Yet a restatement of policy, no matter how specific, was not enough.
As Under Secretary Dan A. Kimball admitted, the Navy had the
formidable task of convincing its own people of the sincerity of its
policy and of erasing the distrust that had developed in the black
community "resulting from past discriminating practices."[16-56] Those
who were well aware of the Navy's earlier failure to achieve
integration by fiat were bound to greet Secretary Matthews's directive
with skepticism unless it was accompanied by specific reforms.
Matthews, aware of the necessity, immediately inaugurated a campaign
to recruit more black sailors, commission more black officers, and
remove the stigma attached to service in the Steward's Branch.

[Footnote 16-56: Memo, Under SecNav for Chmn, PPB, 22
Dec 49, sub: Implementation of Executive Order
9981, PPB 291.2.]

It was logical enough to start a reform of the Navy's integration
program by attacking the perennial problem of too few Negroes in the
general service. In his annual report to the Secretary of Defense,
Matthews outlined some of the practical steps the Navy was taking to
attract more qualified young blacks. The Bureau of Naval Personnel, he
explained, planned to assign black sailors and officers to its
recruiting service. As a first step it assigned eight Negroes to
Recruitment Procurement School and subsequently to recruit duty in
eight major cities with further such assignments planned when current
manpower ceilings were lifted.[16-57]

[Footnote 16-57: SecNav, Annual Report to SecDef, FY
1949, p. 230; Memo, Under SecNav Chmn, PPB, 22 Dec
49, sub: Implementation of Executive Order 9981,
PPB 291.2.]

The Bureau of Naval Personnel had also polled black reservists on the
possibility of returning to active duty on recruiting assignments, and
from this group had chosen five officers for active duty in the New
York, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, and Chicago recruiting
offices. At the same time black officers and petty officers were sent
to extol the advantages of a naval career before black student (p. 414)
bodies and citizen groups.[16-58] Their performances were exceedingly
well received. The executive secretary of the Dayton, Ohio, Urban
League, for example, thanked Secretary Matthews for the appearances of
Lieutenant Nelson before groups of s