Eunice Carter - Part 2

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, welcome to the Almost Immortal History Podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Powers.

[00:00:12] Thanks for joining us for the second and final part of the UN's Carter Story when we left

[00:00:16] off in part 1. Carter's unprecedented rise to a seemingly unimaginable role on Thomas

[00:00:22] Dewey's team of criminal prosecutors made her a household name across America. Now, Carter's

[00:00:28] courage and tenacity will be tested, which takes on the most dangerous mob boss in the country.

[00:00:33] Despite being surrounded by an entire team of bloody legal minds, it will be Carter's intuition

[00:00:38] and intelligence that Dewey will need most of all to stop the underworld from continuing its

[00:00:43] waiting terror across the New York City. So sit back and enjoy the conclusion today's episode.

[00:00:49] The New York City prosecutor, UNICE, on to the Carter Story.

[00:01:08] Even with Dutch shouts now gone, Dewey's work continued at pace. While most of his team's

[00:01:13] leads were resulting in dead ends, UNICE's prostitution angle kept getting more interesting.

[00:01:18] What she discovered was that until 1933 prostitution worked in New York City the way

[00:01:24] everyone understood it worked everywhere. Women either worked alone or through a

[00:01:28] madam who would pay each girl directly. Over time, pimps or bookers were layered into the

[00:01:33] equation bringing some organization to the trade. The prostitutes would pay part of their earnings

[00:01:38] to the madam and part to the booker. Then in 1933 in New York things changed and no one noticed.

[00:01:45] Suddenly the women were paying the madam's, bookers and now another fee to something referred to

[00:01:50] as the combination. For this, the combination guaranteed that the prostitute would not go to jail if

[00:01:57] caught. Carter was able to prove the existence of the combination by showing that the lawyers,

[00:02:02] always the same lawyers who represented these women rarely if ever lost and the women rarely

[00:02:08] if ever went to jail. That type of coordination and consistency to say nothing of getting lawyers

[00:02:14] judges, police journalists and other officials to look the other way while all of this was happening

[00:02:19] showed that someone with power was in charge far above what a booker would be able to accomplish.

[00:02:24] This screamed organized crime to UNICE. She shared her theory with her colleague and trusted

[00:02:29] Dewey Confedant, Murray Gurfine, who agreed to bolster her case and be with her when she presented

[00:02:34] her findings to Dewey. Knowing Dewey had little enthusiasm to pursue vice cases,

[00:02:39] Carter and Gurfine together walked Dewey through what UNICE had uncovered. Mrs. Carter has

[00:02:44] interviewed and listened to the complaints of a number of girl prostitutes, Gurfine said.

[00:02:48] There is definite evidence that the whole business of prostitution in the city is being

[00:02:52] fundamentally revised so that its control rests in the hands of a few men who are under the

[00:02:58] domination of one top flight raccoteer. We now have a pretty complete conception of the whole

[00:03:03] prostitution raccote, Gurfine continued. Until August 1933, the bookers worked independently

[00:03:09] and were competitors. Then the combination chiseled in. Four bookers were given all of the houses.

[00:03:15] They were virtually put on salary, the combination pocketing the rest. The bookers couldn't make any

[00:03:21] money. The combination got it all. Dewey listened intently. I trusted their judgment, said Dewey

[00:03:27] some years later, but I had no enthusiasm for the investigation they proposed. Still, because

[00:03:33] of his confidence in Carter and Gurfine, he not only told them to keep pursuing the angle,

[00:03:37] but also allocated more staff to assist Eunice and helped her secure dozens of wiretapped

[00:03:42] authorizations for the brothels and bookers. Carter partnered with undercover detectives who

[00:03:47] would listen to the wiretaps daily to help prove Carter's theory, and also most importantly

[00:03:52] to implicate who was in charge. Day after day that fall of 1935, the detectives gave Carter

[00:03:58] plenty of information to confirm her assumptions about the structure of New York City prostitution.

[00:04:03] The four bookers were recorded often working together and coordinating, but they were careful

[00:04:07] not to name names of anyone above them, only every once in a while referring to someone as the boss.

