Black History Month: Dwight Eisenhower and Frederic Morrow
Everett Frederic Morrow was the first African American to hold an executive position at the White House. He was hired by President Dwight Eisenhower as Ike's Administrative Officer for Special Projects, serving in that role from 1955 to 1961. Morrow later wrote a book about his experiences on the job called Black Man in the White House: A Diary of the Eisenhower Years by the Administrative Officer for Special Projects, The White House, 1955-1961
Everett Frederic Morrow was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1906. His father was John Eugene Morrow, a library custodian, who became an ordained Methodist minister in 1912, and his mother was Mary Ann Hayes, a former farm worker and maid. Frederic Morrow graduated from Hackensack High School in 1925, where he was a member of the school debate team for three years. Morrow was a graduate of the law school of Rutgers University. He attended Bowdoin College from 1926–1930, where he was one of only two African American students. He returned home before graduating to assist his family. Bowdoin would later award him an honorary LL.D. degree in 1970.
In 1937, Morrow became a field secretary for the NAACP and worked for that organization before joining the United States Army during World War II. After serving in the army as a private, he was promoted to sergeant. He graduated from Officers Candidate School, and was discharged in 1946 as a Major of Artillery. He was a writer for CBS before joining the Eisenhower campaign in 1952. After Ike won the election, Morrow served as an adviser at the U.S. Commerce Department.
Eisenhower's record on civil rights was progressive for its time, though there is not universal agreement about the pace of the administration's progress on the issue. But when that record is examined, it appears to be quite impressive. While President Harry Truman had begun the process of desegregating the Armed Forces in 1948, actual implementation had been slow. Eisenhower made it clear in his first State of the Union address in February 1953, that the foot-dragging on this issue would not continue. He said "I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces". When he was met with opposition from within the services, he used government control of military spending to force the change. He said, "Wherever Federal Funds are expended, I do not see how any American can justify a discrimination in the expenditure of those funds". Robert B. Anderson, Eisenhower's first Secretary of the Navy, argued against integration in the U.S. Navy, but Eisenhower overruled him. The president told Anderson, "We have not taken and we shall not take a single backward step. There must be no second class citizens in this country." Eisenhower said that racial discrimination was a national security issue. Communists around the world used the racial discrimination and history of violence in the U.S. as a subject of propaganda attacks.
The District of Columbia was (and continues to be) under the control of the Federal government. Eisenhower directed officials in the district to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He urged Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and of 1960 and signed those acts into law. The 1957 act for the first time established a permanent civil rights office inside the Justice Department and a Civil Rights Commission to hear testimony about abuses of voting rights. Although both acts were much weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights legislation since 1875.
In 1957, the state of Arkansas refused to honor a federal court order to integrate their public school system stemming from the Brown decision. Eisenhower demanded that Arkansas governor Orval Faubus obey the court order. When Faubus refused, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent in the 101st Airborne Division. They escorted and protected the entry of nine African-American students to Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school. This was the first time this had occurred since the Reconstruction Era. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote to Eisenhower to thank him for his actions, writing "The overwhelming majority of southerners, Negro and white, stand firmly behind your resolute action to restore law and order in Little Rock".
Morrow was hired in 1955 to advise the President on civil rights issues involving African-Americans. He was the only African American on a staff dealing with racial tensions related to integration. It was not an easy position for Morrow, who faced difficult personal and professional struggles at the White House. The Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the Little Rock crisis all occurred during Morrow’s White House years. As progressive as Eisenhower was, Morrow still found himself often frustrated and angered. He lived at a time when qualified African Americans were excluded from high-level political positions. Morrow wrote that he found relations within the president’s staff to be "correct in conduct, but cold."
Morrow publicly urged the White House and the Republican Party to champion racial integration and equal rights. He expressed the belief that the party's failure to do so was responsible for its "ignominious defeat" in the Congressional elections in 1958, after which he called on its leadership to do some "soul-searching."
After the Republican Party lost the White House in 1960, Morrow wrote his book on his experiences, In the book he wrote:
"I have discovered certain peculiarities in the White House top staff. There is little sentiment at anyone’s downfall. There may be outward expressions of sympathy, but each man in primarily concerned with his own survival, and there’s always the possibility that another's misfortune will ease the pressure on him."
In the book, Morrow described many accounts where he suffered from racism on personal and professional levels. He also wrote about multiple occasions when he was mistaken for a coat boy or taxi driver while working.
Morrow later became the first African American vice-president of Bank of America. He said at the time, "It still shocks many captains of industry when a Negro seeks a job on the executive level even though he dealt with them directly as part of his official White House assignment." The Bank of America made him an assistant vice president at its international subsidiary on Wall Street in 1964. His responsibilities included foreign loans and business development, and he retired as a senior vice president in 1975. After that he worked as an executive associate at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.
In 1973, Morrow published his autobiography called Way Down South Up North. In 1980, after retiring from Bank of America, Morrow published last autobiography, called Forty Years a Guinea Pig: A Black Man's View from the Top.
