ustry carrying out vital
war work in a border state, thereby increasing productivity. When he
became secretary, Symington was immediately involved in the Air
Force's race problems; he wanted to know, for instance, why only nine
black applicants had passed the qualifying examination for the current
cadet program.[13-81] When President Truman issued his executive
order, Symington was ready to move. In his own words, "when Mr. Truman
as Commander-in-Chief issued an order to integrate the Air Force, I
asked him if he was serious. He said he was. Accordingly we did just
that. I turned the actual operations of the job over to my Assistant
Secretary Eugene Zuckert.... It all worked out routinely."[13-82]

[Footnote 13-79: Telecon, author with Zuckert.]

[Footnote 13-80: Ltr, Symington to David K. Niles, 28
Jan 50, SecAF files.]

[Footnote 13-81: Memo, SecAF for Zuckert, 5 Jan 48;
Penciled Note, signed "Stu," attached to Memo,
ASecAF for Symington, 20 Jan 48. All in SecAF
files.]

[Footnote 13-82: Ltr, W. Stuart Symington to author, 6
May 70, CMH files.]

To call "routine" the fundamental change that took place in Air Force
manpower practices stretches the definition of the word. The
integration program required many months of intensive study and
planning, and many more months to carry out. Yet if integration under
Symington was slow, it was also inevitable. Zuckert reported that
Symington gave him about eight reasons for integration, the last
"because I said do it."[13-83] Symington's tough attitude, along with the
presidential order, considerably eased the burden of those in the Air
Force who were expected to abandon a tradition inherited from their
Army days. The secretary's diplomatic skill also softened opposition
in other quarters. Symington, a master at congressional relations,
smoothed the way on Capitol Hill by successfully reassuring some
southern leaders, in particular Congressman Carl Vinson of Georgia,
that integration had to come, but that it would come quietly and in a
way least calculated to provoke its congressional opponents.[13-84]

[Footnote 13-83: Telecon, author with Zuckert.]

[Footnote 13-84: Ibid.; see also USAF Oral Hist Interv
with Zuckert.]

Symington assigned general