Jackie Robinson Urges President Eisenhower to Take Stronger Action for Civil Rights (1958)

Date: May 13, 1958

Created By: Jackie Robinson

Original or Replica: Original

Era: Civil Rights, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Records as President, Official File, Box 614, OF 142-A (6); NAID #17368592

In this May 13, 1958 letter, baseball legend and civil rights advocate Jackie Robinson writes to President Dwight D. Eisenhower after attending the Summit Meeting of Negro Leaders. Robinson responds directly to Eisenhower’s call for patience in the struggle for civil rights, explaining that African Americans had already demonstrated extraordinary patience after generations of discrimination. He argues that the nation’s approximately 17 million Black Americans should not have to wait for attitudes to change before receiving the constitutional rights enjoyed by other Americans.

Robinson urges Eisenhower to provide stronger presidential leadership on civil rights. He warns that repeatedly encouraging patience could weaken the spirit of freedom among African Americans while strengthening segregationists such as Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Robinson points to Eisenhower’s previous experience confronting Faubus as evidence that patience alone would not achieve integration. Instead, he calls for a clear presidential statement backed by action, even if that required another confrontation with Faubus. Robinson argues that such leadership would demonstrate America’s determination to secure for African Americans the freedoms guaranteed to them under the Constitution.