[00:04:14] Weeks of more investigation by Eunice and the team passed than months. Finally, in January 1936,

[00:04:21] a breakthrough. During another monotonous evening of eavesdropping on calls, the detectives overheard

[00:04:26] one of the bookers suggest to another that they call Tommy Bull, otherwise known as Thomas

[00:04:31] Pinocchio, one of Lucky Luciano's trusted advisors. Around the same time, and despite all of the precautions,

[00:04:38] a story about Eunice's investigation leaked to William Randolph-Hurts' New York evening journal.

[00:04:44] In the story were details of what Dewey's office had uncovered

[00:04:47] and how they were just days away from arresting the mob boss in charge. As unfortunate as the

[00:04:52] leak seemed at first, it turned out to yield the final proof Carter and Dewey needed. When Luciano

[00:04:57] read her story, he promptly left New York for Miami for fear of arrest. The months of wire-tap

[00:05:03] evidence now with the Tommy Bull reference and Luciano's splitting town told Carter and Dewey

[00:05:09] all they needed to know. Despite the newspapers claim, Carter and team were not days away from

[00:05:14] arresting Luciano. They needed confessions first. Late that January, Carter developed the sting

[00:05:20] operation that would get them what was needed, a raid of dozens of brothels across town. They would

[00:05:26] arrest the prostitutes and the madams to see who they could get to talk. They wanted the women

[00:05:31] to name the bookers. Then they could arrest the bookers, who could name the mob handlers in

[00:05:35] the combination. The handlers in turn could then name Luciano. But first things first.

[00:05:42] In the days leading up to the raid, Eunice Carter worked around the clock. She didn't sleep or take

[00:05:47] a break from the early morning of January 31st until February 2nd when it was all over.

[00:05:53] The raid took place on Saturday night, February 1st, which was sure to be a busy night at the brothels.

[00:05:59] As part of Eunice's plan, she had the police arrest the bookers as quietly as possible in the

[00:06:04] hours leading up to the raid. She wanted to ensure that there would be no one left to bail the women

[00:06:09] out once they were arrested. Dewey ensured that only police officers that they had vetted could

[00:06:14] participate in the raid. Even then, each was assigned a different partner than their own. At 9pm,

[00:06:21] the raids commenced simultaneously all across town. The women were arrested and the johns were

[00:06:26] let go. The police were not allowed to interrogate the women to keep the audible chatter to a minimum,

[00:06:31] and in turn, the women were not allowed phone calls of any kind until they got back to the

[00:06:35] Woolworth building for questioning. The raids went off with spectacular precision and success,

[00:06:41] other than a few women who tried to flee out of windows and fire escapes, all that were targeted

[00:06:47] were arrested, booked at the local police station and then as quietly as possible,

[00:06:51] sent by taxi cab to the Woolworth building for questioning. Dewey had asked most of his team to

[00:06:56] work that Saturday and to expect to stay late. Just before the 100 arrested women came streaming

[00:07:02] through the back doors and freight elevator the Woolworth, Dewey shared the plan with his curious

[00:07:06] prosecutors. All hands on deck were needed that evening to question the women, but it was important

[00:07:11] that they treat them decently, Dewey said. Speak to them respectfully, say please and miss to them.

[00:07:16] They needed confessions but as always his target had never been and still wasn't the women,

[00:07:22] but instead the racketeers controlling them. One by one the women came by cab to the

[00:07:27] Woolworth building. Eunice Carter signed in each and every one of them. Dewey had secured the

[00:07:33] 13th floor just below them for extra room and they still packed both floors with interviewers,

[00:07:38] interviewees and stenographers to record the statements. One of the arrestees looked around at

[00:07:43] the scene unfolding around her at the Woolworth and said it looked as if all the racketeers in New

[00:07:48] York were there. Most of the women gave their usual rehearsed answers assuming that the combination,

[00:07:54] as always, would get them out of trouble. The women said they were just there visiting a friend or

[00:07:59] family. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The next morning's New York Times

[00:08:05] had read, Vice Raid smashed $12 million ring. That was more than $230 million in today's money

[00:08:13] and as impressive as the headline was, even the New York Times was not yet aware that this

