"a strong
representation" to Fahy against the suggestion that there be a parity
of scores for enlistment in the services. The board also unanimously
opposed the committee's suggestion that the Army send all qualified
Negroes to specialty schools within eighteen months of enlistment,
arguing that such a policy would be administratively impossible to
enforce and would discriminate against white servicemen.[14-58]

[Footnote 14-57: Col J. F. Cassidy, Comments on
Initial Recommendations of Fahy Committee (ca. 26
May 49) FC file.]

[Footnote 14-58: Min, PPB Mtg, 26 May 49, FC file.]

Chairman Reid temporized somewhat in his recommendations to Secretary
Johnson. He admitted that the whole question of parity of entrance
standards was highly controversial. He recognized the justice in
establishing universal standards for enlistment through selective
service, but at the same time he believed it unfair to ask any service
to accept volunteers of lesser quality than it could obtain through
good enlistment and recruitment methods. He wanted Johnson to
concentrate his attack on the parity question.[14-59]

[Footnote 14-59: Memo, Reid for Under SecDef, 23 May
49, sub: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in
the Armed Services; idem for SecDef, 1 Jun 49, sub:
Fahy Committee Initial Recommendations--Discussion
With Members of the Fahy Committee; both in PPB
files. See also Memo, Ohly for Reid, 26 May 49,
sub: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the
Armed Services, FC file.]

Before Johnson could act on his personnel group's recommendations, the
Army and Navy formally submitted their second replies to his directive
on the executive order. Surprisingly, the services provided a measure
of support for the Fahy Committee. For its part, the Navy was under
particular pressure to develop an acceptable program. It, after all,
had been the first to announce a general integration policy for which
it had, over the years, garnered considerable praise. But now it (p. 359)
was losing this psychological advantage under steady and persistent
criticism from civil rights leaders, the President's committee, and,
finally, the Secretary of Defense himself. Proud of its racial policy
and accustomed to the rapport it had a