rgued that by requiring segregation the War Department
ran contrary to the wishes of individual states. Marcus Ray, the
secretary's adviser on race, predicted that integration in the reserve
components would continue to be a "point of increasing pressure." As
he pointed out to Assistant Secretary Petersen, the Army had always
supported segregation in its southern installations on the grounds
that it had to conform with local mores. How then could it refuse to
conform with the local statutes and customs of some northern states
without appearing inconsistent? He recommended the Army amend its race
policy to permit reserve components in states which wished it to
integrate at a level consistent with "local community attitudes."[13-19]

[Footnote 13-19: Memo, Ray for Petersen, 2 Apr 47,
sub: Integration of Negro Personnel in the Reserve
Components, ASW 291.2.]

The Army staff would have nothing to do with Ray's suggestion.
Instead, both the Director of Personnel and Administration and the
Director of Organization and Training supported a new resolution by
the National Guard Policy Committee that left the number of black
units and the question of their integration with white units above the
company level up to the states involved. Integration at the company
level was prohibited, and such integrated companies would be denied
federal recognition. The committee's resolution was adopted by the
Secretary of War in May 1947.[13-20]

[Footnote 13-20: Memo, D/O&T for ASW, 17 Apr 47, sub:
Integration of Negro Personnel in the Reserve
Components, WDGOT 291.2; Memo, D/P&A thru D/O&T for
ASW, 10 Apr 47, same sub, WDGPA 291.2; DF, D/P&A to
CofS, 20 May 47, sub: Integration of Negro Troops,
CSUSA 291.2 Negroes.]

But the fight was not over yet. In 1947 New Jersey adopted a new
constitution that specifically prohibited segregation in the state
militia. By extension no New Jersey National Guard unit could receive
federal recognition. In February 1948 Governor McConnaughy brought (p. 320)
Connecticut back into the fray, this time taking the matter up with
the White House. A month later Governor Luther W. Youngdahl appealed
to the Secretary of Defense on behalf of Negroes in the Minnesota
National Guard. Secretary of the Army Royall quickly reappraised the
situation and e