[00:08:18] was far more than a Vice Raid. Once it became evident to the women after several days of incarceration

[00:08:24] and questioning that no one was coming to bail them out per usual, things changed. The most

[00:08:29] willing to talk were the madams. They knew more than the prostitutes and had also taken the brunt

[00:08:34] of the intimidation and even violence from the bookers and enforcers. This was exactly what

[00:08:39] Eunice and Dewey were hoping for. The women would give up the bookers, the bookers would give up

[00:08:43] the enforcers and the enforcers would give up the boss. In late March after weeks of imprisonment,

[00:08:49] questioning and perhaps most persuasively, the choice of a long jail sentence or paid protection

[00:08:54] for useful information. Carter Dewey in team got what they needed. Eunice was able to turn two of her

[00:09:00] witnesses, one who connected the combination of Tommy Bull and the other to Jimmy Fredrick's,

[00:09:05] each man a key Luciano lieutenant. After Eunice's months of exhaustive research,

[00:09:11] a successfully planned and executed raid, more than 100 arrests and now weeks of interrogations

[00:09:16] indictments and deals, her theory of the case was proven true. She had proven beyond a reasonable

[00:09:22] doubt that the combination existed, who operated it and how it led all the way to Lucky Luciano.

[00:09:28] Now all that was left was to get someone on the record naming Luciano. Some of the prostitutes

[00:09:34] had mentioned that they had heard Luciano was the boss but they couldn't be sure. What finally

[00:09:38] implicated the most powerful mob boss in the country wasn't the inner circle but instead the wives

[00:09:44] and girlfriends of the inner circle. The former would never rat on Luciano but the latter had no

[00:09:50] such loyalty. The wives and girlfriends, current or former madams and prostitutes themselves,

[00:09:56] had been detained in question along with their significant others, when threatened with long jail

[00:10:00] terms but offered a way out of the life they were in saw an opportunity. Several of the women were

[00:10:06] easily able to connect Luciano as the boss of the combination for the simple reason that they

[00:10:10] were present in front of Luciano when he spoke to the boy friends and husbands about it. If only one

[00:10:15] of the women had connected him it might have made it tougher to prove but when several corroborated

[00:10:20] the connection and implicated Luciano as the boss Carter and Dewey had enough to seek the indictment.

[00:10:26] Luciano had returned to New York from his December escape to Miami but upon hearing in late March

[00:10:31] that Dewey was coming to a rest of him at any moment he fled again. This time,

[00:10:35] Tahat Springs Arkansas, a known mob refuge. Thanks to corrupt local officials and police,

[00:10:41] Lucky remained free in Arkansas for days until Dewey sent federal authorities to go arrest him

[00:10:46] and transport him back to Manhattan. Even then, it took several more weeks to get him back to New

[00:10:51] York City for trial. During that time Luciano was amassing cash from benefactors to help him flee to

[00:10:57] Mexico. Fortunately, the Arkansas governor intervened and Lucky in the company of four armed New York

[00:11:03] detectives headed back to Manhattan. Finally back in New York and under arrest, it was time for the trial

[00:11:10] of Charlie Lucky Luciano. In preparation for trial, Eunice worked again into all hours of the night

[00:11:17] to prepare Dewey's prosecution in the case. She helped to organize the strategy and oral arguments

[00:11:22] and was instrumental in getting some of the witnesses to turn state's evidence and testify against

[00:11:26] the combination and Luciano himself. The approach for Dewey's prosecution was twofold. First,

[00:11:32] established that the combination existed and second that Luciano was the boss.

[00:11:37] The trial began on May 12, 1936 and while Carter was not named as a co-counsel,

[00:11:43] she was a constant presence and continued to be a central figure in the trial. In Dewey's opening

[00:11:48] remarks he laid the case before the judge and jury. Luciano will be shown not to have placed

[00:11:54] any women in houses or taken money from them. Instead, he was the czar of the ring.

