President Eisenhower’s Telegram to Governor Orval Faubus During the Little Rock Crisis (1957)

Date: September 5, 1957

Created By: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Original or Replica: Original

Era: Civil Rights, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: Kevin McCann Collection of Press and Radio Conferences and Press Releases, Box 20, September 1957; NAID #12237650

This document is a White House press release issued by Press Secretary James C. Hagerty on September 5, 1957, reproducing a telegram sent by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus during the Little Rock Crisis. The telegram was sent in response to Governor Faubus’s request that the President support Arkansas’s actions regarding the integration of Little Rock Central High School.

In his response, President Eisenhower reaffirmed his constitutional duty to uphold and defend the Constitution and declared that the federal government would enforce the rulings of the federal courts regarding school desegregation. He rejected claims that federal authorities intended to arrest the governor or had monitored his communications and informed Faubus that the Department of Justice was investigating possible interference with the federal court’s integration order. Eisenhower concluded by expressing his expectation that Governor Faubus and Arkansas state officials, including the Arkansas National Guard, would fully cooperate with the United States District Court.