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===1936 Berlin Summer Olympics=== [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R96374, Berlin, Olympiade, Jesse Owens beim Weitsprung crop.jpg|left|thumb|215px|Owens competing in the long jump at the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in [[Berlin]]]] On December 4, 1935, [[NAACP]] Secretary [[Walter Francis White]] wrote a letter to Owens, but never sent it.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/the-great-depression.html "NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom"]. NAACP Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (082.00.00),</ref> He was trying to dissuade Owens from taking part in the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in [[Nazi Germany]], arguing that an African American should not promote a racist regime after what his race had suffered at the hands of racists in his own country. In the months prior to the Games, a movement gained momentum in favor of a boycott. Owens was convinced by the NAACP to declare: "If there are minorities in Germany who are being discriminated against, the United States should withdraw from the 1936 Olympics". Yet he and others eventually took part after [[Avery Brundage]], president of the [[American Olympic Committee]] branded them "un-American agitators".<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/owens/ "American Experience, Jesse Owens"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210111042/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/owens/ |date=February 10, 2017 }}. PBS</ref> [[File:Olympic Village house of Jesse Owens.jpg|thumb|2015 photograph of the U.S. track team house at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village]] [[File:Jesse Owen's Room in Berlin 1936 Olympic Village.jpg|thumb|2015 photograph of Jesse Owens's room in the 1936 Olympic Village in Berlin]] In 1936, Owens and his United States teammates sailed on the [[SS Manhattan (1931)|SS ''Manhattan'']] and arrived in Germany to compete at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Just before the competitions, founder of [[Adidas]] athletic shoe company [[Adi Dassler]] visited Owens in the Olympic village and persuaded Owens to wear Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik shoes; this was the first sponsorship for a male African American athlete.<ref name="rediff">{{cite web|url=http://in.rediff.com/sports/2005/nov/08adi.htm|title=How Adidas and Puma were born|date=November 8, 2005|publisher=In.rediff.com|access-date=June 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117230846/http://in.rediff.com/sports/2005/nov/08adi.htm|archive-date=January 17, 2008}}</ref> On August 3, Owens won the 100 m dash<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq4DJtLgbHk| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/zq4DJtLgbHk| archive-date=October 30, 2021|title=Jesse Owens at Berlin 1936 – Epic Olympic Moments|last=Olympic|date=December 9, 2015 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> with a time of 10.3 seconds, defeating a teammate and a college friend<ref name="Edmondson"/> [[Ralph Metcalfe]] by a tenth of a second and defeating [[Tinus Osendarp]] of the Netherlands by two-tenths of a second. On August 4, he won the long jump with a leap of {{convert|8.06|m|ftin}} (3¼ inches short of his own world record). He initially credited this achievement to the technical advice that he received from [[Luz Long]], the German competitor whom he defeated,<ref name="Schwartz" /> but later admitted that this was not true, as he and Long did not meet until after the competition was over.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111878822|title=Was Jesse Owens' 1936 Long-Jump Story A Myth?|last=Goldman|first=Tom|date=August 14, 2009|publisher=NPR|access-date=July 15, 2022}}</ref> On August 5, he won the 200 meter sprint with a time of 20.7 seconds, defeating fellow American teammate [[Mack Robinson (athlete)|Mack Robinson]] (the older brother of [[Jackie Robinson]]). On August 9, Owens won his fourth gold medal in the 4 × 100 m sprint relay when head coach [[Lawson Robertson]] replaced Jewish-American sprinters [[Marty Glickman]] and [[Sam Stoller]] with Owens and Ralph Metcalfe,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/156017|title=Controversy at the 1936 Olympics|website=AwesomeStories.com}}</ref> who teamed with [[Frank Wykoff]] and [[Foy Draper]] to set a world record of 39.8 seconds in the event.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/owens/ PBS: American Experience. Jessie Owens.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210111042/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/owens/ |date=February 10, 2017 }} (Accessed: May 2, 2012)</ref> Owens had initially protested the last-minute switch, but assistant coach [[Dean Cromwell]] said to him, "You'll do as you are told."