Frederic Morrow died on July 20, 1994 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York from complications that followed stroke. He was 88 years of age and was survived by his wife of 37 years, Catherine Gordon Morrow; a sister, Nellie Parker of Baltimore, and a brother, Dr. John H. Morrow of Huntington Beach, California.
Everett Frederic Morrow was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1906. His father was John Eugene Morrow, a library custodian, who became an ordained Methodist minister in 1912, and his mother was Mary Ann Hayes, a former farm worker and maid. Frederic Morrow graduated from Hackensack High School in 1925, where he was a member of the school debate team for three years. Morrow was a graduate of the law school of Rutgers University. He attended Bowdoin College from 1926–1930, where he was one of only two African American students. He returned home before graduating to assist his family. Bowdoin would later award him an honorary LL.D. degree in 1970.
In 1937, Morrow became a field secretary for the NAACP and worked for that organization before joining the United States Army during World War II. After serving in the army as a private, he was promoted to sergeant. He graduated from Officers Candidate School, and was discharged in 1946 as a Major of Artillery. He was a writer for CBS before joining the Eisenhower campaign in 1952. After Ike won the election, Morrow served as an adviser at the U.S. Commerce Department.
Eisenhower's record on civil rights was progressive for its time, though there is not universal agreement about the pace of the administration's progress on the issue. But when that record is examined, it appears to be quite impressive. While President Harry Truman had begun the process of desegregating the Armed Forces in 1948, actual implementation had been slow. Eisenhower made it clear in his first State of the Union address in February 1953, that the foot-dragging on this issue would not continue. He said "I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces". When he was met with opposition from within the services, he used government control of military spending to force the change. He said, "Wherever Federal Funds are expended, I do not see how any American can justify a discrimination in the expenditure of those funds". Robert B. Anderson, Eisenhower's first Secretary of the Navy, argued against integration in the U.S. Navy, but Eisenhower overruled him. The president told Anderson, "We have not taken and we shall not take a single backward step. There must be no second class citizens in this country." Eisenhower said that racial discrimination was a national security issue. Communists around the world used the racial discrimination and history of violence in the U.S. as a subject of propaganda attacks.
The District of Columbia was (and continues to be) under the control of the Federal government. Eisenhower directed officials in the district to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He urged Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and of 1960 and signed those acts into law. The 1957 act for the first time established a permanent civil rights office inside the Justice Department and a Civil Rights Commission to hear testimony about abuses of voting rights. Although both acts were much weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights legislation since 1875.
In 1957, the state of Arkansas refused to honor a federal court order to integrate their public school system stemming from the Brown decision. Eisenhower demanded that Arkansas governor Orval Faubus obey the court order. When Faubus refused, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent in the 101st Airborne Division. They escorted and protected the entry of nine African-American students to Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school. This was the first time this had occurred since the Reconstruction Era. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote to Eisenhower to thank him for his actions, writing "The overwhelming majority of southerners, Negro and white, stand firmly behind your resolute action to restore law and order in Little Rock".
Morrow was hired in 1955 to advise the President on civil rights issues involving African-Americans. He was the only African American on a staff dealing with racial tensions related to integration. It was not an easy position for Morrow, who faced difficult personal and professional struggles at the White House. The Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the Little Rock crisis all occurred during Morrow’s White House years. As progressive as Eisenhower was, Morrow still found himself often frustrated and angered. He lived at a time when qualified African Americans were excluded from high-level political positions. Morrow wrote that he found relations within the president’s staff to be "correct in conduct, but cold."
Morrow publicly urged the White House and the Republican Party to champion racial integration and equal rights. He expressed the belief that the party's failure to do so was responsible for its "ignominious defeat" in the Congressional elections in 1958, after which he called on its leadership to do some "soul-searching."
After the Republican Party lost the White House in 1960, Morrow wrote his book on his experiences, In the book he wrote:
"I have discovered certain peculiarities in the White House top staff. There is little sentiment at anyone’s downfall. There may be outward expressions of sympathy, but each man in primarily concerned with his own survival, and there’s always the possibility that another's misfortune will ease the pressure on him."
In the book, Morrow described many accounts where he suffered from racism on personal and professional levels. He also wrote about multiple occasions when he was mistaken for a coat boy or taxi driver while working.
Morrow later became the first African American vice-president of Bank of America. He said at the time, "It still shocks many captains of industry when a Negro seeks a job on the executive level even though he dealt with them directly as part of his official White House assignment." The Bank of America made him an assistant vice president at its international subsidiary on Wall Street in 1964. His responsibilities included foreign loans and business development, and he retired as a senior vice president in 1975. After that he worked as an executive associate at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.
In 1973, Morrow published his autobiography called Way Down South Up North. In 1980, after retiring from Bank of America, Morrow published last autobiography, called Forty Years a Guinea Pig: A Black Man's View from the Top.
Frederic Morrow died on July 20, 1994 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York from complications that followed stroke. He was 88 years of age and was survived by his wife of 37 years, Catherine Gordon Morrow; a sister, Nellie Parker of Baltimore, and a brother, Dr. John H. Morrow of Huntington Beach, California.