Dwight Eisenhower and Civil Rights
It was under the watch of President Dwight D. Eisenhower that many of the advances in civil rights for African-Americans began to take shape. Eisenhower saw the need for expanded rights for African-Americans, but was somewhat conservative, in that he feared that if expanded civil rights were imposed too quickly, there would be a backlash among southern whites. Eisenhower preferred a much more gradual approach. However when the Supreme Court sped up the treadmill on civil rights, Eisenhower was first and foremost a proponent of the notion that the law must be upheld and enforced.
When US Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson died in office on September 8, 1953, less than eight months into the President's first term, Eisenhower appointed California Governor Earl Warren as Chief Justice on Oct 5, 1953. In 1952 Warren had been a candidate for the Republican nomination for President, but withdrew in support of Eisenhower. Warren was reported to have offered to support Eisenhower's campaign in return for an appointment to the Supreme Court at the first possible opportunity. Eisenhower wanted a conservative justice and he believed that Warren would fit the bill. But as Eisenhower would later learn, Warren turned out to be anything but conservative, and he would later consider the appointment of Warren as one of his regrets.
Interestingly enough, Eisenhower considered racial discrimination to be a national security issue. At the time he was afraid of the spread of communism, and he saw Communists around the world using the racial discrimination and history of violence in the United States as a point of propaganda attack.
On May 17, 1954, the Warren Court handed down its unanimous (9–0) decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the case that held that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and that racial segregation was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, this ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement. The day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown, Eisenhower told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 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 acts since the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Eisenhower's proposals for stronger legislation were weakened by the southern Democratic block in the Senate. Ironically, the majority leader in the senate was Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson who, years later as President, would bring about much stronger legislation.
The Brown decision was met with resistance at the state level. In 1957 Arkansas refused to honor a Federal court order to integrate the schools. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in negotiations that failed to resolve the issue. When a resolution could not be reached, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort and protect nine African-American students (known as the "Little Rock Nine") into Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school, for the first time since Reconstruction.
Eisenhower was angered by the violence perpetrated in the south by whites against African-Americans, including physical attacks on individuals, and bombing of churches and schools associated with integration, Eisenhower supported civil rights legislation directed at supporting voting rights. At the time, only 20% of African-Americans voted, largely because of discriminatory laws and practices against them in the South, such as literacy and comprehension tests, and poll taxes.
Eisenhower was consistently careful to appoint to the southern districts federal judges who were solidly committed to equal rights, fighting southern senators to get them confirmed. When enforcement of future civil rights laws came before the district courts in the 1960s, they were upheld by progressive judges appointed by Eisenhower years earlier. Eisenhower’s judicial appointments constitute a significant contribution to civil rights.
Although President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 in 1948 to desegregate the military services, his administration had limited success in realizing it. As a life-long soldier, Dwight Eisenhower understood the reality of racial intolerance in the military. As president, he commanded compliance from subordinates and was able to overcome the deeply rooted racial institutions in the military establishment. By October 30, 1954, the last racially segregated unit in the armed forces had been abolished, and all federally controlled schools for military dependent children had been desegregated.
In July 1955, President Eisenhower appointed E. Frederic Morrow, a graduate of Bowdoin College and the Rutgers University Law School, as Administrative Officer for Special Projects. Morrow would later write of his experiences in his book entitled Black Man in the White House. Through Morrow's efforts, Eisenhower became the first president since Reconstruction to meet personally in the White House with black civil rights leaders. He discussed national policy on civil rights with Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Lester B. Granger.
Initially, Eisenhower favored a patient, constitutionalist approach that would avoid a violent disruption of Southern society. However, by the mid-1950s he realized that he would have no control over the pace of integration, and he responded with actions and proposed legislative initiatives to provide racial equality. He was not successful in getting sweeping reforms passed by Congress, but he did build a sturdy foundation upon which more comprehensive changes were made in the years following his presidency.
When US Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson died in office on September 8, 1953, less than eight months into the President's first term, Eisenhower appointed California Governor Earl Warren as Chief Justice on Oct 5, 1953. In 1952 Warren had been a candidate for the Republican nomination for President, but withdrew in support of Eisenhower. Warren was reported to have offered to support Eisenhower's campaign in return for an appointment to the Supreme Court at the first possible opportunity. Eisenhower wanted a conservative justice and he believed that Warren would fit the bill. But as Eisenhower would later learn, Warren turned out to be anything but conservative, and he would later consider the appointment of Warren as one of his regrets.
Interestingly enough, Eisenhower considered racial discrimination to be a national security issue. At the time he was afraid of the spread of communism, and he saw Communists around the world using the racial discrimination and history of violence in the United States as a point of propaganda attack.
On May 17, 1954, the Warren Court handed down its unanimous (9–0) decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the case that held that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and that racial segregation was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, this ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement. The day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown, Eisenhower told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 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 acts since the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Eisenhower's proposals for stronger legislation were weakened by the southern Democratic block in the Senate. Ironically, the majority leader in the senate was Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson who, years later as President, would bring about much stronger legislation.
The Brown decision was met with resistance at the state level. In 1957 Arkansas refused to honor a Federal court order to integrate the schools. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in negotiations that failed to resolve the issue. When a resolution could not be reached, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort and protect nine African-American students (known as the "Little Rock Nine") into Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school, for the first time since Reconstruction.
Eisenhower was angered by the violence perpetrated in the south by whites against African-Americans, including physical attacks on individuals, and bombing of churches and schools associated with integration, Eisenhower supported civil rights legislation directed at supporting voting rights. At the time, only 20% of African-Americans voted, largely because of discriminatory laws and practices against them in the South, such as literacy and comprehension tests, and poll taxes.
Eisenhower was consistently careful to appoint to the southern districts federal judges who were solidly committed to equal rights, fighting southern senators to get them confirmed. When enforcement of future civil rights laws came before the district courts in the 1960s, they were upheld by progressive judges appointed by Eisenhower years earlier. Eisenhower’s judicial appointments constitute a significant contribution to civil rights.
Although President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 in 1948 to desegregate the military services, his administration had limited success in realizing it. As a life-long soldier, Dwight Eisenhower understood the reality of racial intolerance in the military. As president, he commanded compliance from subordinates and was able to overcome the deeply rooted racial institutions in the military establishment. By October 30, 1954, the last racially segregated unit in the armed forces had been abolished, and all federally controlled schools for military dependent children had been desegregated.
In July 1955, President Eisenhower appointed E. Frederic Morrow, a graduate of Bowdoin College and the Rutgers University Law School, as Administrative Officer for Special Projects. Morrow would later write of his experiences in his book entitled Black Man in the White House. Through Morrow's efforts, Eisenhower became the first president since Reconstruction to meet personally in the White House with black civil rights leaders. He discussed national policy on civil rights with Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Lester B. Granger.
Initially, Eisenhower favored a patient, constitutionalist approach that would avoid a violent disruption of Southern society. However, by the mid-1950s he realized that he would have no control over the pace of integration, and he responded with actions and proposed legislative initiatives to provide racial equality. He was not successful in getting sweeping reforms passed by Congress, but he did build a sturdy foundation upon which more comprehensive changes were made in the years following his presidency.