The USCGC Taney was named after the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B. Taney, who authored the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The Court in that case held that the U.S. Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for black people, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free, and so the rights and privileges that the Constitution confers upon American citizens could not apply to them.
The USCGC Taney was a United States Coast Guard Cutter, now a National Historical Landmark. The Taney is notable as the last warship floating that fought in the attack on Pearl Harbor, although Taney was moored in nearby Honolulu Harbor, not Pearl Harbor itself.
Serving her country for 50 years, Taney saw action in both theaters of combat in World War II, serving as command ship at the Battle of Okinawa, and as a fleet escort in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She also served in the Vietnam War, taking part in Operation Market Time. Peacetime duties included the Taney patrolling the seas working in drug interdiction and fisheries protection.
She was decommissioned in 1986, and has since served as a museum ship in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Maryland. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988.
Unfortunately for the great ship and the crews that proudly sailed her, USCGC Taney was named after the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B. Taney, who authored the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The Court in that case held that the U.S. Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for black people, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free, and so the rights and privileges that the Constitution confers upon American citizens could not apply to them.
After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment and 14th Amendments effectively overturned the Dred Scott decision.
The USCGC Taney was a Treasury Class ship – it was one of seven vessels named for former Secretaries of the Treasury (The U.S. Coast Guard has existed in different executive departments over time, including the Departments of Treasury, Transportation, and its current home in the Department of Homeland Security. Although is it a military branch, because the Coast Guard has maritime law enforcement duties, it cannot be in the Department of Defense). The Taney was named for a Secretary of the Treasury, with the unintended consequence being that the same person also produced the awful Dred Scott decision as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The museum which holds USCGC Taney in the public trust is making plans with the City of Baltimore to rename the ship in response to the national outcry about monuments to racism. The name Taney has already been cut off the stern of the ship.
Perspective
I sailed on USCGC Taney in 1984 for a few days, filming a recruiting commercial. Like many sailors, I have the general opposition to changing the name of a ship. Mariners have legends and traditions and believe that after a ship is named and christened, changing the name of a ship is considered bad luck. This may be because sailors believed their boats took on a mind of their own once they were named.
I am also an attorney, and hold trust in the Founders, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 was an abomination, and people at the time recognized it as such. America suffered 750,000 deaths from 1861-1865 to right the wrong of slavery during the Civil War. The Dred Scott decision did not stand long, as the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865 and the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868.
In the case of the Taney name change, it may be time to support this new look at history. No one can defend the Dred Scott decision, and Roger B. Taney cannot be excused as being “a man of his time” – he was educated and had the responsibility of the office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He might have lived during the time of slavery, but he was also an American, representing all of our ideals of equality and freedom, and to deny the citizenship of an entire race of individuals under the color of law is unacceptable. Thank goodness that others of that time took action, and adopted the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.
The board of directors of the parent organization that operates Historic Ships in Baltimore, Living Classroom Foundation, voted unanimously recently to change Taney’s name following a vote by Historic Ships in Baltimore’s advisory board. The people in charge of this National Historical Landmark took what they thought was appropriate action; there was no vandalism or violence, but reasoned action after thoughtful consideration.
The Living Classroom Foundation plans on forming a committee with the city and community organizations to choose a new name for the ship. Some options are “Thurgood Marshall”, the first black Supreme Court Justice, and another candidate is “Cutter 37” – hardly inspiring, and an affront to many Taney sailors.
Perhaps the committee should choose a name more significant to the controversy. USCGC Taney, named for the author of the horrible Supreme Court decision that attempted to normalize institutional racism, might be better christened the USCGC Dred Scott. Dred Scott sued for his emancipation, using the rule of law. Mr. Scott was an ordinary man, a slave, not a Cabinet Secretary or a Chief Justice. To try to change things, he did not engage in vandalism and violence. Although he himself was unsuccessful, his commitment to the rule of law and the power of right eventually changed our country. To truly move forward as a society, we must revisit past decisions but do so through the application of lawful and peaceful means.
Whatever the name change, it will be important that the total history be told, through exhibits associated with the new name of the ship. And as a nod to all of the noble mariners who sailed upon the Taney, and to tradition, a formal re-naming ritual should take place. Smooth sailing to those entrusted with this National Historic Landmark.
JMA