[00:12:00] We will show, Dewey continued, that Luciano's function was to rule. All of the other defendants

[00:12:06] were his servants. We will prove that Luciano himself boasted his intent was to put every

[00:12:11] Madame in New York on salary, then raise the prices. We will also show that the bond was the real

[00:12:17] racket of the gang. For this bond, they guaranteed that no girl would ever go to jail. This in turn

[00:12:23] would help keep the women's loyalty and silence about the operation. The press and by extension

[00:12:28] the public were riveted by the trial from start to finish. It was a story in and about New York City,

[00:12:34] but it had captured the entire nation's interest. Dozens of witnesses were called, 68 and all.

[00:12:40] After his opening statement, the sheer volume of witnesses Dewey called on that first day

[00:12:45] helped solidify beyond any reasonable doubt the prosecution's first objective. There was most

[00:12:50] certainly an organized ring of prostitution across the city, unlike any the country had ever seen

[00:12:55] before. Now after day one, the second and most critical part of the strategy remained. Tye this

[00:13:01] clear and obvious racket to Luciano. The three star-witness wives and girlfriends for the prosecution

[00:13:08] that Eunice had helped to produce and turn state's evidence were Milgear Ballitzer, Nancy Presser

[00:13:13] and Koky Flow Brown. Each of the women testified effectively to what they knew and had been

[00:13:18] unwittingly exposed to about the combination and with Luciano as the boss. Eunice Carter arranged

[00:13:24] the safe transport of Milgear Ballitzer the morning of her testimony. From Ballitzer's guarded

[00:13:29] safehouse away from the fear of mob intimidation or assassination, she, along with an armed police

[00:13:35] escort, met Carter at the courthouse that morning. Ballitzer would describe the experience walking

[00:13:40] from her seat in the courthouse to the witness stand right past Luciano and other co-conspirators

[00:13:45] glaring at her every move. Quote, I now know how a condemned person feels when they walked that last

[00:13:51] mile. Days later, Florence Brown took the stand. Brown received her nickname Koky Flow because of her

[00:13:58] particular drug habit. In fact, she had been arrested only days before the trial and was still going

[00:14:04] through the symptoms of cold turkey withdrawal when she took the stand. From a combination of nerves

[00:14:09] and withdrawal, Brown shook so badly on the stand during her testimony that the judge took the

[00:14:14] unprecedented step of letting her drink small amounts of brandy on three separate occasions to

[00:14:19] help calm her down. The defense, trying to poke holes in Brown's testimony and credibility,

[00:14:24] asked that she be drug tested before she could continue her testimony. Eunice Carter was present

[00:14:29] during the examination, along with the doctors. Nancy Presser admitted under oath in her testimony

[00:14:35] that her former boyfriend Ralph Lacory, a member of Luciano's combination had threatened Presser not

[00:14:40] to testify. He said if she knew what was good for her, she would not testify and if she did,

[00:14:46] she would be killed. The three women's fears were well-founded. Others had testified just days

[00:14:51] before about the brutal reprisals waiting for anyone who spoke out against the combination.

[00:14:56] One madam testified that she witnessed girls having their feet and stomachs burned with cigarettes

[00:15:01] or cigars and having their tongue slit for talking. She had also heard of a rival booker who

[00:15:07] was buried alive. The prosecution's case was strong. Understandably, the defense tore into

[00:15:13] the credibility of the witnesses to which the judge himself instructed the jury that simply because

[00:15:18] the women testifying were prostitutes did not make their testimony untrue. In what must have

[00:15:23] seemed like an obvious error in hindsight, the defense decided to put Lucky Luciano himself on

[00:15:28] this stand. When it was Dewey's turn, he tore into Luciano for an hours-long cross-examination.

[00:15:35] In what The New York Times would describe as a battering, Dewey got Luciano to admit to pass crimes

[00:15:41] and repeated perjury putting on full display for the jury, the type of person they were sitting

[00:15:45] in judgment of. On June 6th, Dewey delivered a five-hour closing argument in an attempt to leave

[00:15:52] no doubt in the jury's mind of Luciano's role in the ring. The jury deliberated for nearly six hours

[00:15:58] late into the evening. During their deliberations, an exhausted Thomas Dewey found a quiet spot in

[00:16:03] the courthouse dining room and went to sleep. At 5.25am on June 7th, the verdict was read.

