for a time at least, the Secretary of
Defense would share his direction over the racial policies of the
armed forces.

CHAPTER 13 (p. 315)

Service Interests Versus Presidential Intent

Several months elapsed between the appointment of the President's
Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed
Services and its first meeting, a formal session with the President at
the White House on 12 January 1949. Actually, certain advantages
accrued from the delay, for postponing the meetings until after the
President's reelection enabled the committee to face the services with
assurance of continued support from the administration. Renewed
presidential backing was probably necessary, considering the services'
deliberations on race policy during this half-year hiatus. Their
reactions to the order, logical outgrowths of postwar policies and
practices, demonstrated how their perceived self-interests might
subvert the President's intentions. The events of this six-month
period also began to show the relative importance of the order and the
parochial interests of the services as factors in the integration of
the armed forces.

_Public Reaction to Executive Order 9981_

Considering the substantial changes it promised, the President's order
provoked surprisingly little public opposition. Its publication
coincided with the convening of the special session of a Congress
smarting under Truman's "do-nothing" label. In this charged political
atmosphere, the anti-administration majority in Congress quietly
sidestepped the President's 27 July call for civil rights legislation.
To do otherwise would only have added to the political profits already
garnered by Truman in some important voting areas. For the same reason
congressional opponents avoided all mention of Executive Order 9981,
although the widely expected defeat of Truman and the consequent end
to this executive sally into civil rights might have contributed to
the silence. Besides, segregationists could do little in an immediate
legislative way to counteract the presidential command. Congress had
already passed the Selective Service Act and Defense Appropriations
Act, the most suitable vehicles for amendments aimed at modifying the
impact of the integration order. National elections and the advent of
a new Congress precluded any other significant moves in this direction
until later in the next yea