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.
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Documents:
Press release, President Eisenhower's telegram to Governor Faubus, September 5, 1957
Press Resease of DDE telegram to Faubus September 5, 1957
Telegram, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus to President Eisenhower, September 12, 1957
Telegram Faubus to President September 12, 1957
Press release, statements by President Eisenhower and Governor Faubus from Newport, Rhode Island, September 14, 1957
Statements September 14, 1957 pg1
Statements September 14, 1957 pg2
Diary - notes dictated by President Eisenhower on October 8, 1957 concerning visit with Governor Faubus at Newport, Rhode Island, September 14, 1957
Diary notes DDE re mtg with Faubus
Press release, statement by the President from the U.S. Naval Base, Newport, Rhode Island, September 21, 1957
Statement by President
Telegram, Woodrow Wilson Mann, Mayor of Little Rock, to President Eisenhower, September 23, 1957
Telegram Mann to President pg1
Telegram Mann to President pg2
Telegram Mann to President pg3
Press release, Proclamation 3204, Obstruction of Justice in the State of Arkansas, by the President of the United States of America, September 23, 1957
Press release proclamation 3204 Sept 23 57 pg1
Press release proclamation 3204 Sept 23 57 pg2
Press release, Executive Order 10730, Providing for the Removal of an Obstruction of Justice Within the State of Arkansas, September 24, 1957
Press Release EO10730 Sept 24 57 pg1
Press Release EO10730 Sept 24 57 pg2
Telegram, Woodrow Wilson Mann to President Eisenhower, September 24, 1957
Telegram Mann to President 9 24 57 pg1
Telegram Mann to President 9 24 57 pg2
Letter, President Eisenhower to General Alfred Gruenther, September 24, 1957
Letter DDE to Gen Gruenther 9 24 57 page1
Letter DDE to Gen Gruenther 9 24 57 page2
Handwritten notes by President Eisenhower on decision to send troops to Little Rock, September 1957
DDE troops to Arkansas
Press release, containing speech on radio and television by President Eisenhower, September 24, 1957
PressRelease924571
PressRelease924572
PressRelease924573
PressRelease924574
Draft of above speech on Little Rock, undated
LittlerockSpeechdraft92457pg1
LittlerockSpeechdraft92457pg2
LittlerockSpeechdraft92457pg3
LittlerockSpeechdraft92457pg4
LittlerockSpeechdraft92457pg5
Telephone calls, September 24, 1957
Telephonecalls92457
Telephone calls, September 25, 1957
Telephonecalls92557
Telegram, Congressman Oren Harris, Arkansas, to President Eisenhower, September 26, 1957
TelegramOrenHarristoDDE92657pg1
TelegramOrenHarristoDDE92657pg2
TelegramOrenHarristoDDE92657pg3
TelegramOrenHarristoDDE92657pg4
Letter, President Eisenhower to Congressman Oren Harris, September 30, 1957
LtrDDEtoCongOrenHarris93057
Telegram, Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell to President Eisenhower, September 26, 1957
TelegramRusselltoDDE92657pg1
TelegramRusselltoDDE92657pg2
Letter, President Eisenhower to Senator Russell, September 27, 1957
LetterDDEtoSenRichardRussell92757page1
LetterDDEtoSenRichardRussell92757page2
Telegram, parents of the nine Africian-American students to President Eisenhower, October 1, 1957.
LittleRock9teletoDDE10157pg1
LittleRock9teletoDDE10157pg2
LittleRock9teletoDDE10157pg3
Letter, President Eisenhower to Mr. W.B. Brown, October 4, 1957 [identical letter sent to each set of parents]
DDEtoBrown10457
Telegram, Senator John Stennis, Mississippi, to President Eisenhower Eisenhower, October 1, 1957
TelegramStennistoDDE10157pg1
TelegramStennistoDDE10157pg2
TelegramStennistoDDE10157pg3
TelegramStennistoDDE10157pg4
TelegramStennistoDDE10157pg5
Letter, President Eisenhower to Senator Stennis, October 7, 1957
Ltr DDE to Sen John Stennis 10 7 57 pg1
Ltr DDE to Sen John Stennis 10 7 57 pg2
Letter, J. Lee Rankin, U.S. Solicitor General, to Sherman Adams, Assistant to the President, concerning list of Court orders and plans for school desegregation, October 28, 1957
Ltr J Lee Rankin to Sherman Adams pg1
Ltr J Lee Rankin to Sherman Adams pg2
Attachment to Rankin letter listing court orders and plans for school desegregation, undated
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg1
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg2
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg3
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg4
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg5
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg6
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg7
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg8
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg9
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg10
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg11
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg12
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg13
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg14
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg15
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg16
AttachmentCourtorderPlansforSchoolpg17
Situation Report No. 176, by the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations, December 17, 1957
Situation report no 176
Situation Report No. 211, February 6, 1958
Situation report Central High School No 211 pg1
Situation report Central High School No 211 pg2
Situation Report No. 217, February 14, 1958
Situation report no 217 page1
Situation report no 217 page2
Situation Report No. 218, February 17, 1958
Situationreportno218pg1
Situationreportno218pg2
Situation Report No. 226, February 27, 1958
Situation Report Arkansas no 226
Situation Report No. 233, March 10, 1958
Situation Report Arkansas no 233
Letter, Jackie Robinson to President Eisenhower, May 13, 1958
Robinson to DDE May 13 58 page 1
Robinson to DDE May 13 58 page 2
Letter, President Eisenhower to Jackie Robinson, June 4, 1958
DDE to Robinson june 4 58
For a listing of collections at the Eisenhower Library with materials on this topic, please see:
school integration search report
Secondary sources on this topic include:
The Eisenhower Administration and Black Civil Rights by Robert F. Burk, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.
A Moderate Among Extremists: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the School Desegregation Crisis by James C. Duram, Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981.
The White House Years: Waging Peace, 1956-1961 by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Heinemann: London, 1966.
Crisis at Central High by Elizabeth Huckaby, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980.
Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality by Richard Kluger, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.
Black Man in the White House by E. Frederic Morrow, New York: Coward-McCann, 1963
