Letter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from John W. Armstrong Favor of School Integration
10/08/1957
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In this letter from John W. Armstrong to President Eisenhower, the Texas resident and school principal shares his opinion on the recent actions by the President during the Little Rock 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 world-wide attention. 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.
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 world-wide attention. 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.
This primary source comes from the Collection DDE-WHCF: White House Central Files (Eisenhower Administration).
National Archives Identifier: 6092857
Full Citation: Letter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from John W. Armstrong Favor of School Integration; 10/08/1957; Collection DDE-WHCF: White House Central Files (Eisenhower Administration). [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/letter-to-president-eisenhower-from-john-w-armstrong-favor-school-integration, February 13, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
