Louisiana Governor Urges Eisenhower to Preserve Segregated Public Schools (1953)

Date: November 20, 1953

Created By: Robert F. Kennon

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-4 Negro Matters – Colored Question – Segregation – Integration (3); NAID #12171147

This letter was written by Louisiana Governor Robert F. Kennon to President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 20, 1953, as the Supreme Court considered the school segregation cases that would become Brown v. Board of Education. Kennon urges the President to ensure that the Department of Justice supports the continued authority of states to control their public school systems and cautions against federal intervention in school segregation.

Kennon argues that Southern states had made significant investments in improving educational opportunities for both white and Black students and contends that a federal mandate requiring integration would disrupt public education, strain state finances, and damage race relations. While affirming the principle of equal treatment under the law, he maintains that responsibility for public education should remain with state and local governments and frames the issue primarily as one of states’ rights and constitutional federalism rather than race.