Clinton Rejects Plan to Issue Apology for Slavery, for Now

The White House scuttled the idea of a national apology for slavery Tuesday, at least for now, saying President Clinton does not consider the proposal an appropriate first step for his national dialogue on race.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Clinton decided shortly after his June 14 speech on race that he was not interested in an apology, although the president said in post-speech interviews that he would consider the idea.

“That came up, and he indicated that that’s the procedure we’d use,” McCurry said. An apology “is not the place that he chooses to begin this dialogue. . . . I don’t anticipate the president putting any of the focus of his energy on that subject any time soon.”

In an interview Monday with Black Entertainment Television, Clinton said he would leave the matter up to his race advisory board, which is chaired by an expert on slavery, historian John Hope Franklin.

“What I think I should do now is . . . see what they have to say about the apology issue and all the related issues,” Clinton said. “If the board wants to recommend that . . . I’ll wait and see what they say.”

In its first meeting last month, the board split over how much attention they should give to racism’s roots in slavery. Franklin said then that it must be addressed because the United States “cut its eye teeth” on racism through slavery.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Clinton was weighing other ways of addressing slavery, such as a national memorial.