LeFore, Mobile, Ala., NAACP, to President, 18 Sep
50, and Ltr, A. Philip Randolph to SecDef, 30 Oct
50, both in SD 291.2 Neg.]

[Footnote 17-20: Memo, Evans for Leva, ASD, 5 Oct 50,
sub: Racial Complaint From the Mobile Area, SD
291.2 Neg (18 Sep 50).]

[Footnote 17-21: Ltrs, Javits to SecDef, 6 Sep and 2
Oct 50; Ltrs, SecDef to Javits, 19 Sep and 10 Oct
50. All in SD 291.2 Neg.]

Again, the change in Army policy came not because the staff ordered
it, but because local commanders found it necessary. The commanders of
the nine training divisions in the continental United States were hard
pressed because the number of black and white inductees in any monthly
draft call, as well as their designated training centers, depended on
Selective Service and was therefore unpredictable. It was impossible
for commanders to arrange for the proper number of separate white and
black training units and instructors to receive the inductees when no
one knew whether a large contingent of black soldiers or a large group
of whites would get off the train. A white unit could be undermanned
and its instructors idle while a black unit was overcrowded and its
instructors overworked. This inefficient use of their valuable
training instructors led commanders, first at Fort Ord and then at the
other training divisions and replacement centers throughout the United
States, to adopt the expedient of mixing black and white inductees in
the same units for messing, housing, and training. As the commander of
Fort Jackson, South Carolina, put it, sorting out the rapidly arriving
inductees was "ridiculous," and he proceeded to assign new men to
units without regard to color. He did, however, divert black inductees
from time to time "to hold the Negro population down to a workable
basis."[17-22]

[Footnote 17-22: G-1 Summary Sheet for VCofS, 22 Apr
52, sub: Information for the G-1 Information Book,
G-1 291.2; Memo, ASA (M&PR) for ASD (M&PR), 22 Aug
52, sub: Progress Report on Elimination of
Segregation in the Army, SD 291.2; Memo, VCofS for
SA, 18 Jun 51, sub: Assimilation of Negroes at Ft.
Jackson, S.C., SA 291.2. See also Lt Col William M.
Nichols