Dwight D. Eisenhower's comments on the Supreme Court's decision, and desegregation 1956-08-19

Dwight D. Eisenhower's comments on the Supreme Court's decision, and desegregation 1956-08-19

Dwight D. Eisenhower Papers

Ann Whitman, Dwight D. Eisenhower's secretary describes a telephone conversation between Eisenhower and the Attorney General, Herbert Brownell, regarding the Supreme Court's decision (Brown v. Board of Education) and segregation.
According to Whitman, Eisenhower explicitly tells Brownell to not say "the Eisenhower Administration" have supported the Supreme Court in the desegregation business, before Brownell's brief before the Supreme Court. Eisenhower wanted Brownell to appear as a lawyer, not apart of the Eisenhower Administration.
This demonstrates Eisenhower's "middle of the road" approach to civil rights issues, and this becomes a predecessor to how Eisenhower would deal with the "Mansfield Crisis" a few weeks later.

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s comments on segregation, August 19, 1956, Eisenhower Dwight D.: Papers as President of the United States, 1953-61 (Ann Whitman File), Ann Whitman Diary Series, Box 8, Aug. '56 (1), Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

1956-08-19