- As World War I was coming to an end,
a new war had begun at home for Americans.
Foreign spies were everywhere,
and so that was the feeling at the time.
So the government responded
by recruiting their own spies, hundreds of thousands
that they integrated into all aspects of domestic life.
One of these spies was an esteemed Black military musician
the US government deployed to investigate
Black organizations that they labeled radical or subversive.
But what their spy uncovered in his final report was far
from what the government expected.
I'm Joel Cook, and this is "Rogue History."
[dramatic music]
The legacy of Walter Howard Loving is one primarily
of a celebrated military musician, but the details
of his double life remained classified for over 60 years.
In 1986, these files revealed
that the Military Intelligence Division,
or MID, was deeply concerned
that Black Americans were colluding
with German spies in order to destabilize the United States.
But as a mostly white organization,
it would be pretty difficult for the MID to move
around segregated Black communities without being noticed,
so they recruited Loving to do their spying for them.
His work as an intermediary started
in the Philippines in 1902, where he served
as the conductor of the Philippine Constabulary Band
for 14 years.
In an intensely violent racial climate,
Loving earned the respect
of his Filipino bandsmen by speaking their language
and acknowledging their struggles
during the early years of American colonization.
His musical talent provided a useful tool
for making connections, and he could relate
to them in ways that white soldiers couldn't or wouldn't.
His ability to operate in the gray area
didn't escape the notice of his superiors.
Ralph Van Deman, the future Head of the MID,
was also in the Philippines at the same time.
Several years later
he tasked Loving with traveling the Continental US
to investigate his fellow Black Americans
and create a new network of volunteer spies.
So what exactly were they looking for?
Well, insurrection.
In 1917, mass racial violence against
and individual lynchings
of Black Americans were widespread,
and segregation laws were still
in effect across much of the country.
One of the worst racial atrocities
in American history occurred in East St. Louis, Illinois,
when white Americans murdered
at least 100 Black Americans
and displaced 6,000 over a three-day period.
With 200,000 veteran Black soldiers soon to return
from Europe and unwilling to tolerate such violence anymore,
the MID saw the Black community
as vulnerable to what they called Negro subversion.
Now, it seems like it would be really hard
for one of the most well-known musicians
in the country to be a spy, right?
When discretion was needed,
Loving had a top secret network of informants,
but oftentimes, his renown was actually his best tool.
When a meeting
of the National Race Congress convened in 1918,
Loving the beloved band leader was front and center.
But after the meeting, Loving the government agent wrote
to the State Department with a request to deny passports
for the speakers, who planped
to reveal American racial issues
at the upcoming Paris Peace Conference.
Loving's status as a celebrity
in Black communities allowed him to access spaces
and people he could manipulate openly or otherwise
to get in line with the agenda of the MID.
Among the most dangerous actors
to the MID were Black newspaper editors
like the young socialist leaders
A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen.
One article in their newspaper
"The Messenger" declared, "Patriotism has no appeal to us.
Justice has.
Party has no weight with us.
Principle has."
Even though it might sound tame in today's standards,
this publication and others like it
were considered a betrayal to the US government.
This was the middle of a time known as the First Red Scare.
During this period when Russia's Bolsheviks toppled the Czar
and withdrew from World War I, socialism was viewed
as a significant threat to the US government.
German intelligence agents supported the Bolshevik movement
by assisting Vladimir Lenin's return to Russia,
which fueled concerns among US officials
that a similar socialist uprising might occur
within the United States.
Loving would often approach targets
like Owen and Randolph directly with firm
but friendly warnings about their anti-American stances.
But he also advised Black newspaper editors on how to avoid
having their publications banned from the mail,
even when he disagreed with their anti-war messaging.
Despite Loving's warnings, Owen and Randolph were arrested
under the Espionage Act for their outspoken opposition
to Black participation in the war.
It couldn't have been easy
for Loving to balance his personal perspective
as a Black man
and professional obligations as a government asset.
In a November 1917 memorandum, he declared,
"I am the most loyal to the race with which I'm identified,
but not to the extent that I would see the blood
of thousands of American soldiers shed
upon a foreign battlefield
before I would consent to lend my assistance
either by deed or pen to help win the struggle."
Born to formerly enslaved parents in Virginia,
he understood the desire for racial equality.
Even within the MID, Loving still faced discrimination.
His office was in a completely separate building
from his white colleagues.
As complicated as it was,
Loving's goal was to protect both the people he loved
and the nation he served.
After an insurrection
by Black soldiers against the abuses of Houston police
in August 1917 and the army's swift execution
of 13 of those men, Loving successfully intercepted
popular speaker Roscoe Simmons
on his way to a rally in Virginia.
He convinced Simmons that it was critical
to counter the angry mood of the audience
with a rallying cry for African American patriotism.
After the speech, the public, who had come there
to protest, were suddenly joining in on a rousing rendition
of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
played at the request of Loving.
From then on, Loving would send Roscoe Simmons letters
and give him talking points.
In exchange, it was arranged
that military intelligence would pay
for Simmons' expenses for his nationwide speaking tour.
And just like that,
another asset was added to Loving's network.
Though his role in the MID made it appear otherwise,
Walter Loving was a strong advocate for Black Americans.
Just before he retired from the MID,
he submitted his final report on Negro subversion.
Writing just after the horrific Red Summer of 1919
during which white supremacist terrorism
and race riots occurred in more than three dozen cities
across the US, Loving used his strongest words yet
in an attempt to call for change.
He leveraged the threat of socialism
in his message, writing that, "Unless there is some quick
and radical departure in the present policy
of the government on questions affecting the welfare
and rights of its Negro citizens,
the time is not far distant when greater numbers
of Negroes will be converted to socialist doctrines."
He also described housing segregation as a public menace.
He criticized the War Department, who he was working for,
on their handling of racial violence on the home front,
stating that they provided no redress or relief,
which intensified discontent.
He noted that sick and wounded Black soldiers returning home
were denied accommodation and forced into segregated cars
under the supervision of the very government
for which they had risked their lives.
Despite all of this horrible mistreatment
from their own country,
not one single Black American was found to be spying
for the enemy.
Whether Walter Loving knew
that would be the outcome is unknown.
But he did know that Black people could not afford
to be denounced en mass as disloyal,
and he used the best leverage he had
to try to protect Black people
from injustices that might make them susceptible
to subversion in the first place.
After retiring from the MID, Walter Loving returned
to the Philippines to continue his work as a band leader.
He unfortunately died during the Battle of Manila
in World War II, leaving behind a complex legacy
few people would ever fully know.
In order to thrive in an oppressive system,
marginalized people require not just those
who wanna fight the system,
but those who are willing to work inside the system.
As a veteran of the US imperial era,
Loving was under no illusion
about the racism and wanton violence of America.
Both in the field and on the home front
he saw just how brutal white supremacy was
to marginalized people.
But his appointment to the MID gave him the ability
to influence the structure from the inside, and it worked.
Loving's report made its way up the chain of command
from the MID director all the way to the Secretary of War,
and even across the pond to the British government.
When we talk about spies, we often jump to label them
as heroes or traitors, but it's easy to forget
that these historical figures were often in circumstances
that we could never imagine.
What if we were willing to accept the gray area,
just as Walter Loving did?
What do you think?
Tell us in the comments.
[dramatic music]
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