{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} Owens's record-breaking performance of four gold medals was not equaled until [[Carl Lewis]] won gold medals in the same events at the [[1984 Summer Olympics]] in [[Los Angeles]]. Owens had set the world record in the long jump with a leap of {{convert|8.13|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in 1935, the year before the Berlin Olympics, and this record stood for 25 years until it was broken in 1960 by countryman [[Ralph Boston]]. Coincidentally, Owens was a spectator at the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] in Rome when Boston took the gold medal in the long jump. The long-jump victory is documented, along with many other 1936 events, in the 1938 film ''[[Olympia (1938 film)|Olympia]]'' by [[Leni Riefenstahl]]. On August 1, 1936, Nazi Germany's leader, [[Adolf Hitler]], shook hands with the German victors only and then left the stadium. International Olympic Committee president [[Henri de Baillet-Latour]] insisted that Hitler greet every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vFYti_djZYEC&pg=PT199 ''Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream''] (2012) Guy Walters, Hachette UK {{ISBN|978-1-84854-749-0}}</ref><ref>Rick Shenkman, [http://hnn.us/articles/571.html ''Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens and the Olympics Myth of 1936''] February 13, 2002, from History News Network (article excerpted from Rick Shenkman's ''Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History'', William Morrow & Co, 1988 {{ISBN|0-688-06580-5}})</ref> Owens ran his first race on Day 2 of the Olympics (August 2). That day, He ran in the first (10:30 a.m.) and second (3:00 p.m.) qualifying rounds for the 100-meter final. He tied the Olympic and world record in the first race and broke them in the second race, but the new time was not recognized, because it was wind-assisted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Official Report Volume 2, The XIth Olympic Games, Berlin, Organisation Committee for the 11th Olympiad, Berlin: Wilhelm Limpert, 1936, pp. 617–618 |url=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217013945/http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart2.pdf |archive-date=February 17, 2015 |access-date=June 16, 2017}}</ref> Later the same day, Owens's African-American team-mate [[Cornelius Johnson (athlete)|Cornelius Johnson]] won gold in the high jump final (which began at 5:00 p.m.) with a new Olympic record of 2.03 meters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart3.pdf|title=Official Report Volume 3, The XIth Olympic Games, Berlin, 1936 |author=Organisation Committee for the 11th Olympiad |location=Berlin |publisher=Wilhelm Limpert |date=1936 |page=664 |access-date=June 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022200250/http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart3.pdf|archive-date=October 22, 2017}}</ref> Hitler did not publicly congratulate any of the medal winners this time; even so, the communist New York City newspaper the ''[[Daily Worker]]'' claimed Hitler received all the track winners except Johnson and left the stadium as a "deliberate snub" after watching Johnson's winning jump.<ref>{{cite news |title=Negroes Set New Records in Olympics |work=Daily Worker |date=August 3, 1936 |page=3}} A copy of this newspaper is available on the website [[Fultonhistory.com|Fulton History]] and can be located with a simple word search.</ref> Hitler was subsequently accused of failing to acknowledge Owens (who won gold medals on August 3, 4 (two), and 9) or shake his hand. Owens responded to these claims at the time: <blockquote>Hitler had a certain time to come to the stadium and a certain time to leave. It happened he had to leave before the victory ceremony after the 100 meters [race began at 5:45 p.m.<ref>{{citation |url=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217013945/http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart2.pdf|archive-date=February 17, 2015 |title=Official Report Volume 2, The XIth Olympic Games Berlin, 1936 |author=Organisation Committee for the 11th Olympiad |location=Berlin |publisher=Wilhelm Limpert |date=1936 |page=619}}</ref>]. But before he left I was on my way to a broadcast and passed near his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I think it was bad taste to criticize the "man of the hour" in another country.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zsoaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1814,6536771&dq=jesse-owens+hitler&hl=en |title=Owens Arrives With Kind Words For All Officials |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=August 24, 1936 |via=News.google.co.uk. |access-date=2011-09-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Owens, Back, Gets Hearty Reception |first=Louis |last=Effrat |work=The New York Times |date=August 25, 1936 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/08/25/87983898.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109220748/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/08/25/87983898.pdf |archive-date=2020-01-09 |url-status=live |page=25}}</ref></blockquote> In an article dated August 4, 1936, the African-American newspaper editor [[Robert L. Vann]] describes witnessing Hitler "salute" Owens for having won gold in the 100 m sprint (August 3): {{blockquote|And then ... wonder of wonders ... I saw Herr Adolph [''sic''] Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, get an ovation the like of which I have never heard before. I saw Jesse Owens greeted by the Grand Chancellor of this country as a brilliant sun peeped out through the clouds. I saw a vast crowd of some 85,000 or 90,000 people stand up and cheer him to the echo.