President Eisenhower is viewed by some Americans as having little or no interest in eliminating racial discrimination and segregation in American society. Others believe that he did very little to promote equal treatment for minority Americans during his presidency. What can we learn about this from the historical record?
Ike’s calm demeanor and outwardly easygoing personality may have contributed, in part, to the view that he was indifferent to civil rights. Was this because he rarely condemned publicly the actions and attitudes of other Americans? It is true that he did not regard himself as a politician and that he seldom used his office to seek public support for his personal views.
Eisenhower approached racial segregation and civil rights issues much the same as he approached all national problems. He did what he could without seeking public recognition of his efforts and without appealing to the extremes in American public life. His approach to the widespread discrimination against minority Americans and especially racial segregation was criticized from both the political right and left: he was moving either too fast, or too slow.
In the twenty-first century, it is facile to look back at the mid-twentieth century and say that Eisenhower did not do enough to end racial discrimination and segregation. This view fails to consider the historical context. Dwight Eisenhower did more toward making equal treatment a civil right for minority Americans than any of his presidential predecessors since the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War. See also this post on the 1864 Battle of Atlanta and how the destruction of Atlanta became the goal of the Union Army.
Check out also this page about a Supreme Court case about alleging that the University of Michigan’s admissions policies were discriminatory. Revisiting Proposition 54 (collecting racial data) renewed the heated national discussions on race-based preferences, affirmative action, and the value of diversity criteria in workplaces and schools.
When we talk about President Eisenhower and his efforts to advocate voting rights for tens of millions of African-Americans, consider the following:
- In 1956, President Eisenhower submitted to Congress the first Civil Rights bills proposed since Reconstruction. The bill’s strongest feature was to provide federal law to enforce voting rights for millions of disenfranchised Negro Americans. The Senate refused to pass the bill. Ike tried again and got the law passed in 1957, but the Senate gutted the voting rights provisions. Other presidents would succeed in getting Congress to pass such legislation in later years, but Eisenhower was the first to propose it. Not only Afro-Americans were affected, but also Native Americans (see: Chief John Hicks), and the Hispanic population, just to mention a few.
- President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 to desegregate the military services of the United States but had limited success in implementing it. Dwight Eisenhower spent the years of his presidency bringing the situation from paper to reality. By the time he left office, integration was a fact in our military forces.
- When a southern state governor – Orval Faubus of Arkansas – openly defied a federal court order to integrate an all-white high school by surrounding the school with state militia to prevent non-whites from entering the building, President Eisenhower sent in elements of the 101st Airborne Division to carry out the court’s mandate. This act, condemned by many at the time, established forever that southern states could not use force to defeat the Constitution. Read also: Osceola, the Man and the Myths.
- Eisenhower, the first American President to elevate someone of African-American origin, E. Frederick Morrow, to a senior executive level position in his administration. This President of German origins was also the first to appoint an Italian-American, Rocco Siciliano, as the President’s Assistant.
- When Eisenhower came to Washington the District of Columbia was thoroughly segregated. Not only theaters, playgrounds, restaurants, and hotels were “Whites Only,” but the police, firefighters, schools, and other city government agencies were segregated. From his first day in office until the end of his administration, Ike worked to achieve full integration in the nation’s capital. Many times he was thwarted by a congressionally controlled city government (the city had no mayor or independent legislative council) and Jim Crow laws. But by several means, including personal meetings in the White House with local government officials, theater owners, businessmen, and other city leaders he cajoled, persuaded, and pressured for racial integration. By the time Eisenhower left Washington, it was nearly a fully integrated city.
- Eisenhower established the first regulations prohibiting racial discrimination across the board in the federal workforce. He also established regulations forcing businesses operating under federal contracts to abide by the same non-discrimination rules.
- Eisenhower was the first president since Reconstruction to personally meet in the White House with black Civil Rights leaders for a national policy meeting (Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Lester B. Granger).
- Perhaps the most important contribution Eisenhower made to the Civil Rights movement is the least well known. He was consistently careful to appoint federal judges to the southern districts (the Fourth and Fifth Circuits) who were solidly committed to equal rights. Many times he had to fight southern senators to get them confirmed, but he was steadfast in the effort. When enforcement of future Civil Rights laws came before the courts in the 1960s and 1970s they were upheld by southern judges appointed by Eisenhower. Elbert Tuttle, John Brown, John Wisdom, Warren Jones, Simon Sobeloff, Clement Haynesworth, and others now recognized for their strong decisions to enforce Civil Rights law, would not have held their pivotal offices without Eisenhower’s careful seeding of the future with his “hidden hand” approach.
See also this post about General (Baron) von Steuben and his replica cabin near Remsen in New York State. At this site, you can find the replica of where von Steuben lived during the last years of his life. Here, you can also find the grave of the highly-respected General who, back in the day, helped the New World gain independence from the Brits.
Also interesting is this article about General John Forbes, a true English and American hero who made significant contributions to both American and British military history just before the American Revolution. Forbes secured the political and military future of George Washington, the first President of the United States. He arranged how Washington met his future wife, the young widow, Martha Custis. Read more here.