Family told me about that time in corporate business. They would promote a black and tell lower managers it was their job to "make them successful". Most of the time it went poorly and after struggling for while would just disappear.
The most crazy experience was this guy was the head of the group and would show up hungover and drunk. A lot of the times would be hunched over in his desk. So lower managers would take important calls and make up excuses for his absence. Too the point they had to make important decisions regarding the budget and whatnot they had no authority on.
I think things actually cooled off for bit after the 70s from these accounts.