John E. Rankin

Who was John E. Rankin?

John Elliott Rankin was a Democratic congressman from the U.S. State of Mississippi who supported racial segregation and, on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, voiced racist views on African Americans, Jews, and Japanese Americans, even accusing Albert Einstein of being a communist agitator.

In 1944, following the Port Chicago disaster, the U.S. Navy asked Congress to give $5,000 to the victim's families. However Rankin insisted the amount be reduced to $2,000 when he learned most of the dead were black sailors, which caused the amount to be negotiated at $3,000.