[301][302]
Since 1863, the U.S. mission to Haiti and Santo Domingo was almost always led by an African-American diplomat regardless of what party the sitting president belonged to; Wilson ended this half-century-old tradition but continued to appoint black diplomats like George Washington Buckner,[303][304] as well as Joseph L. Johnson,[305][306] to head the mission to Liberia.[307] Since the end of Reconstruction, the federal bureaucracy had been possibly the only career path where African-Americans could experience some measure of equality,[308] and was the life blood and foundation of the black middle-class.[309] Wilson's administration escalated the discriminatory hiring policies and segregation of government offices that had begun under Theodore Roosevelt and continued under Taft.[310] In Wilson's first month in office, Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson urged the president to establish segregated government offices.[311] Wilson did not adopt Burleson's proposal but allowed Cabinet Secretaries discretion to segregate their respective departments.[312] By the end of 1913, many departments, including the Navy, Treasury, and Post Office, had segregated work spaces, restrooms, and cafeterias.[311] Many agencies used segregation as a pretext to adopt a whites-only employment policy, claiming they lacked facilities for black workers. 