Presidents Harrison and Cleveland Refuse to Act on Lynching

Despite appeals from Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, and Black organizations, Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland declined to call for federal anti-lynching legislation or to use federal authority to prosecute mob violence. Harrison's 1892 State of the Union mentioned lynching briefly; Cleveland's response to Wells's direct appeal was a form letter. The executive branch's refusal to act was as consequential as the Supreme Court's rulings in enabling lynching.