On June 20, 1943, after a violent race riot broke out in Detroit, killing 34 people, Wendell Willkie (1892 - 1944), spoke out passionately on national radio against both Democrats and Republicans for failing to address civil rights for African Americans:

The desire to deprive some of our citizens of their rights -- economic, civic or political -- has the same basic motivation as actuates the Fascist mind when it seeks to dominate whole peoples and nations. It is essential that we eliminate it at home as well as abroad.

An Elwood, Indiana native, who, after serving in World War I became legal counsel to the country's largest utility holding company, might seem an unlikely champion of the underprivileged, but Willkie pressed for minority rights throughout his life.

Willkie became known publicly after his move to Ohio in the 1920s, as an active member in his local Democratic Party chapter and as a highly sought-after speaker. As a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in New York City in 1924, Willkie pushed hard to get a condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan and an endorsement of the League of Nations into the party platform (both resolutions failed to get the needed votes).

Whenever we take away the liberties of those whom we hate we are opening the way to loss of liberty for those we love.

He wasn't afraid either to openly criticize President Roosevelt, who he campaigned for at the 1932 Democratic Convention, for his failure (in an effort to keep the support of southern congressmen) to denounce lynching and Jim Crow laws. In 1942 Willkie was one of the few whites to address the NAACP:

When we talk of freedom and opportunity for all nations, the increasing paradoxes
in our own society become so clear they can no longer be ignored.

Willkie promoted integration of the armed forces, as well as an improvement of the ways in which minorities were portrayed in motion pictures, to the extent that he met with many producers in Hollywood to address the issue.

Looking at his life as a whole, it seems almost a footnote that in 1939 he switched parties to run for the Presidency against Roosevelt, losing 27 million votes to 22 million, especially since he again became one of Roosevelt's allies following the election. He gave a radio address, keenly listened to by his 22 million supporters who did not want him to give up on his causes, remarking:

We, who stand ready to serve our country behind our Commander in Chief, nevertheless retain the right,
and I will say the duty, to debate the course of our government.

And he did, vigorously, leading the press to dub him America's Private Citizen Number One.

I would rather lose in a cause that I know some day will triumph than to triumph in a cause that I know some day will fail.

Following a 1942 worldwide tour as a representative of Roosevelt, Willkie revealed much of what he'd learned in a radio address heard by an estimated 36 million listeners:

Military experts, as well as our leaders, must be constantly exposed to democracy's greatest driving power --
the whiplash of public opinion, developed from honest, free discussion.

A military victory, as such, will not be enough ... We must win the peace.

The record of this war to date is not such as to inspire in us any sublime faith in the infallibility of our military and naval experts.

In 1943, Willkie published One World, a compilation of his experiences around the world and his opinions about the future, to great fanfare. It topped the New York Times bestseller list from May to September, and by the end of April had already had seven printings.

One World expressed Willkie's view that common needs are universal, despite minor differences among peoples, and that America has an obligation to help people wherever she can - in America and abroad - to address their needs:

Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the color of their skin. We cannot, with good conscience, expect the British to set up an orderly schedule for the liberation of India before we have decided for ourselves to make all who live in America free.

Wendell Willkie died in October of 1944. He did not live to see some of the changes he'd set in motion come to fruition, such as the creation of the United Nations. And he of course pre-dated the Civil Rights era, where he would have undoubtedly been a strong force for change.

The Constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.