Eisenhower Directs the Defense Department to End Segregation in Schools on U.S. Army Posts (1953)

Date: March 25, 1953

Created By: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, Civil Rights

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Records as President, Official File, Box 614, OF-142-A-4 Negro Matters – Colored Question – Segregation – Integration (1); NAID #12171142

This March 25, 1953 memorandum from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Secretary of Defense addresses racial segregation in schools located on U.S. Army posts. The issue arose after reporter Alice Dunnigan questioned Eisenhower about segregated schools serving military families in Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas. Army officials reported that schools operated directly by the Army were already moving toward integration and were expected to be completely integrated by the beginning of the next school year.

The more difficult issue involved schools located on federal military property but operated by state or local authorities under state segregation laws. Army officials were surveying these schools and attempting to negotiate integration with local authorities. If negotiations failed, the federal government considered other options, including operating its own integrated schools, although officials warned this could create financial, legal, and political complications. Supporting memoranda examine federal funding, local control, and the costs of replacing segregated schools. Eisenhower’s memorandum reflects his administration’s early effort to eliminate segregation in federally connected institutions and demonstrates the complications created when federal desegregation policy encountered state and local segregation laws. A Washington Post clipping included with the records shows that Eisenhower’s investigation of segregated military-post schools was publicly reported at the time.