What if Louis had refused to serve in WWII?

Dempsey got a deferment in WWI...he and Gene Tunney would go on to train troops in WWII...Joe Louis enlisted and fought exhibitions during WWII. If Ali had gone into the service...he would have done the same thing as Ali...he wouldn't have gone to the front lines and be expected to fight. He was/is looked at as a hero by some...and a coward by others!

 

World War II was a different kind of war. We were attacked by the Japanese on Dec 7 1941, on Dec 8 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese Empire and unanimously war was officially declared. Immediately after we delared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S and it's allies. Vietnam started off as we were teaching the South Vietnamese how to fight thru military advisors in 1961. But upon the death of President Kennedy, LBJ began to escalate the war in 1964, an election year for him. Joe Louis accepted military induction into a war that everyone in the world displayed patriotism for their nations. Louis entertained the troops for morale purposes. But Louis was not an outspoken individual, this was way before the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was ever signed. Back then an African American man had no voice on anything, all minorities had no voice. I feel like this, if another nation had attacked our nation, I would be one of the first to grab a firearm to defend my family and land, many Americans I am sure feel the same. But many undeclared wars are based on assumptions, lack of fact. Louis like many other entertainers and athletes did a very patriotic service to our country entertaining our brave men and women by performing for them overseas. World War II and Vietnam were two different conflicts, one was war of freedom, to defend our nation and our allies, Vietnam like the Korean War, 1950-1953 were police actions, not declared wars.

 

But Muhammad Ali was treated poorly by non African Americans because he was outspoken. So Ali did not have a right to exercise his religious beliefs? Boxing was a job, it was not his fault that our leader had an erection for the communists. I bet if Ali was a stereotypical subservient athlete that just nodded his head and did everything that he was told, maybe the draft board would have overlooked him, he did fail an aptitude test for military induction in 1964, he was classified 4F, unfit for military service. But in Feb 1966, he was reclassified as 1-A. Ali would be leading several young men and women to slaughter as this was a war that we were not supposed to win. Ali was also right when he said, I Got No Quarrel With Them Vietcong, They Never Called Me The N Word. I bet there are a lot of posters who never registered for the military draft on their 18th birthday, it is still a law on the books to this day. They are talking about further penalties on those who didn't, I did.

 

Depends on how he did it. If he silently ignored the war, then he probably could've gotten away with it. But if he was openly against joining, similarly to Ali in Vietnam, he would be a public enemy.

 

This is a far more nuanced and complex question than the OP allows for. Context of the country's situation, both politiclly and socially, makes the question essentially invalid. Apples and oranges.

 

Sounds logical

 

Deferments were available. He might have claimed to be a conscientious objector, but given the era and the country's fervor for war, his occupation as a prize fighter would have been an almost impossible sell to the authorities. Other deferments included a 2-A deferment as an essential industry employee, a 2-B as defense contract employee, a 2-C as an agricultural worker, a 3-A as a sole supporter of dependents, and a 4-F as a physically unfit person.

If he failed to apply or did not qualify for a deferment, he would have been made an example of by the U. S. government. He would have been prosecuted and received a stiff sentence. If he chose to appeal the verdict of the federal trial court, the verdict would have been affirmed by the Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He would have gone to prison.

 

Do you think Roxborough and Black would have allowed Louis to get bad press by refusing to serve his Country, No.

 

I am sure that refusing to serve never even crossed their minds. It was not an option any of them considered. Given the situation of Blacks in America then and the patriotic fervor existing at the time, Louis really had no choice. Unless he had had an honest and reasonable reason for a deferment which could have survived the most scrupulous scrutiny, he would have been almost universally vilified at the time as a coward. There was no comparison between the social climate in the early 1940s with that of the late 1960s.

 

Quite possibly!

 

It was not a possibility. That’s one time when everyone in this country was on the same page and there was zero disagreement or discussion on the righteousness of the cause. Even conscientious objectors to the draft and pacifists found some way to contribute. Lefty folksingers like Pete Seeger (Army) and Woody Guthrie (Merchant Marine) even joined and Seeger tried to get sent to combat.

 

Japan attacked us on December 7th, 1941 and their allies Italy and Germany declared war on us on December 11th. It was an existential battle where our way of life was on the line. When Joe Louis was asked how he could fight for a country that deprived his people their freedom he famously said, Ain't nothing Hitler can fix."

 

They liked good press, but they liked money more.