[00:16:10] Charlie Luciano and his nine co-defendants were guilty of nearly every one of the 68

[00:16:16] charges brought against them. Luciano was sentenced to 35 years in prison. His sentencing represented

[00:16:22] the most senior organized crime figure conviction to that point in American history.

[00:16:27] Eunice Carter looked on as Dewey, standing on the courthouse steps speaking with the press,

[00:16:31] publicly thanked her for her efforts in bringing the combination and its perpetrators to justice.

[00:16:36] As proud as she felt in that moment, she must have felt equally terrified just moments later when

[00:16:43] Lucky Luciano's own brother approached her in the crowd. Not knowing if she would be shot, threatened,

[00:16:48] or slapped, instead, Tony Luciano, strangely and perhaps ominously, simply congratulated her for

[00:16:55] her work on the trial and walked away. After nearly a year of long days and very late nights,

[00:17:03] Eunice Haunt and Carter had helped her boss Thomas Dewey and team of prosecutors bring down the

[00:17:09] most powerful mob boss in the country. She overcame the initial skepticism of a so-called

[00:17:15] vice trial to bring to light a racket of unprecedented scope and scale. Unlike the convictions

[00:17:21] of Al Capone and other mob bosses for taxes, they had gotten Luciano on record for crimes committed

[00:17:26] against society and set the precedent for future prosecutions of organized crime in America.

[00:17:33] In a sad epilogue to the trial's story, the three women most responsible for tying Luciano to

[00:17:38] the combination, Nancy Presser, Mildred Ballitzer, and Flow Brown attempted to recant their stories

[00:17:45] just a year later. The women were under some federal protection, though not sufficient enough to

[00:17:50] keep Luciano's henchmen from eventually tracking them down and forcing them under pressure to change

[00:17:55] their stories. For Luciano's appellate trial, Thomas Dewey this time named Eunice Carter as his

[00:18:00] co-counsel for the April 1937 trial. Together, Dewey and Carter effectively put Luciano's appeal to

[00:18:07] bed proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the three women have been gotten to and that their

[00:18:11] previous testimony was the accurate one. And while Lucky Luciano remained in jail for another

[00:18:17] nine years, he would eventually be set free and acquit pro quo for his help during World War Two.

[00:18:22] One condition of his release was that he was to be deported to Italy. So in 1946,

[00:18:28] Luciano set sail for Sicily. He never again returned to America.

[00:18:33] Eunice Carter and Thomas Dewey's partnership would continue. She would campaign vigorously for

[00:18:38] his New York City district attorney run in 1937. The much maligned incumbent William Dodge saw the

[00:18:43] writing on the wall and opted to not even seek reelection against the nationally famous mob prosecutor.

[00:18:49] Dewey won election and upon assuming office appointed Eunice Carter, deputy assistant district

[00:18:55] attorney for the city of New York. A position never before held by a woman, let alone a woman of color.

[00:19:01] With the new post, she also became one of the highest paid black lawyers in the country of any gender.

[00:19:08] In the DA's office, Carter would help Dewey continue to prosecute the underworld,

[00:19:12] taking down what was once the untouchable numbers or gambling racket,

[00:19:16] as well as leading figures like Tamini Hallbos, Jimmy Hines.

[00:19:20] In so doing, they didn't just go after the mob itself but the corrupt, powerful political figures

[00:19:26] that gave them cover. Dewey's rise continued at a meteoric pace. He threw his hat in the ring for

[00:19:31] the 1938 New York governor's race. Though he came up short, his narrow loss and popularity not

[00:19:37] only foresaw future statewide office, but there have been talk for a few years about the possibility

[00:19:43] of the American presidency. As Dewey rose, Eunice Carter rose with him. She was much in demand as

[00:19:50] a public speaker. Her alma mater Smith college honored her with an honorary doctor of laws,

[00:19:55] the first ever black woman to receive such an honor. Hollywood even took notice with its 1939

[00:20:00] release of gang smashers, a movie with an all-black cast that told the story of a Harlem female

[00:20:06] police detective who helped take down the mob. It didn't take the press long to conclude that

[00:20:10] movie was inspired by the recent actions of the New York City prosecutors and police generally

[00:20:15] and Eunice Hutton Carter specifically. Carter got a promotion at the DA's office in 1939,

[00:20:21] when Saul Gelb, one of Dewey's most trusted advisors, left his role as head of special sessions,

[00:20:26] the department in charge of all misdemeanor cases. The department and role was then given to Eunice.

