Sunday, June 24, 2018

African-Americans Acquire Significant Roles in the Eisenhower Administration: Black Leaders Manage Central Duties in Ike’s White House

On July 10, 1955, the Washington Post and Times Herald contained an article headlined “Negro Named to Ike’s Staff.” The article revealed that no previous president had ever appointed an African-American to such an important office:

President Eisenhower yesterday named a Negro for the first time to an important post in his executive office.

On July 12, 1955, the New York Times ran a brief article under the headline, “White House Aide Sworn.” But the small size of the article belied its historical significance.

When Everett Frederic Morrow took his oath of office, he was living proof that President Eisenhower was creating equal opportunities for African-Americans. Never before had a Black man achieved the high standing that Mr. Morrow obtained that day, as the Times stated:

Everett F. Morrow was sworn in today as a White House administrative officer, the first Negro to hold a position of that rank.

Mr. Morrow had experiences and connections from his previous work at the CBS network and in the NAACP.

Ike’s administration had implemented a list of fourteen actions designed to promote and establish civil rights. President Eisenhower also worked to obtain congressional approval for the 1957 Civil Right Bill.

Angered by Ike’s work, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd opposed the Civil Rights Bill by voting against it, while Democratic Senator (and later president) Lyndon Johnson opposed the bill by offering amendments which would prevent its implementation.

Despite such vicious opposition to civil rights, President Eisenhower continued to work in support of civil rights, confirming the decision by the National Council of Negro Democrats to endorse him in the 1952 presidential election. That shocking action was taken by this group because it understood that the Democratic Party’s national candidates offered no meaningful opposition to segregation.

Many leaders in the Democratic Party, like Senators Byrd and Johnson, were infuriated that African-American voters would dare to vote for a Republican candidate like Eisenhower. Black voters, however, defiantly disobeyed the Democratic Party, because they understood that meaningful advances toward civil rights, and meaningful opposition to segregation, would come only from Ike’s administration.