New York’s bid to host its first national political convention outside Manhattan is getting a push from someone who knows about firsts.
Jackie Robinson’s widow has joined the city’s campaign to bring the 2016 Democratic National Convention to Brooklyn, where the legendary athlete integrated major league baseball with the Dodgers in 1947.
“New York and Brooklyn both are very special places in my heart. Jack and I had wonderful experiences in both places,” Rachel Robinson said.
Those were also bittersweet times for the couple, Mrs. Robinson, 92, told the Daily News in an exclusive interview Monday.
“When Jack joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and [team President Branch] Rickey brought him in as the first African-American to be a member of the Major League, that began a series of experiences — very negative and very challenging and very hurtful in some ways,” she recalled.
Then came “the civil rights movement, and we joined Dr. King in his efforts and we were able to see a progress — and a striking progress.”
So many years after those struggles, she said, a Brooklyn-centric convention “can certainly tell about the civil rights movement and America,” she said.
“Brooklyn has been in the forefront of some of the changes we’re looking to see in the society,” Mrs. Robinson told the News.
New York is competing with Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio, to host the 2016 Democratic convention, and has played up not only the city’s financial clout but its diversity as a positive backdrop for the nomination of the party’s next presidential standardbearer.
The national party is expected to choose a winner very soon.
“I think the publicity will be great,” Mrs. Robinson added. “The general feeling in Brooklyn will be that people will be proud to have the convention there.”
Mrs. Robinson, who now splits her time between Manhattan and Connecticut as she oversees the Jackie Robinson Foundation, demurred when asked if she favors any of the likely 2016 hopefuls.
First, “I think we need to know more, see more,” she told the News, saying her top issues include equity in education and housing.
As his widow lends the power of her name to the effort to woo Democrats to Brooklyn, sports and politics buffs alike are sure to remember that the man who wore No. 42 was a vocal supporter of certain Republicans in his day.
The ballplayer endorsed Richard Nixon in 1960 and was an admirer of former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
But Robinson supported candidates of both major parties — and it was in interviews he gave while attending the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco that he denounced Barry Goldwater as “a bigot,” according to his autobiography.
Today, Mrs. Robinson said she was persuaded personally in talks with Mayor de Blasio to become a co-chair of the host committee, which already boasts dozens of A-listers from the worlds of business, finance, and publishing.
“When Jackie broke baseball’s color barrier in Brooklyn, it was a watershed moment for fairness, justice and equality – and these values have continued to define Brooklyn ever since,” said de Blasio spokeswoman Marti Adams.
