HBO's Joe Louis: America's Hero, Betrayed (?)

Great Debates
1

Lot of interesting boxing history in this recent documentary feature.

Louis comes across as a solid guy, no question. His volunteering to do boxing exhibitions in the Army, at standard GI pay, certainly speaks to his patriotism. And okay, I can see the argument that such patriotism was supererogatory in a still-segregated U.S.

But I’m still struggling with “betrayed.” Yes, he arguably could have made a lot more money during those war years. But so could plenty of other black and white guys who willingly joined the war effort.

What were the two plagues of his later life? A seemingly-crooked manager (unfortunately, nothing new in the history of naive athletes and other entertainers, and while there may well have been a personal betrayal of trust here, I’m reading the show’s title as more an indictment of America at large). And, the IRS (which I entertain a hearty dislike for). But by his son’s admission, Joe kept spending like a drunken sailor even when he was only making a soldier’s pay. And while the IRS, especially in the age of high marginal tax rates, would be no fun to have as an adversary, I doubt that I could very plausibly claim that any number of fiscally-imprudent people who ran afoul of a tax lien were “betrayed” by their country.

No question, the stories of Louis’s latter days were sad, pathetic even. But then, what is the post-fame trajectory for even the most successful boxer (last I saw Leon Spinks was working as a janitor in Nebraska)? Do we really need to posit “betrayal” or imply racial discrimination to explain what seems to be an all-too-common story of athlete burnout and improvidence?

2

It seems the only way he was “betrayed” was the same way other high-earning people in those times were betrayed – the government stole a lot of his money via a high marginal tax rate.

I think the HBO doc was trying to say that Louis did so much for his country but then the government kept pursuing him for back taxes that he could never pay. Perhaps they expected him to get a pass or something for his efforts, I don’t know. It sucks what happened to Louis, no doubt, but it’s not like he was singled out. Every high earner in those days faced a similar issue.

3

For the most part, I agree with your criticism. I will point out, though, that the government expected Joe Louis to pay off his overdue tax bill to them while simultaneously taxing every purse he won at a 90% rate.

That’s just criminal. It cannot be seen as just or wise by our understanding of fiscal policy today, and it made the hole Joe Louis was in that much deeper.

4

Haven’t seen the documentary, but I believe Louis’ biological father died in a mental institution, and Joe himself wound up essentially demented.

But Louis had the same troubles that a lot of folks do, especially boxers. They grew up poor, and never learned to handle money, and assumed in their gravy days that the money would come in forever. Louis seemed to retain some insight later in life. I believe at one point some boxing writer (possibly Joe Liebling, of the famous “He was a credit to his race - the human race” quote) said that it was a shame that Louis didn’t fight in the days of the multi-million dollar purses. “Nah”, said Joe - “I’d just wind up owing the IRS ten million instead of one.”

But it’s not a betrayal to expect someone to pay his taxes. The only betrayal I can think that might fit was the time Joe donated his entire purse to the Army-Navy relief fund. They charged him taxes on that.

Not often good, unfortunately, and racism isn’t always a major factor.

Mike Tyson - made tens of millions. Broke.
Ali still has some money left, but his divorces and so forth seemed to have consumed the major part of the forty million or so in purses he made.
Sonny Liston had to make a comeback because he spent all his money on heroin.

It’s not universal - Jack Dempsey’s restaurant was said to have the best cheesecake in New York, and Gene Tunney was a member of the board of several banks, and died quite well off. One of his sons became a Senator.

But of the other heavyweights of the Louis era, it’s a mixed bag. Jack Sharkey did OK, although he wasn’t fabulously well off. I read an interview with him - he was a fly fisherman. Max Schmeling was quite wealthy - he owned the distribution rights for Coca-Cola in West Germany. Primo Carnera was ripped off badly by his managers (his story was the basis for The Harder They Fall), but recouped a lot of it with professional wrestling (and died of cancer back in Italy). Max Baer was a flake, and used to sell a part of his earnings whenever he was strapped for cash. He wound up selling 117% of himself. He did a sort of night club act, and died relatively young. Jim Braddock, the Cinderella Man, lost all his money in bad business ventures and went back to blue-collar work, which is where he came from. Ezzard Charles died broke as well, of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Jersey Joe Walcott was a sheriff’s deputy. Rocky Marciano wasn’t poor, but he lost a lot of his money in bad investments.

So, like I say, it was a mixed bag. Not all poor boxers were betrayed by the government.

Regards,
Shodan

5

It was an interesting piece but I thought Max Schmeling was unfairly demonized. They suggested that he only did well because he was white and the he was a Nazi. My understanding is that he was quite a shrewd businessman and grew the soda distributorship he obtained through his own efforts. Not entirely sure who the Coke corporation should have taped in post-war Germany. Also, I’m fairly sure that Schmeling was a Nazi in name only (if that makese sense).