<ref>"This athletic contest between the leading nations of the country, is a spectacle of spectacles! It's the greatest thing of its kind I've ever seen. Sunday, I witnessed 110,000 people cheer two Negro athletes, because they were supreme in their field. Monday, I saw another vast crowd of close to 100,000 people go "literally crazy" as they saw Jesse Owens, running with the effortless speed of an antelope, completely dominate his field to win "going away" in the 100 meters, with Ralph Metcalfe of Marquette University placing second. And then ... wonder of wonders ... [sic] I saw Herr Adolph Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, get an ovation the like of which I have never heard before. I saw Jesse Owens greeted by the Grand Chancellor of this country as a brilliant sun peeped out through the clouds. I saw a vast crowd of some 85,000 or 90,000 people stand up and cheer him to the echo. And they were mostly Germans! Make no mistake about it. These German people are mighty fine. They have a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play which overrides the color-barrier. This week, as Negro athletes have sent the Start and Stripes of the United States shooting to the top of the flag-pole on three different occasions, I have observed the spirit, not only of the German people, but of those competing from foreign countries. And I've found out, that in the world of sport, where personal perfection is the measuring rod of achievement, color does not count.| {{cite news |title=Hitler Salutes Jesse Owens [Aug. 4 – (By Cable)] |author-link=Robert L. Vann |last=Vann |first=Robert L. |work=[[Pittsburgh Courier]] |date=August 8, 1936 |page=1}} A copy of this newspaper is available on the website [[Fultonhistory.com|Fulton History]] and can be located with a simple word search. The article is partially quoted in {{cite book |first=Jeremy |last=Schaap |title=Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics |location=New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co.|date=2007 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=e-SvBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Hitler+Salutes+Jesse+Owens%22&pg=PA194 194]}}</ref>}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-G00630, Sommerolympiade, Siegerehrung Weitsprung.jpg|thumb|267px|Owens salutes the American flag after winning the long jump at the [[1936 Summer Olympics]]. (L–R) [[Naoto Tajima]], Owens, [[Luz Long]].]] In 2014, [[Eric Brown (pilot)|Eric Brown]], British fighter pilot and test pilot, aged 17 in 1936 and later becoming the [[Fleet Air Arm]]'s most decorated pilot,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.paisley.ac.uk/services/specialcoll/putnam/ptn97.htm|title=Paisley University Library Special Collections – Putnam Aeronautical 1997|access-date=November 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304030924/http://library.paisley.ac.uk/services/specialcoll/putnam/ptn97.htm|archive-date=March 4, 2009}}</ref> stated in a [[BBC]] documentary: "I actually witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Jesse Owens and congratulating him on what he had achieved".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b045pbq2/|title=BBC Two – Britain's Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story of Captain Winkle Brown (at 05:35 of the documentary)|publisher=BBC|date=January 1, 1970|access-date=June 1, 2014}}</ref> Additionally, an article in ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' in August 1936 reported that Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1673318912.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+18%2C+1936&author=&pub=The+Sun+%281837-1985%29&desc=OWENS+WEIGHS+HIS+PRO+OFFERS&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725101807/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/1673318912.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+18%2C+1936&author=&pub=The+Sun+%281837-1985%29&desc=OWENS+WEIGHS+HIS+PRO+OFFERS&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2012 |title=Owens Weighs His Pro Offers |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=August 18, 1936 |via=Pqasb.pqarchiver.com |access-date=September 15, 2011}}</ref> Later, on October 15, 1936, Owens repeated this claim when he addressed an audience of African Americans at a Republican rally in [[Kansas City]], remarking: "Hitler didn't snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9kxhAAAAIBAJ&pg=6051,1761645&hl=en|newspaper=St. Joseph News-Press|title='Snub' From Roosevelt |date=October 16, 1936|access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/triumphuntoldsto00jere|url-access=registration |quote=The president didn't even send me a telegram.|first=Jeremy|last=Schaap|title=Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics|page=[https://archive.org/details/triumphuntoldsto00jere/page/211 211]|location=New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2007|isbn=978-0-618-68822-7|access-date=February 8, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1532&dat=19361010&id=prg9AAAAIBAJ&pg=3031,1091811&hl=en |newspaper=The Afro American |title=Owens Nearly Mobbed as He Speaks Here |date=October 10, 1936 |access-date=November 15, 2015 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> Owens's success at the games caused consternation for Hitler, who was using them to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany.<ref name="Bachrach">{{cite book|last=Bachrach|first=Susan D. |url=https://archive.org/details/naziolympicsberl00bach|title=The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936|year=2000 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |isbn=0-316-07087-4|url-access=registration}}</ref> He and other government officials had hoped that German athletes would dominate the games.