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Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.—Talmud
Indiana has begun preparations for its bicentennial birthday party next year—200 years of statehood. On the cusp of Indiana’s celebration, it seems timely to study and enjoy our Hoosier heritage, particularly when it has relevance to today’s plans, concerns and fears.
In 1955, I was a 12-year-old Crooked Creek Elementary School student on a field trip with my class to the Indiana Legislature. We witnessed the clamor on the Senate floor: the din of conversations among groups of twos and threes, pages trotting up and down the aisle gathering and delivering papers, and our lawmakers engaged, we guessed, in the business of enacting the laws of the state of Indiana. Our guide advised us that it was an exciting, untidy process.
Suddenly, with the rap of a gavel the hall became silent and still—not a peep. A man rose at the front of the chambers. With soft elegance, he began a eulogy of Hoosier Paul V. McNutt. Then he started to cry. Who was Paul V. McNutt? He was not in our history books.
McNutt was elected governor of Indiana in 1932. Foreclosed by the one-term limit then imposed by the state Constitution, he could not run again. But before his seat was warm, he contemplated entering the race for president—an Indiana governor with presidential aspirations. Sound familiar?
McNutt was considered by many on the national scene to be a frontrunner for the 1936 presidential nomination—that is, until fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt opted to run for re-election.
In an effort to sideline him from the American political scene, Roosevelt in 1937 appointed him high commissioner to the Philippines. (In 1940, McNutt again contemplated a run for the higher office, but his ambitions were dashed when Roosevelt decided on a third term. The incumbent swamped McNutt’s IU law school classmate Wendell Willkie in that election.)
The high commissioner post was largely ceremonial, but it put McNutt in a position to issue visas allowing entry into the Philippines. He did that for more than 1,300 Jewish refugees fleeing the fascist’s regimes in Europe. McNutt, in defiance of a reluctant State Department, extended a hand to desperate refugees because “it was the right thing to do.”
Today the immigration system in our country is broken. In the aftermath of Congressional failure to enact legislation, President Obama last year issued an executive order giving about 5 million immigrants nationwide some measure of security from being deported. Obama’s action was focused on helping undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. He stated that his executive action was “incomplete and temporary” and that it was his hope that Congress would pass a more permanent solution.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence directed state Attorney General Greg Zoeller to join a lawsuit seeking to countermand Obama’s executive action. Pence said the president circumvented Congress, preventing Indiana from having a say on the immigration issue through its elected representatives. “While reasonable people can differ on ways to improve our nation’s broken immigration system,” he said, “the president’s unilateral action is an unacceptable end run around the Democratic process, and joining other states in pursuing legal recourse to challenge this action is the right thing to do.”
What is the right thing to do? Is it right to thwart Obama’s temporary relief and thus make life as difficult as possible for immigrants who pass background checks and pay taxes? Is it right to advocate, as Pence does, that we send back undocumented and helpless children fleeing crime and violence in Honduras—the murder capital of the world—where they may face starvation, exploitation and even death?
Exalted Hoosier Paul V. McNutt extended a welcome hand to his fellow man. Gov. Pence’s actions deny that welcome hand. Tell me: What is the right thing to do?•
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Maurer is a shareholder in IBJ Corp., which owns Indianapolis Business Journal. His column appears every other week. To comment on this column, send e-mail to mmaurer@ibj.com.
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