June 1950 he had reaffirmed the policy of
allowing stewards to reenlist for general duty, but when he learned
that some stewards had made the jump to general duty without being
qualified, he announced that men who had signed contracts for stewards
duty only were not acceptable for general duty unless they scored at
least in the 31st percentile of the qualifying tests. To make the
change to general duty even less attractive, he ruled that if a
steward reenlisted for general duty he would have to revert to the
rank of private, first class.[18-27] Such measures did nothing to
improve the morale of black stewards, many of whom, according to civil
rights critics, felt confined forever to performing menial tasks, nor
did it prevent constant shortages in the Steward's Branch and problems
arising from the lack of men with training in modern mess management.

[Footnote 18-27: Speed Ltr, CMC to Distribution List,
22 Jun 50; Routing Sheet, Pers Dept, 21 Jun 50,
sub: Enlistment of Stewards.]

The corps tried to attack these problems in the mid-1950's. At the
behest of the Secretary of the Navy it eliminated the stewards-duty-only
contract in 1954; henceforth all marines were enlisted for general
duty, and only after recruit training could volunteers sign up for
stewards duty. Acceptance of men scoring below ninety in the
classification tests would be limited to 40 percent of those
volunteering each month for stewards duty.[18-28] The corps also
instituted special training in modern mess management for stewards. In
1953 the Quartermaster General had created an inspection and
demonstration team composed of senior stewards to instruct members (p. 470)
of the branch in the latest techniques of cooking and baking,
supervision, and management.[18-29] In August 1954 the commandant
established an advanced twelve-week course for stewards based on the
Navy's successful system.

[Footnote 18-28: Ltrs, CMC to Distribution List, 16
Apr 55 and 18 Nov 55.]

[Footnote 18-29: Memo, Head, Enlisted Monitoring Unit,
Detail Br, for Lt Col Gordon T. West, 29 Oct 54,
Pers A. See also Shaw and Donnelly, _Blacks in the
Marine Corps_, pp. 65-66.]

[Illustration: MARINES FROM CAMP LEJEUNE ON THE USS VALLEY FORGE _for
training exercises, 1958_.]

These measures, however, did nothing