White House Response to the Chicago Defender Regarding the Murder of Emmett Till (1955)

Date: September 2, 1955

Created By: J. William Barba

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, Civil Rights

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Records as President, Alphabetical File, Box 3113, Emmett Till; NAID #12196600

This document is a letter written by J. William Barba, Assistant to the Special Counsel to the President, to John H. Sengstacke, publisher of the Chicago Defender, on September 2, 1955. Written on behalf of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the letter responds to Sengstacke’s telegram concerning the murder of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American whose killing in Mississippi shocked the nation and became a catalyst for the modern Civil Rights Movement.

In the letter, Barba explains that the Department of Justice was closely monitoring the investigation into Till’s murder but had not yet identified a legal basis for federal jurisdiction. He states that, under existing law, the case remained primarily the responsibility of the State of Mississippi. At the same time, Barba assures Sengstacke that if evidence establishing federal jurisdiction were to emerge, the federal government would take appropriate action.