The South in 1926: A Joint Travel Diary              23

Charles Poletti graduated from Harvard Law School in 1928,
and became counsel to the Governor of New York, Flerbert H.
Lehman, in 1933. He served as a justice of the New York State
Supteme Court in 1937. Elected Lieutenant-Governor of the state
 

Tennessee Coal and Iron Company in Ensley, outside Birmingham,
with workers' housing in the foreground.

in 1938, he became Governor in December 1942, when Lehman
was called to Washington to plan postwar relief. Poletti served as
Allied Military Governor in Italy from 1943 to 1946. Through¬
out his years in state and federal service he was noted for his con¬
cern for civil rights, and he served as treasurer of the National
Urban League for many years before he went on the bench.
Poletti not only was credited with originating, but also helped to
implement many of the laws and policies of the Lehman Admin¬
istration, often referred to as "New York's Little New Deal."
Many concerned working conditions, rights of w^omen and chil¬
dren, racial discrimination and housing. As Military Governor,
Poletti was noted for his effective work in rehabilitation and re¬
construction, but particularly for protecting the civil and religious
liberties of the people compatible with the safety of a war-time
occupation force.