First NY Times Mention Of Trump Was Accusation Of Anti-Black Bias
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The first time Donald Trump got coverage in the New York Times was when the Justice Department charged his father and him with violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The story was headlined “Major Landlord Accused of Anti-Black Bias in City”. The Times reports:
The Department of Justice had brought suit in federal court in Brooklyn against Mr. Trump and his father, Fred C. Trump, charging them with violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 in the operation of 39 buildings.
“The government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals ‘because of race and color,’ ” The Times reported. “It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.”
Donald Trump’s first quoted words in The New York Times expressed his view of the charges:
“They are absolutely ridiculous.”
“We never have discriminated,” he added, “and we never would.”
Two months later, Trump Management, represented by Roy M. Cohn, turned around and sued the United States government for $100 million (roughly $500 million in today’s terms), asserting that the charges were “irresponsible and baseless.”
“Mr. Trump accused the Justice Department of singling out his corporation because it was a large one, and because the government was trying to force it to rent to welfare recipients,” The Times reported.
Under an agreement reached in June 1975, Trump Management was required to furnish the New York Urban League with a list of all apartment vacancies, every week, for two years. It was also to allow the league to present qualified applicants for every fifth vacancy in Trump buildings where fewer than 10 percent of the tenants were black.
Trump Management noted that the agreement did not constitute an admission of guilt.
Mr. Trump himself said he was satisfied that the agreement did not “compel the Trump organization to accept persons on welfare as tenants unless as qualified as any other tenant.”
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