60 Years Ago: Pres. Eisenhower on Little Rock School Integration 9-24-1957 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00on September 24th 1957 President Dwight
2. 0:04Eisenhower flew from Rhode Island to
3. 0:06Washington DC to address the nation
4. 0:09about violent resistance to nine African
5. 0:12American students attempting to
6. 0:13integrate Central High School in Little
7. 0:16Rock Arkansas this is the president's 13
8. 0:18minute address where he announced he was
9. 0:20sending federal troops to ensure the
10. 0:23student safety
11. 0:26from the president's office in the White
12. 0:29House in Washington DC we present a
13. 0:31special address by the President of the
14. 0:33United States
15. 0:34Dwight D Eisenhower mr. Eisenhower
16. 0:37discusses the integration problem at
17. 0:39Little Rock Arkansas ladies and
18. 0:41gentlemen the President of the United
19. 0:43States good evening my fellow citizens
20. 0:50for a few minutes this evening I should
21. 0:55like to speak to you about the serious
22. 0:56situation that has arisen in Little Rock
23. 1:00to make this talk I have come to the
24. 1:03president's office in the White House I
25. 1:05could have spoken from Rhode Island of
26. 1:08where I have been stating recently but I
27. 1:11felt that in speaking from the house of
28. 1:14Lincoln of Jackson and of Wilson my
29. 1:18words would better convey both the
30. 1:20sadness I feel and the action I was
31. 1:23compelled today to make and the furnace
32. 1:27with which I intend to pursue this
33. 1:29course until the orders of the federal
34. 1:32court at Little Rock can be executed
35. 1:35without unlawful interference in that
36. 1:39city under the leadership of demagogic
37. 1:42extremists disorderly mobs have
38. 1:46deliberately prevented the carrying out
39. 1:48of proper orders from a federal court
40. 1:52local authorities have not eliminated
41. 1:54that violent opposition and under the
42. 1:58law I yesterday issued a proclamation
43. 2:00calling upon the mob to disperse this
44. 2:05morning the mob again gathered in front
45. 2:08of the Central High School of Little
46. 2:10Rock obviously for the purpose of again
47. 2:13preventing the carrying out of the
48. 2:17court's orders relating to the admission
49. 2:19of Negro children to that school
50. 2:23whenever normal agencies prove
51. 2:26inadequate to the task and it becomes
52. 2:29necessary for the executive branch of
53. 2:32the federal government to use its powers
54. 2:34and
55. 2:35to uphold federal courts the president's
56. 2:40responsibility is inescapable in
57. 2:43accordance with that responsibility I
58. 2:45have today issued an executive order
59. 2:48directing the use of troops under
60. 2:50federal authority to aid in the
61. 2:53execution of federal law that Little
62. 2:56Rock Arkansas this became necessary when
63. 3:01my proclamation of yesterday was not
64. 3:03observed and the obstruction of justice
65. 3:06still continues it is important at the
66. 3:11reasons for my action be understood by
67. 3:14all our citizens as you know the Supreme
68. 3:19Court of the United States has decided
69. 3:22that separate separate public
70. 3:24educational facilities for the races are
71. 3:28inherently unequal and therefore
72. 3:31compulsory school segregation laws are
73. 3:34unconstitutional
74. 3:36our personal opinions about the decision
75. 3:39have no bearing on the matter of
76. 3:42enforcement the responsibility and
77. 3:45authority of the Supreme Court to
78. 3:47interpret the Constitution are very
79. 3:49clear local federal courts were
80. 3:54instructed by the Supreme Court to issue
81. 3:56such orders and decrees as might be
82. 4:00necessary to achieve admission to public
83. 4:02schools without regard to race and with
84. 4:06all deliberate speed during the past
85. 4:10several years many communities in our
86. 4:12southern states have instituted public
87. 4:15school plans for gradual progress in the
88. 4:18enrollment and attendance of school
89. 4:20children of our races in order to bring
90. 4:24themselves into compliance with the law
91. 4:27of the land
92. 4:29thus they demonstrated to the world that
93. 4:32we are a nation in which laws not men
