tudents, reporters, and community
leaders in the city. The lieutenant, he added, not only "clearly and
effectively interpreted the opportunities open to Negro youth in the
United States Navy" but also "greatly accelerated" the community's
understanding of the Navy's integration program.[16-59] Nelson,
himself, had been a leading advocate of an accelerated public
relations program to advertise the opportunities for Negroes in the
Navy.[16-60] The personnel bureau had adopted his suggestion that all
recruitment literature, including photographs testifying to the fact
that Negroes were serving in the general service, be widely
distributed in predominantly black institutions. Manpower ceilings,
however, had forced the bureau to postpone action on Nelson's
suggestion that posters, films, pamphlets, and the like be
used.[16-61]

[Footnote 16-58: Memo, Dir, Recruiting Div, BuPers,
for Admin Aide to SecNav, 22 Dec 50, sub: Negro
Officer in Recruiting on the West Coast; Ltr,
SecNav to Actg Exec Dir, Urban League, Los Angeles,
22 Dec 50; both in Pers B6, GenRecsNav.]

[Footnote 16-59: Ltr, Charles W. Washington, Exec
Secy, Dayton, Ohio, Urban League, to SecNav, 19 Oct
50, copy in Pers 1376, GenRecsNav.]

[Footnote 16-60: Memo, Nelson for Charles Durham, Fahy
Committee, sub: Implementation of Proposed Navy
Racial Policy, 17 Jun 49, FC file.]

[Footnote 16-61: Memo, Under SecNav for Chmn, PPB, 22
Dec 49, sub: Implementation of Executive Order
9981, PPB 291.2.]

An obvious concomitant to the increase in the number of black sailors
was an increase in the number of black officers. The personnel bureau
was well aware of this connection; Comdr. Luther C. Heinz, officer in
charge of naval reserve officer training, called the shortage of
Negroes in his program a particularly important problem. He promised,
"in accord with the desires of the President," as he put it, to
increase black participation in the Naval Reserve Officers' Training
Corps, and his superior, the Chief of Naval Personnel, started a
program in the bureau for that purpose.[16-62] With the help of the
National Urban League, Heinz arranged a series of lectures by black
officers at forty-nine black schools a