In late 1944 and early 1945, Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, was engaged in the intense fighting at the Battle of the Bulge. As an officer, he needed maximum flexibility in maneuvering his troops to different locations as needed.
The mobility of U.S. soldiers was limited by directives from President Roosevelt, and from Roosevelt’s Secretary of War, Henry Stimson. Both Roosevelt and Stimson wanted Eisenhower to move his troops within the confines of their segregationist directives: they wanted Black and White soldiers to remain in separate units, and to deny Black soldiers the opportunity to volunteer for combat service.
Eisenhower was massively frustrated by the segregationist regulations. Logistics within a major modern army are complicated in any case, and the blatantly racist policies of Roosevelt and Stimson only made matters worse.
In a courageous move, Eisenhower disobeyed the orders from Washington, integrating the troops under his command, and giving African Americans in the army the opportunity to be in combat. With combat came quicker and more significant promotions, and extra pay. Black voters did not forget, and in 1952 voted for him in large numbers.
African Americans voted for Ike in even larger numbers to reelect him in 1956.
Known fondly by his nickname, “Ike” was popular among all Americans, and he used his social capital to promote the civil rights movement, as historian William Hitchcock writes,
He presided over two enormously important developments that would shape the history of race in America. He lent support to Attorney General Brownell’s strenuous efforts to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957; and he used the power of his office to enforce court-ordered school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, overcoming the resistance of the demagogic governor, Orval Faubus.
Eisenhower, and his vice president, Richard Nixon, had invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to the White House. Ike, Nixon, and MLK strategized about how to find enough votes in Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957. In the end, of the votes cast to turn the bill into law, 100% of the Republican votes cast, both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, supported the bill. A number of Democrats also voted for the bill.
Between this victory in Congress, and Ike’s use of federal troops to protect the “Little Rock Nine” as they attended school, 1957 was a landmark year in the civil rights movement. Encouraged by these developments, Eisenhower went farther. He introduced another civil rights bill.
The strength of the 1957 Act had been somewhat weakened by Senator Lyndon Johnson, who’d added some hostile amendments to it. Ike sought to strengthen the provisions of the 1957 law by passing the 1960 Civil Rights Act.
By the time Eisenhower left office, he’d passed two major pieces of civil rights legislation, collaborated with MLK, and made a clear and adamant stand in favor of desegregation in Little Rock. Ike achieved significant forward movement in civil rights.