94. 4:35are supreme I regret to say that this
95. 4:40truth the cornerstone of our liberties
96. 4:43was not observed in this
97. 4:46it was my hope that this localized
98. 4:48situation would be brought under control
99. 4:51by city and state authorities if the use
100. 4:54of local police powers had been
101. 4:56sufficient our traditional method of
102. 4:59leaving the problem in those hands would
103. 5:01have been pursued but when large
104. 5:04gatherings of obstructionists made it
105. 5:07impossible for the decrees of the court
106. 5:09to be carried out both the law and the
107. 5:12national interest demanded that the
108. 5:16president take action here is the
109. 5:20sequence of events in the development of
110. 5:22the Little Rock School case in May of
111. 5:261955 the Little Rock School Board
112. 5:29approved a moderate plan for the gradual
113. 5:32desegregation of the public schools in
114. 5:35that city it provided that a start
115. 5:38toward integration would be made at the
116. 5:41present term in the high school and that
117. 5:43the plan would be in full operation by
118. 5:461963 here I might say that in a number
119. 5:51of communities in Arkansas integration
120. 5:54in the schools has already started and
121. 5:57without violence of any kind
122. 5:59now this Little Rock Plan was challenged
123. 6:03in the courts by some who believes that
124. 6:06the period of time as proposed in the
125. 6:08plan was too long the United States
126. 6:12Court at Little Rock which has
127. 6:14supervisory responsibilities under the
128. 6:16law for the plan of desegregation in the
129. 6:19public schools dismissed the challenge
130. 6:22thus approving a gradual rather than an
131. 6:25abrupt change from the existing system
132. 6:29the court found that the school board
133. 6:31had acted in good faith in planning for
134. 6:34a public school system free from racial
135. 6:38discrimination since that time the court
136. 6:43has on three separate occasions
137. 6:45it should orders directing that the plan
138. 6:47carried out all persons were instructed
139. 6:51to refrain from interfering with the
140. 6:54efforts of the school
141. 6:55to comply with the law proper and
142. 6:59sensible observance of the law then
143. 7:01demanded their respectful obedience
144. 7:03which the nation has a right to expect
145. 7:06from all its people this unfortunately
146. 7:09has not been the case at Little Rock
147. 7:13certain misguided persons many of them
148. 7:16imported into Little Rock by agitators
149. 7:19have insisted upon defying the law and
150. 7:22have sought to bring it into disrepute
151. 7:25the orders of the court have thus been
152. 7:29frustrated the very basis of our
153. 7:33individual rights and freedoms rests
154. 7:36upon the certainty that the president
155. 7:38and the executive branch of government
156. 7:40will support and ensure the carrying out
157. 7:44of the decisions of the federal courts
158. 7:46even when necessary with all the means
159. 7:50that the president's command unless the
160. 7:54President did so Anarchy would result
161. 7:56there would be no security for any
162. 7:59except that which each one of us could
163. 8:02provide for himself the interest of the
164. 8:06nation and the proper fulfillment of the
165. 8:08law's requirements cannot yield to
166. 8:10opposition and demonstrations by some
167. 8:13few persons mob rule can not be allowed
168. 8:18to override the decisions of our courts
169. 8:22now let me make it very clear that
170. 8:25federal troops are not being used to
171. 8:28relieve local and state authorities of
172. 8:32their primary duty to preserve the peace
173. 8:35and order of the community nor are the
174. 8:38troops there for the purpose of taking
175. 8:40over the responsibilities of the school
176. 8:43board and other responsible local
177. 8:45officials in running Central High School
178. 8:49the running of our school system and the
179. 8:51maintenance of peace and order in each
180. 8:53of our states are strictly local affairs
181. 8:55and the federal government does not
182. 8:57interfere except in very special cases
183. 9:00and when requested by one of the several
184. 9:03states in the present case that troops
