91.2.]

[Footnote 16-37: Ltr, Kenworthy to Zuckert, 5 Jan 50,
SecAF files.]

[Illustration: MUSIC MAKERS _of the U.S. Far East Air Force prepare to
celebrate Christmas, Korea, 1950_.]

For the Air Force, it seemed, the problem of segregation was all over
but for the celebrating. And there was plenty of that, thanks to the
Fahy Committee and the press. In a well-publicized tour of a cross
section of Air Force installations in early 1950, Kenworthy surveyed
the integration program for the committee. His favorable report won
the Air Force laudatory headlines in the national press and formed the
core of the Air Force section of the Fahy Committee's final report,
_Freedom to Serve_.[16-38] For its part, the black press covered the
program in great detail and gave its almost unanimous approval. As
early as July 1949, for example, Dowdal H. Davis, president of the
Negro Newspaper Publishers Association, reported on the highly
encouraging reaction to the breakup of the 332d, and the headlines
reflected this attitude: "The Air Force Leads the Way," the Chicago
_Defender_ headlined; "Salute to the Air Force," the Minneapolis
_Spokesman_ editorialized; and "the swiftest and most amazing upset of
racial policy in the history of the U.S. Military," _Ebony_ concluded.
Pointing to the Air Force program as the best, the Pittsburgh
_Courier_ called the progress toward total integration "better than
most dared hope."[16-39]

[Footnote 16-38: See, for example, the Washington
_Post_, March 27, 1950.]

[Footnote 16-39: Press reaction summarized in Memo,
James C. Evans for PPB, 19 Jan 50, PPB 291.2. See
also, Ltr, Dowdal Davis, Gen Manager of the Kansas
City _Call_, to Evans, 9 Jul 49, SD 291.2; Memo,
Evans for SecAF, 5 Jul 49; and Memo, Zuckert for
SecAF, 2 Aug 49, both in SecAF files; Chicago
_Defender_, June 18, 1949; Minneapolis _Spokesman_,
January 13, 1950; _Ebony_ Magazine, 4 (September
1949):15; Pittsburgh _Courier_, July 25, 1952;
Detroit _Free Press_, May 14, 1953.]

General Vandenberg and his staff were well aware of the rapid and (p. 409)
profound change in the Air Force wrought by the integration order.
From the start his personnel chief carefully monitored th