lamed on widespread subterfuge at the
recruiting level. Far more likely is the explanation offered by Under
Secretary Kimball, that the black community distrusted the
Navy.[16-74] First apparent in the 1940's, this distrust lasted
throughout the next decade as young Negroes continued to show a
general apathy toward the Navy, which at times turned into open
hostility. In September 1961 the Chief of Naval Personnel reported
that recruiters were not infrequently being treated to "booing,
hissing and other disorderly conduct" when they tried to discuss the
opportunities for naval careers before black audiences.[16-75]

[Footnote 16-74: Memo, Under SecNav for Chmn, PPB, 22
Dec 49, sub: Implementation of Executive Order
9981, PPB 291.2.]

[Footnote 16-75: Memo, Chief, NavPers, for Pers B, 23
Sep 61, copy in Harris Wofford Collection, J. F.
Kennedy Library.]

The Navy's poor reputation in the black community centered on the
continued existence of the racially separate servants' branch, in the
eyes of many the symbol of the service's racial exclusiveness. The
Steward's Branch remained predominantly black. In 1949 it had 10,499
Negroes, 4,707 Filipinos, 741 other nonwhites, and 1 white man. Chief
stewards continued to be denied the grade of chief petty officer, on
the grounds that since stewards were not authorized to exercise
military command over others than stewards because of their lack of
military training, chief stewards were not chiefs in the military
sense of the word. This difference in authority also explained, as the
Chief of Naval Personnel put it, why as a general rule chief stewards
were not quartered with other petty officers.[16-76] These (p. 419)
distinctions were true also for stewards in the first, second, and
third classes, a fact in their case symbolized by differences in
uniform. Most of the thousands of black stewards continued to be
recruited, trained, and employed exclusively in that branch, and thus
for over half the Negroes--65 percent--in the 1949 Navy the chance for
advancement was severely limited and the chance to qualify for a
different job almost nonexistent.

[Footnote 16-76: Testimony of Vice Adm William M.
Fechteler Before the President's Committee on
Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed