In Little Rock, a Matter of Justice
Eisenhower confronts a political and moral crisis
The president declared: "Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts."
Eisenhower sought common ground with white southerners by using language that critics would later portray as pandering to the South or reflecting the president's disagreement with the Supreme Court decision: "Our personal opinions about the decision have no bearing on the matter of enforcement; the responsibility and authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution are very clear."
The president expressed empathy for the South, a region where, he said, "I have many warm friends." He expressed his belief that "the overwhelming majority of the people in the South—including those of Arkansas and of Little Rock—are of goodwill, united in their efforts to preserve and respect the law even when they disagree with it."
Meanwhile, in Little Rock, the world of the nine African-American students had changed. Melba Pattillo wrote that night in her diary: "I don't know how to go to school with soldiers." She prayed: "Please show me. P.S. Please help the soldiers to keep the mobs away from me." After Melba had gone to sleep, she was jolted awake by the doorbell and loud voices. A group of white men was standing on the porch. Holding a shotgun, her grandmother called through the door: "State your business, gentlemen, or I'll be forced to do mine." One responded: "We're from the office of the president of the United States. We have a message from your president." Displaying their identification, they told Melba's mother: "Let your daughter go back to school, and she will be protected."
A reporter described the scene at Central High School on September 25 as "chilling." "The force of law shows nakedly on the point of a bayonet," he wrote. At 9:25 a.m., jeeps arrived at Central High's main entrance, and 30 soldiers accompanied the nine students up the wide steps and into the school. As many as 50 students left after the black students entered, and approximately 750 had failed to appear for school at all.
Outside, agitators taunted the soldiers. A woman lowered her car window and cried, "Heil Hitler!" A bus driver yelled, "All you need now is a Russian flag." By midday, the crowd around the school had dwindled to about 25. And by the next day, it had disappeared. On September 26, Faubus addressed the state, proclaiming: "We are now an occupied territory."
The peaceful day that Eisenhower had planned for September 26 was not to be. First, the administration's contingency plans for a larger conflict in the South produced an embarrassing gaffe. The Army announced that units "throughout the southern states have been placed on special alert to deal with any possible outbreaks in connection with school segregation." The order, if known to Eisenhower in advance, was not meant to be public. It presented Eisenhower's enemies with more ammunition. Faubus exploited it in a speech, leaving the impression that the troop deployment to Little Rock was only the first step in a larger military occupation of the South. He ignored the fact that the order had been revoked four hours earlier.
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