ated units, allowing not less than four men and not more than 10
percent in a company-size unit. Enlisted men could choose to serve
under officers of their own race.[14-9]

[Footnote 14-8: Memo, Col J. F. Cassidy, PPB, for Dir,
PPB Staff, 25 Feb 49, sub: Policies of the Three
Departments With Reference to Negro Personnel, FC
file.]

[Footnote 14-9: PPB, Draft (Reid and Lanham), Proposed
Directive for the Armed Forces for the Period 1
July 1949 to 1 July 1950, 28 Feb 49, FC file.]

Favorably received in the secretary's office, the proposed directive
came too late for speedy enactment. On 3 March Forrestal resigned, and
although Leva hoped the directive could be issued before Forrestal's
actual departure, "in view of his long-standing interest in this
field," Forrestal was obviously reluctant to commit his successor (p. 345)
to so drastic a course.[14-10] With a final bow to his belief in
service autonomy, Forrestal asked Reid and Lanham to submit their
proposal to the service secretaries for review.[14-11] The secretaries
approved the idea of a unified policy in principle, but each had very
definite and individual views on what that policy should contain and
how it should be carried out. Denied firm direction from the ailing
Forrestal, Reid and Lanham could do little against service opposition.
Their proposal was quietly tabled while the board continued its search
for an acceptable unified policy.

[Footnote 14-10: Note, Leva thru Ohly to Buck Lanham,
attached to Draft of Proposed Directive cited in n.
9.]

[Footnote 14-11: Memo, Chmn, PPB, for John Ohly,
Assistant to SecDef, 15 Mar 49; Revised Min, PPB
Mtg, 18 Mar 49; both in FC file.]

Perhaps it was just as well, for the Reid-Lanham draft had serious
defects. It failed to address the problems of qualitative imbalance in
the peacetime services, probably in deference to Forrestal's recent
rejection of the Army's call for a fair distribution of high-scoring
enlistees. While the proposal encouraged special training for Negroes,
it also limited their assignment to a strict 10 percent quota in any
unit. The result would have been an administrative nightmare, with
trained men in excess of the 10 percent quota assigned to othe