Did the public like Joe Louis?

Yeah, he was very popular.
Not just in America either.

 

For a slight example of the great popularity and love bestowed on Joe Louis, in 1938 my dad took me a young schoolboy to see the 20th anniversary
parade of the WW1 armistice an 5th Ave, NYCity. They had the largest parade ever as 48 states sent a band and contingency of remaining vets of the
" Great War ". And in the forefront of limousines in the parade sat Joe Louis's mom leading the State of Detroit, and I recall the rousing reception given her
that day...Louis, Floyd Patterson and Alexis Arguello were all beloved figures
because of their innate dignity...,

 

It took a while for white America to embrace him.

Here's a radio broadcast of the Joe Louis-Max Baer fight from 1935. Louis is referred to by the radio announcer repeatedly as "Young Black Joe" and asks "Can the Jungle Man beat the Jester?"

http://podbay.fm/show/201665992/e/1175724599?autostart=1

There were 90,000+ people in attendance. Around the 11 minute mark, the ring announcer basically spends a full minute asking people in the crowd to be good sports regardless of the "race" of the winner.

In other words, if the black guy wins, don't riot. They were obviously worried, given the size of the crowd. And he says he gave the same request before the Louis-Carnera fight.

It didn't help that the "guest" announcer was brought out of retirement to give the fighter introductions, and he begins his description of Louis as: "Although colored, he stands out in the same class with Jack Johnson and Sam Langford; the idol of his people."

The next year, when Schmeling knocked off Louis, a lot of white Americans were very happy with the result. But the tide turned when Louis became the champion and, later, when the U.S. entered World War II.

He was the champion for so long (more than 11 years) that many Americans who grew up with him as the champion idolized him ... while those who had chips on their shoulders going back to the days when Jack Johnson was champ died off.

That said, I have an article written before the third Patterson-Johansson fight in Miami, where the writer went nuts when he discovered that Joe Louis wasn't allowed to stay at the hotel with all the other reporters and celebrities, because Louis was black. But Max Schmeling, who was in town for the fight, was allowed to stay there.

The reporter said "They'll let a goddamn Nazi sleep here, but they won't let Joe Louis?" ... or words to that effect.

So he wasn't beloved everywhere because of his race ... particularly in the South.

 

Lana Turner, too, IIRC.

 

Good post Dubblechin...quite funny ! (In a nice way)..

Can anyone explain...why/what did the IRS make his life a misery re- tax...what were the circumstances ?

 

What happened To joe Louis's money those days? Joe Louis who fought often and was the greatest drawing card of his times ****ed his money away it was said by his obsession with daily golf games and betting huge amount of money and losing large sums on these games. Along with the fact he never put away money to pay his taxes each tax season, getting himself into debt so much so he was borrowing money from his promoter Mike Jacobs, and others...It has happened to other great athletes
aside from Louis and Louis my favorite Heavyweight was his own worst enemy, sad to say...

 

Joe Louis was loved and was a true American Hero and was the Greatest heavyweight champion of all time. It was said he was a credit to his race, the human RACE. Johnson was a strong-minded man and I give him credit but he may have set the black people back. Louis was a hero for America and made all black people proud and did much for the blacks, personally and professionally

He was loved by all