Corporations. Of 790 directorships of these giants of business
and industry, 88 per cent are held by apparent WASPS. The word "apparent"
is used because definite ethnic lineage cannot be determined in some cases.
Boards of 31 of the corporations are exclusively WASP. Nine others have
one or more Jews on the board, while nine have one or more Catholics.
The executives, like the directors, are mostly WASPS.
10 Largest Commercial Banks. Of 241 directorships, about 200, or 83
per cent, are held by WASPS. Of the remainder, Roman Catholics hold
slightly more than Jews. An interesting case Is that of the Bank of Amer-
ica, the nation's largest. It was founded by the late Amadeo Peter Giannini,
son of Italian immigrants, under the name "Bank of Italy." By a combina-
tion of unorthodox retail methods and Italian flair, Giannini became the
financial power of California. Today, the Bank of America is as heavily
WASPIsh as its competitors.
5 Largest Life Insurance Companies. At least 100 of the 131 director-
ships are held by WASPS, and probably more. The WASP representation
appears to be about 80 per cent.
Other studies in recent years have shown the economic dominance of
the WASP to have become but slightly dented since the 1920's, when
Mencken thought the Anglo-Saxon to be moribund. While minority entrepre-
neurs have moved strongly into such fields as entertainment, construction,
retailing and research laboratories, the big money generated by basic pro-
duction - remains in WASP hands. One survey showed that less than 1 per
cent of corporate executives in this country are JeWini, although Jews
account for 8 per cent of all college graduates, the chief source for executive
talent. Studies by the American Jewish Committee show but a sprinkling of
Jews in the executive suites of such specific businesses as the auto industry,
public utilities, banking, insurance and shipping. While Catholic organlfations
do not undertake such surveys, the movement of the Irish and-Italian mi-
norities into corporate management appears to be only slightly more ample
than that of the Jews. The Negro executive remains a rarity, as does the
Mexican-American and the Puerto Rican.
2—Friday, October 25, 1968
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
and
managed by Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The rulers of economic--and indeed
political and social—America, not unexpectedly, are the ones who got
here
first, accumulated the wealth, assumed the power, and still remain
the most numerous of identifiable Americans. It would be strange indeed
if it happened any other way.
(Strictly by way of parenthesis, one wonders why LOOK goes
on using
the term WASP, which, as everyone knows, stands for White Anglo-Saxon
Protestants. It has been observed some
time ago the IV in WASP is ex-
traneous; the word should be ASP. Neither
the Angles nor - the Saxons.
nor any of their direct descendants, have ever been anything
else but
white, and that, sir, is pure white.)
At any rate, it turns out, according to Look, that 88 per cent of the
directors of large corporations
are ASP. Jews and Catholics come out
about even, and of course Negroes have not yet made the grade.
In-
banking, the ASP percentage is 83, with Catholics a little more prominent
than Jews. On
the governing boards of the 10 highest endowed univers.'
Hies, the ASP percentage is still 80, but here Jews outnumber Catholics
two to one. Both government and the armed services are thoroughly ASP
in controlling positions
although there are minor breakthroughs here
and there. All of which ' merely says that America is faithful to its own
social history.
Unfortunately, there are not wanting those who seek to read
prejudice
and discrimination into
figures like these, unrealistically supposing that
our institutional structures should somehow mirror the population pat-
terns. Undoubtedly there are many prejudiced Americans, including some
ASPs, but there are simpler and more ready explanations which cannot
be lightly set aside. Counting noses on religious, racial and ethnic lines
is an anachronistic sport in America which once gave satisfaction to minori-
ties checking out how many of "their kind" made the grade. All of us have
social attitudes that need
changing, and most of us are not changing fast
enough, but the answer to this problem is not statistical; it is more apt
establishing the professional chair
for peaceful uses of atomic energy.
Reuther's record of a lifetime
of services to just causes, his de-
fensive efforts in support of Israel,
his civil liberties activities place
him among the men of great dis-
tinction in our time.
Abba Eban's tribute to the dis-
_ Or leader contained
tinguished lab
affectionate : references to t h e
labor leader in which very many of
us join with deep appreciation for
services that have benefited
mankind. .,_-
The Arrant- -Salutes
The • salute-or-fight order in
South Vietnam was cause for con-
trasting American with Israeli
to be psychological and moral. Compilations, like those given us by Look,
practices in army life. While
may be superficially interesting, but for any good purpose they are an
exercise in fatuity.
American soldiers were under
And the Christian Science Monitor wrote about "The WASP'S duress because of the strict caste
Nest":
rulings in our army traditions, the
There is no end to the fascinating game of assessing the fall
of WASP (Whi te Ang lo-Sa
(or Israelis have their way of creating
estant) predominance in the
Uni t e d States. Thus th e curr ent xon ProtLook
issue of
m azine
an article ' a spirit of equality.
which reaches the conclusion that,
although
non-WASPs are struggling
mightily (and often successfully) to reach
pinnacles
It is.common for a mere private
is still potent and pervasive.
of power, WASPdom
in Israel's army to address his
Be that as it may, may we suggest that
any discussion of so-called superior officers by their first
WASP
power
along such lines misses the most important point of all.
This point,
it seems
to us, is that, regardless of race,
color, creed, or earlier names. If it is Moshe or Aryeh
cultural background, all residents of the
United States are being steadily or Itzig in private life, it does
' molded to what, for want of a better phrase, might be called
the over-all
WASP outlook, be the latter cultural, moral, social or economic.
not change in the sarmy camp.
Indeed, one of the most
startling facts about the United States is the
degree to which tens of millions
Perhaps MS is why the Israeli
and every corner of the globe, of non-WASPs, drawn from every culture
have
been
drawn
irresistibly
towards
the
armed
forces are so successful.
basic, fundamental patterns of thought, action
and judgment bequeathed
by the original WASP settlers.
The contrast is in_ evidence also
There
are
many
who
regret
so
heavy
a
be-WASPing
of
the
rich
and
divergent strains
. between Israel's ark the Arab na-
which poured into America. And merely to record this
apparently unwithstandable
WASP influence is not
tions' armies:" Furthermore, Israeli
applaud it. '
automatically to
Yet a little reflection will show
fOries have an :aspect of strict
how
inevitable
such
a
result
was
almost certain to be. In the first place, the great majority of non-WASP ieclu.ilitY on i the battlefields:
immigrants to America, while not necessarily anxious to
cultural' background (as
change their 'the officers lead- and do not follow,
from their
economic
and new
social), nonethe..
less were ready to adapt distinct
to whatever
they found
on the
as in. the:case in many other fight-
The first step
was for them and their children to learn shores.
the Israelis
which unavoidably is steeped from top to bottom in the WASP a languae ing forces.- That?S why
ethos, and
thus is a powerful transmitter of this latter. Secondly, the path to
In
success
those very things which had first attracted them to America
Arnetiea
a lay through
suffer so many losses among com-
manding. officers _in . warfare.