[00:20:32] She had a staff of the most talented young lawyers in the country. The staff was all white

[00:20:37] and mostly male, the boss, the only black woman. But neither race nor gender mattered in this

[00:20:43] rare if not unheard of working environment in the 1930s because the boss was the most talented,

[00:20:50] most accomplished and hardest working lawyer among them and they all knew it and respected her for it.

[00:20:56] Eunice's tenure as head of special sessions was highly successful and Dewey publicly credited

[00:21:01] Carter with a department's increase in successful convictions. He also praised her for her singular

[00:21:06] leadership in identifying, proposing and guiding through the New York legislature groundbreaking

[00:21:11] juvenile crime legislative reform, namely not treating 16 to 18-year-old as adults or increasing

[00:21:18] the penalties with each misdemeanor offense. Carter's reform helped greatly reduce kids heading

[00:21:23] down the wrong path versus working on rehabilitation and wiping the records clean if and when they became

[00:21:29] productive and law-abiding citizens by the time they were adults. At this point, Eunice was one of

[00:21:34] the most popular black women in the country. She worked seemingly nonstop but found time to

[00:21:40] attend her beloved boxing matches, particularly Joe Lewis's trainings and fights. She traveled to

[00:21:45] Chicago's Kamiski Park in 1943 to watch Satchel Page pitch and Josh Gibson hit in the Negro League

[00:21:52] East West All-Star Game. Back in New York she was invited to or asked to speak at just about

[00:21:58] every big society event. I don't know where she gets her energy, Laosie and your said,

[00:22:03] it's hard keeping up with her these days. In 1940, Dewey pursued the Republican nomination for

[00:22:09] president. Eunice Carter was one of his most high-profile campaigners. She represented him at speeches

[00:22:15] across the East Coast and even speaking for him at meetings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

[00:22:20] Dewey's prospects look good at the outset of the race but faded as the primaries were on.

[00:22:26] Less for anything he did wrong and more about the perceived readiness of the other candidates

[00:22:30] in the race. After all, as popular as he was, Dewey was still only 37 years old. His failed attempts

[00:22:37] at higher office did not dissuade him though and in 1942 he ran for and won the New York Governor's

[00:22:43] race. Perhaps by her own choice, Eunice did not accompany Dewey to the state capital of Albany.

[00:22:49] She stayed in the leadership of the District Attorney's Office in New York City where she would remain

[00:22:53] until 1945. Dewey would try again for the presidency in 1944 against Franklin Roosevelt

[00:23:00] and again in 1948 against Harry Truman. Dewey did secure the Republican nomination for president in

[00:23:06] 1944 but lost in a landslide FDR, though he would again be the party's nominee in 1948

[00:23:12] and rather than be the underdog to Roosevelt was the overwhelming frontrunner to an unpopular

[00:23:17] Harry Truman. Dewey led in the polls for most of the 48 race and into election day. As the ballots

[00:23:23] were counted late into the evening, most Americans went to bed, Truman included, believing Dewey

[00:23:29] would be America's next president. The Chicago Daily Tribune infamously headlined with

[00:23:34] Dewey defeats Truman to arrive at everyone's front door the morning after that election

[00:23:39] though that is not what happened. Truman prevailed in a nail-biter. Dewey and all of his supporters,

[00:23:45] including Eunice, were crushed by the unexpected loss. Dewey would continue his governor for another

[00:23:51] six years after which he returned to private law practice and was politically influential behind

[00:23:56] the scenes and close friends with Republicans and Democrats alike. Longing for a judgeship that did

[00:24:02] not seem like it was coming and in fact never did, Eunice left the DA's office in 1945.

