ram in being"
during the life of the committee. To achieve this change the group
would have to convince the Army and the other services of the need for
and justice of integration. To do less, to settle for the issuance of
an integration directive alone, would leave the services the (p. 350)
option of later disregarding the reforms on the grounds of national
security or for other reasons. Fahy explained to the President that
all this would take time.[14-33] "Take all the time you need," Truman
told his committee.[14-34] This the committee proceeded to do, gathering
thousands of pages of testimony, while its staff under the direction
of Executive Secretary Edwin W. Kenworthy toured military
installations, analyzed the existing programs and operations of the
three services, and perused the reams of pertinent historical
documents.

[Footnote 14-32: Ibid.; see also Fahy Cmte, "A
Progress Report for the President," 7 Jun 49, FC
file.]

[Footnote 14-33: Memo, Fahy for Brig Gen James L.
Collins, Jr. 16 Aug 76, CMH.]

[Footnote 14-34: Interv, author with Fahy.]

That the committee expected the Secretary of Defense to take the lead
in racial affairs, refraining from dictating policy itself, did not
mean that Fahy and his associates lacked a definite point of view.
From the first, Fahy understood Truman's executive order to mean
unequivocally that the services would have to abandon segregation, an
interpretation reinforced in a later discussion he had with the
President.[14-35] The purpose of the committee, in Fahy's view, was not
to impose integration on the services, but to convince them of the
merits of the President's order and to agree with them on a plan to
make it effective.

[Footnote 14-35: Interv, Blumenson with Fahy, 7 Apr
66; Interv, author with Davenport, 31 Oct 71; both
in CMH.]

The trouble, the committee quickly learned, lay in trying to convince
the Army of the practical necessity for integration. On one hand the
Army readily admitted that there were some advantages in spreading
black soldiers through the white ranks. "It might remove any false
charges that equal opportunities are not provided," General Bradley
testified. "It would simplify administration and the use of manpower,
and it would distribute our losses in battle more nea