185. 9:06are there for soon to law solely for the
186. 9:10purpose of preventing interference with
187. 9:12the orders of the court the proper use
188. 9:17of the powers of the executive branch to
189. 9:19enforce the orders of a federal court is
190. 9:22limited to extraordinary and compelling
191. 9:24circumstances manifestly such an extreme
192. 9:28situation has been created in Little
193. 9:30Rock this challenge must be met and with
194. 9:34such measures as will preserve to the
195. 9:36people as a whole there lawfully
196. 9:39protected rights enough climate
197. 9:41permitting their free and fair exercise
198. 9:45the overwhelming majority of our people
199. 9:48in every section of the country are
200. 9:50united in their respect for observance
201. 9:52of the law even in those cases where
202. 9:56they miss a group may disagree with that
203. 9:58one they deplore the call of extremists
204. 10:02to violence the decision of the Supreme
205. 10:07Court concerning school integration of
206. 10:09course affects the South more seriously
207. 10:12than it does other sections of the
208. 10:14country in that region I have many warm
209. 10:17friends some of them in the city of
210. 10:20Little Rock I have deemed it a great
211. 10:23personal privilege to spend in our
212. 10:25Southland tours of duty while in the
213. 10:27military service and enjoyable
214. 10:30recreational periods since that time
215. 10:33so from intimate personal knowledge I
216. 10:37know that the overwhelming majority of
217. 10:40the people in the south including those
218. 10:42of Arkansas and of Little Rock part of
219. 10:45good-will United in their efforts to
220. 10:48preserve and respect the law even when
221. 10:50they disagree with it they do not
222. 10:54sympathize with mob rule they like the
223. 10:59rest of our nation have proved in two
224. 11:01great Wars
225. 11:02their readiness to sacrifice for a merit
226. 11:05and the foundation of the American Way
227. 11:09of life is our national respect for law
228. 11:13in the south as elsewhere citizens are
229. 11:17keenly aware the tremendous disservice
230. 11:19that has been done to the people of
231. 11:21Arkansas in the eyes of the nation and
232. 11:24that has been done to the nation in the
233. 11:27eyes of the world at a time when we face
234. 11:30grave situations abroad because of the
235. 11:34hatred that communism bears toward a
236. 11:36system of government based on human
237. 11:38rights it would be difficult to
238. 11:41exaggerate the harm that is being done
239. 11:44to the prestige and influence and indeed
240. 11:46to the safety of our nation and the
241. 11:49world our enemies are gloating over this
242. 11:53incident and using it everywhere to
243. 11:56misrepresent our whole nation we are
244. 11:59portrayed as a violator of those
245. 12:01standards of conduct which the peoples
246. 12:04of the world United to proclaim in the
247. 12:07charter of the United Nations there they
248. 12:10affirmed faith in fundamental human
249. 12:13rights and in the dignity and worth of
250. 12:16the human person and they did so without
251. 12:19distinction as to race sex language or
252. 12:23religion and so with deep competence I
253. 12:28call upon the citizens of the state of
254. 12:30Arkansas to assist in bringing to an
255. 12:33immediate end all interference with the
256. 12:35law and its processes if resistance to
257. 12:40the federal court order ceases at once
258. 12:43the further presence of federal troops
259. 12:45will be unnecessary and the city of
260. 12:48Little Rock will return to its Norman
261. 12:50normal habits of peace and order and
262. 12:52they blacked upon the fair name and high
263. 12:55honor of our nation in the world will be
264. 12:57removed thus will be restored the image
265. 13:02of America and of all these parts as one
266. 13:05nation indivisible with liberty and
267. 13:08justice for all
268. 13:10good night and thank you very much
269. 13:18this has been a special address by the
270. 13:20President of the United States
271. 13:22Dwight D Eisenhower this special program
272. 13:24has come to you from the president's
273. 13:26office in the White House in Washington
274. 13:28DC