distinctions.

[Footnote 16-35: Testimony of the Secretary of the Air
Force Before the Fahy Committee, 28 Mar 49,
afternoon session, p. 33.]

The more favorable the publicity garnered by the plan in succeeding
months, the weaker the distinction became between the limited
integration of black specialists and total integration. Reinforcing
the favorable publicity were the monthly field reports that registered
a steady drop in the number of black units and a corresponding rise in
the number of integrated black airmen. This well-publicized progress
provided another, almost irresistible reason for completing the task.

More to the point, the success of the program provided its own impetus
to total integration. The prediction that a significant number of
black officers and men would be ineligible for reassignment or further
training proved ill-founded. The Air Force, it turned out, had few
untrainable men, and after the screening process and transfer of those
eligible was completed, many black units were so severely reduced in
strength that their inactivation became inevitable. The fear of white
opposition that had inhibited the staff planners and local commanders
also proved groundless. According to a Fahy Committee staff report
in March 1950, integration had been readily accepted at all levels
and the process had been devoid of friction. "The men," E. W. (p. 408)
Kenworthy reported, "apparently were more ready for equality of
treatment and opportunity than the officer corps had realized."[16-36]
At the same time, Kenworthy noted the effect of successful integration
on the local commanders. Freed from the charges of discrimination that
had plagued them at every turn, most of the commanders he interviewed
remarked on the increased military efficiency of their units and the
improved utilization of their manpower that had come with integration.
They liked the idea of a strictly competitive climate of equal
standards rigidly applied, and some expected that the Air Force
example would have an effect, eventually, on civilian attitudes.[16-37]

[Footnote 16-36: Kenworthy Report, as quoted and
commented on in Memo, Worthington Thompson
(Personnel Policy Board staff) for Leva, 9 Mar 50,
sub: Some Highlights of Fahy Committee Report on
Air Force Racial Integration Program, SD 2