University of Virginia Library

Letters of Inquiry

Mr. Johnson then wrote to Donald Santarelli,
a member of the Executive Committee of
the Washington Club, as well as a member of
the Board of Visitors and an Assistant Attorney
General in the United States Justice Department.
This letter to Mr. Santarelli was more in
the form of an inquiry asking for further
information regarding the situation. A day after
writing this letter, Mr. Johnson met Mr. Santarelli
at the Justice Department and in a brief
conversation was led to believe that the Washington
Club had discussed the matter and
would act upon it when it became an actual
problem, presumably, that is, when a Black
alumnus joined the Washington Alumni Club.

Considering this an unsatisfactory and insufficient
result, Mr. Johnson wrote to Gilbert
Sullivan here in Charlottesville. After relating
the details of his efforts to obtain a definitive
statement from some official of the Club, Mr.
Johnson expressed his belief that the Club
should not wait until the problem became an
actual one and that "If the Country Club is in
fact a facially segregated-facility, then the U.Va
Club's use of this facility is a real problem, in
light of the Student Council's ruling, and in
terms of State of Virginia policy, and in terms
of ordinary standards of decency."