Posted on 02/08/2006 6:11:46 AM PST by syriacus
Telegram to President Eisenhower, 1957.
Little Rock Ark Sep 30
The President
The White House
We the parents of nine Negro children enrolled at Little Rock Central High School want you to know that your action in safe guarding their rights have strengthened our faith in democracy.
Now as never before we have an abiding felling of belonging and purposefulness.
We believe that freedom and equality with which all men are endowed at birth can be maintained only through freedom and equality of opportunity for self development growth and purposeful citizenship.
We believe that the degree to which people everywhere realize and accept this concept will determine in a large measure Americas true growth and true greatness.
You have demonstrated admirably to us the nation and the world how profoundly you believe in this concept
For this we are deeply grateful and respectfully extend to you our heartfelt and lasting thanks
May the Almighty and all Wise Father of us all bless guide and keep you always. /s?
Little Rock School Integration Crisis
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education that segregated schools are "inherently unequal." In September 1957, as a result of that ruling, nine African-American students enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The ensuing struggle between segregationists and integrationists, the State of Arkansas and the federal government, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus has become known in modern American history as the "Little Rock Crisis."
The crisis gained attention world-wide.
When Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep the nine students from entering the school, President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to insure the safety of the "Little Rock Nine" and that the rulings of the Supreme Court were upheld.
The manuscript holdings of the Eisenhower Library contain a large amount of documentation on this historic test of the Brown vs. Topeka ruling and school integration.
But we should also pause to remember the Presidents and the men and women of the military who protected the lives of those who were seeking their rights.
I can only hope I would, too.
I've heard this story. Bill Clinton told this story, and how he was there that day and remembered it as if it were just yesterday. Telling how he......
I think Clinton ("The Man from Hope") lived in Little Rock around that time.
I'd love to know how grateful he was about Eisenhower sending the 101st to enforce desegregation.
I am Clinton's age, but only remember the news accounts on TV in Illinois.
Thanks for posting this telegram. It is especially relevant given the sad performance of the sad little peanut man from Georgia yesterday at Coretta King's funeral.
Exactly.
Eisenhower got real "thank yous" from real people who really fought for civil rights.
Carter, on the other hand, can only pat himself on the back.
with one hand while he stabs his country in the back with the other.
What a talented guy!! I guess he had to be good at something.
Eisenhower was the first great civil rights president.
Clinton praised Eisenhower at the 40th anniversary ceremony and John Eisenhower was an honored guest.
That's wonderful. I wish more people knew of Eisenhower's role.
Arguments Stennis made against Eisenhower sending the troops.
Telegram from Senator John Stennis (D-MS) to President Dwight Eisenhower, Oct 1, 1957.
Dear Mr. President:The unfortunate situation concerning our schools, which can rapidly and steadily worsen, presents the most serious and the gravest domestic crisis of this century.
I am convinced we have not yet made clear to you the (1) strong and almost unanimous sentiment prevailing among the mothers and fathers of the South against enforced integration of our schools.
This applies to both white and colored parents.
Nor have we made clear to you what will be the ultimate and fatal consequences of enforced integration.
This is no longer a question merely of civil rights, nor a question of state's rights. The real issue at stake is the survival of our public schools. Schools originate and are sustained through the combined active support and cooperation of parents and the efforts of dedicated teachers. This support and cooperation cannot exist with schools integrated by force.
Continued operations of a militant department of justice in the field of public education at the state level, with (2)the use or threatened use of soldiers marching from school to school, will totally destroy the public school system in great areas of the South.
The innocent victims will be the children of both races. Opposition to integration is actually the overwhelming voice of the mothers and fathers of these children, those most directly concerned.
(3) Their objection is in no spirit of defiance or lawlessness on their part, they are sincere, patriotic and law abiding citizens.
(4)Traditions and customs for a pattern of separate social and civic activities between the races have been handled down from mother to daughter, from father to son. This pattern has afforded generations of peaceful and harmonious cooperation among the people of the two races.
(5)These traditions cannot be erased by court orders, not swept aside by force.
I have great respect for your sincere desire to serve the people and your deep concern for the welfare of all citizens. To get the true facts and to chart any sound course of action, I believe (6) you must seek information and advice beyond your ordinary channels.
I therefore suggest that you select a group of twenty or more personal advisors in each southern state, requesting each of them to talk directly with a minimum fifty school patrons, and then to report their collective findings and recommendations directly to you.
I plead for your earnest personal reflection on these facts. Any decision on your part for action in the present crisis which fails to take into consideration the basic desires and firm conviction of those most directly concerned will plague our nation for generations to come, completely wiping out progress made thus far in peaceful and harmonious relations between the two races, and totally destroying our public schools.
Arguments the anti-war people make against Bush sending the troops
(1) Most American oppose the war in Iraq.
(2) The deployment of the soldiers is not a solution, but is part of the problem
(3) People who are trying to stop the President from sending the troops are patriots.
(4) The Sunnis and Shiites are happier leading separate lives and will never get along together.
(5) Iraqis were happier under Saddam and don't want to be free of him and the troops can't change that.
(6) The President is only listening to his close advisors
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