droth, Exec,
Cmte on NG and Reserve Policy, 22 Jun 48, Office
file, Army Reserve Forces Policy Cmte.]

[Footnote 13-29: Ltr, Brig Gen A. G. Paxton,
Mississippi National Guard, to Col William
Abendroth, 13 May 1948, Office file, Army Reserve
Forces Policy Cmte.]

Here was tacit recognition of federal supremacy over the National
Guard. In supporting the right of the Secretary of the Army to dictate
racial policy to state guards in 1948, the National Guard Committee
adopted a position that would haunt it when the question of
integrating the guard came up again in the early 1960's.

Despite the publicity given to General Bradley's comments at Fort
Knox, it was the Secretary of the Army, not the Chief of Staff, who
led the fight against change in the Army's racial practices. As the
debate over these practices warmed in the administration and the
national press, Kenneth C. Royall emerged as the principal spokesman
against further integration and the principal target of the civil
rights forces. Royall's sincere interest in the welfare of black
soldiers, albeit highly paternalistic, was not in question. His
trouble with civil rights officials stemmed from the fact that he
alone in the Truman administration still clung publicly to the belief
that segregation was not in itself discrimination, a belief shared by
many of his fellow citizens. Royall was convinced that the separate
but equal provisions of the Army's Gillem Board policy were right in
as much as they did provide equal treatment and opportunity for the
black minority. His opinion was reinforced by the continual assurances
of his military subordinates that in open competition with white
soldiers few Negroes would ever achieve a proportionate share of
promotions and better occupations. And when his subordinates added to
this sentiment the notion that integration would disrupt the Army and
endanger its efficiency, they quickly persuaded the already
sympathetic Royall that segregation was not only correct but
imperative.[13-30] The secretary might easily have agreed with General
Paul, who told an assembly of Army commanders that aside from some
needed improvement in the employment of black specialists "there isn't
a single complaint anyone can make in our use of the Negro."[13-31]

[Footnote 13-30: Ltr, Marx Leva to author, 24 May 70,