[00:24:08] If race or gender was the likely culprit to keep Carter from attaining such a post,

[00:24:13] especially with such a powerful ally as the district attorney, then governor, then presidential

[00:24:18] party nominee, Eunice never suggested it. Instead, she was convinced that her lack of a career

[00:24:24] promotion in the law or politics after her meteoric rise in the 30s and 40s was due to one reason

[00:24:29] above all others. Her brother. By the 1940s, Alphius Huntin, brilliant in his own right had not just

[00:24:37] become associated with but an active member of the Communist Party in America. And while the red

[00:24:43] scare of the late 40s and McCarthyism of the 50s were still a few years away, Alphius' unspoken

[00:24:48] views likely did not do his sister any favors. Thomas Dewey developed a close working relationship

[00:24:54] with J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI. Of the countless pages Hoover had his team dedicate to documenting

[00:25:01] the activities of communist activity in America, over 700 pages were dedicated to Alphius himself.

[00:25:08] Despite the disappointment of never receiving a judgeship, Carter's career after the DA's office

[00:25:13] was hardly a letdown. While never quite reaching the pandemonium caused by her efforts against the

[00:25:18] mob in the DA's office, Eunice became more heavily involved in the advocacy of women's rights at

[00:25:23] home and abroad. She spent the next 25 years furthering her involvement in women's rights.

[00:25:28] Deepening her involvement in Mary McClaude Bethune's National Council of Negro Women,

[00:25:32] becoming Chairwoman, Carter was not only present but actively engaged at the founding of the United

[00:25:37] Nations. The formative meetings were held in San Francisco in 1945 and Eunice co-sponsored a caucus

[00:25:44] called the League of Races. She served on the executive committees and boards of the International

[00:25:48] Council of Women and the YWCA. Eunice's son, Lyle Jr., an accomplished legal mind of his own,

[00:25:55] would go on to serve in both President Kennedy and President Johnson's administrations.

[00:26:00] He would later serve as Chairman of the Children's Defense Fund and become the first president

[00:26:05] of the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, DC.

[00:26:09] Alphius Hutton's Communist Party affiliations and actions would eventually land in

[00:26:13] prison for six months in 1951 at the height of McCarthyism. After his release, his life in America

[00:26:19] was never the same, so he and his wife left the country for good in 1958. They settled in Ghana.

[00:26:26] He was treated like royalty by the leadership there and asked by his friend and founder of the

[00:26:30] NAACP, W.E.B. Du Bois, if Alphius would help him complete his work of the Encyclopedia Africana,

[00:26:37] for which he himself had relocated to Ghana to complete.

[00:26:40] After a 1966 coup in Ghana, Alphius and his wife moved to Zambia.

[00:26:46] Despite their geographic and philosophical separation, Alphius and Eunice would keep in touch

[00:26:50] sporadically throughout their lives. As fate would have it, each dying in 1970 just days apart

[00:26:56] from different forms of cancer. Alphius was 66, Eunice was 70.

[00:27:03] To say Eunice Hutton Carter had a remarkable life would be a gross understatement. While her parents

[00:27:08] were highly educated and sought the same for their daughter, Eunice's family was only a generation

[00:27:14] on both sides removed from slavery. Her improbable rise to one of the most prestigious roles in

[00:27:19] the country on Du'E's team to take down the underworld was worthy of recognition by itself,

[00:27:24] but Eunice Carter was no mere bystander or content to be only present. Through her ambition,

[00:27:30] work ethic, intelligence and talent, she succeeded in a world that was not yet ready for her,

[00:27:36] but success came all the same. By being willing to take opportunities as they came and do the very best

[00:27:42] job she could with each, she helped to shape the history of her city and her country.

[00:27:47] By putting the most powerful mob bosses behind bars, she undoubtedly saved countless lives.

[00:27:53] Through the work she did at the New York DA's office with juvenile criminal reform,

[00:27:58] she surely saved even more lives in more way than one. And through all of her work,

[00:28:03] elevating women's rights and the role of women throughout the world,

[00:28:06] she no doubt deserves to be included in the history and story of equal rights across the world.

[00:28:13] Skill, talent and ingenuity prevail in woman kind as well as in mankind, Eunice often said.

[00:28:20] No one exemplified that truth more than Eunice Hunter Carter.