In his commencement address at Washington, D.C.’s Howard University in June 1924, almost six years after World War I ended, President Calvin Coolidge paid tribute to African Americans who had fought in it: “The colored people have repeatedly proved their devotion to the high ideals of our country. They gave their services in the war with the same patriotism and readiness that other citizens did. The records of the selective draft show that somewhat more than 2,250,000 colored men were registered. The records further prove that, far from seeking to avoid participation in the national defense, they showed that they wished to enlist before the selective service act was put into operation, and they did not attempt to evade that act afterwards.” American involvement in that European calamity remains controversial to this day. Personally, I regard it as one of the two greatest foreign policy blunders since the dawn of the 20th century (the other being …