Thirty-five years later, while I was lying awake nights, frustrated, unable to see a future, Mr. Rickey, by now the president of the Dodgers, was also lying awake at night, trying to make up his mind about a new experiment.

Question

He had never forgotten the agony of that black athlete. When he became a front-office executive in St. Louis, he had fought, behind the scenes, against the custom that consigned black spectators to the Jim Crow section of the Sportsman's Park, later to become Busch Memorial Stadium. His pleas to change the rules were in vain. Those in power argued that if blacks were allowed a free choice of seating, white business would suffer.

Which detail best supports the central idea that many people oppose Branch Rickey’s ideas?

"Mr. Rickey, by now the president of the Dodgers, was also lying awake at night, trying to make up his mind about a new experiment."
"He had never forgotten the agony of that black athlete."
"[H]e had fought, behind the scenes, against the custom that consigned black spectators to the Jim Crow section of the Sportsman's Park"
"Those in power argued that if blacks were allowed a free choice of seating, white business would suffer."

Answer 1

The detail that best supports the central idea that many people oppose Branch Rickey's ideas is:

"Those in power argued that if blacks were allowed a free choice of seating, white business would suffer."

This statement directly illustrates the opposition to Rickey's beliefs, highlighting the resistance he faced from those who prioritized the interests of white businesses over racial integration in sports.