President Eisenhower’s Letter to Senator Richard B. Russell on the Little Rock Crisis (1957)

Date: September 27, 1957

Created By: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Original or Replica: Original

Era: Civil Rights, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Papers as President, Administration Series, Box 23, Little Rock Ark (2); NAID #17366869

This letter was sent by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia on September 27, 1957, just days after the President ordered federal troops to enforce the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Responding to criticism from one of the Senate’s most influential opponents of desegregation, Eisenhower explains the constitutional and legal reasoning behind his decision to deploy federal forces to Arkansas.

In the letter, President Eisenhower argues that the use of federal troops became necessary only because Arkansas officials failed to use their police powers to uphold federal court orders and protect citizens exercising their constitutional rights. He contends that allowing state governments to obstruct the enforcement of federal law would invite anarchy and threaten the constitutional system of government. Eisenhower also rejects Senator Russell’s comparison of federal troops to Hitler’s storm troopers, emphasizing that military force was used not to suppress liberty but to preserve the rule of law and the institutions of free government. The President concludes by assuring Russell that any allegations of misconduct by individual soldiers would be investigated by the Secretary of the Army.