<ref name="Bachrach" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/jesse-owens-1913--1980-he-was-once-the-fastest-runner-in-the-world-128523103/116594.html |title=Jesse Owens, 1913–1980: He Was Once the Fastest Runner in the World|date=August 27, 2011|work=Voice of America|access-date=February 26, 2015}}</ref> Nazi minister [[Albert Speer]] wrote that Hitler "was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/football-and-politics-in-europe-1930s-1950s/hitler-and-nazi-philosophy/|title=Hitler, Nazi Philosophy and Sport|last1=Anspach|first1=Emma|last2=Almog|first2=Hilah|year=2009|website=Duke.edu|access-date=March 23, 2014}}</ref> In Germany, Owens had been allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, at a time when [[African Americans]] in many parts of the United States had to stay in [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] hotels that accommodated only blacks.<ref name="Olympic moments">{{cite news|title=50 stunning Olympic moments No6: Jesse Owens's four gold medals, 1936|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/2011/dec/21/jesse-owens-four-gold-medals|newspaper=The Guardian|date=March 20, 2016}}</ref> When Owens returned to the United States, he was greeted in New York City by Mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N02ibLVOVzQ | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/N02ibLVOVzQ| archive-date=October 30, 2021|title=Berlin 1936 – Olympics – Olympia – Jesse Owens back in New York – confetti parade |last=Filmschätze aus Köln – vom Rhein – Weltfilmerbe |date=March 15, 2016|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> During a [[Manhattan]] [[ticker-tape parade]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4b2PaKoET4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/L4b2PaKoET4| archive-date=October 30, 2021|title=A motorcade carrying Olympic hero Jesse Owens passes crowded New York streets dur ... HD Stock Footage|last=CriticalPast|date=June 16, 2014|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> in his honor along Broadway's [[Canyon of Heroes]], someone handed Owens a paper bag. Owens paid it little mind until the parade concluded. When he opened it up, he found that the bag contained $10,000 in cash ({{Inflation|US|10000|1936|fmt=eq|r=-3}}). Owens's wife Ruth later said: "And he [Owens] didn't know who was good enough to do a thing like that. And with all the excitement around, he didn't pick it up right away. He didn't pick it up until he got ready to get out of the car".<ref name="latimes">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-30-me-17013-story.html|title=Ruth Owens; Widow of Legendary Olympian|date=June 30, 2001|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=December 22, 2013}}</ref> After the parade, Owens was not permitted to enter through the main doors of the [[Waldorf Astoria New York]] and instead forced to travel up to the reception honoring him in a freight elevator.<ref name="Olympic moments" /><ref name=schwartz>{{cite web | last = Schwartz | first = Larry | title=Owens pierced a myth|url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html| year=2007}}</ref> President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (FDR) never invited Jesse Owens to the White House following his triumphs at the Olympic Games.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwTPk00QMHIC&q=roosevelt+jesse+owens&pg=PA210 |title=New Deal Or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America |page=210 |author=Burton W. Folsom |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4165-9237-2 |access-date=February 8, 2015}}</ref> When the Democrats bid for his support, Owens rejected those overtures: as a staunch Republican, he endorsed [[Alf Landon]], Roosevelt's Republican opponent in the [[1936 United States presidential election|1936 presidential race]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Owens Will Talk in Landon Drive |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |date=September 3, 1936 |page=10 }}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Owens Jumps into Political Ring; Landon for President |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092050/1936-09-04/ed-1/seq-1/ |access-date=April 23, 2020 |work=[[The McDowell Times]] (Keystone, West Virginia) |date=September 4, 1936 |quote=... the most important thing, I think, is to elect Governor Alfred M. Landon president. His election will be good for America and for the people of the colored race.}}</ref> Owens was employed to do campaign outreach for African American votes for Landon in the [[1936 United States presidential election|1936 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Streissguth |first=Thomas |title=Jesse Owens |year=2005 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |isbn=0-8225-3070-8 |page=70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Magill, Frank N. |title=The 20th Century O–Z: Dictionary of World Biography |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-59362-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofworl0000unse/page/2863 2863] |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofworl0000unse/page/2863 }}</ref>
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