fense on 28 January 1953.]

[Footnote 19-21: Memo, CofS, G-1, for ASA, 6 Jan 54,
sub: Mass Jailing and Fining of Negro Soldiers in
Columbia, S.C.; Memo, ASA for ASD (M&P), same date
and sub; Memo, SecDef for President, 7 Jan 54. All
in G-1 291.2 (10 Dec 53).]

But the services never did get "them" off their neck, and to a large
extent defense officials could only blame themselves for their
troubles. Their attitude toward extending their standards of equal
treatment and opportunity to local communities implied a benign
neutrality on their part in racial disputes involving servicemen. This
attitude was belied by the fact that on numerous and sometimes
celebrated occasions the services helped reinforce local segregation
laws. In 1956, for example, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E.
Talbott explained that military commanders were expected to foster
good relations with local authorities and in many areas were obliged
to "require" servicemen to conform to the dictates of local law
"regardless of their own convictions or personal beliefs."[19-22]

[Footnote 19-22: SecAF statement, 1 May 56, quoted in
Address by James P. Goode, Employment Policy
Officer for the Air Force, at a meeting called by
the President's Committee on Government Employment
Policy, 24 May 56, AF File 202-56, Fair Employment
Program.]

This requirement could be rather brutal in practice and placed the
services, the nation's leading equal opportunity employer, in
questionable company. In 1953 a black pilot stationed at Craig Air
Force Base, Alabama, refused to move to the rear of a public bus until
the military police ordered him to comply with the state law. The Air
Force officially reprimanded and eventually discharged the pilot. The
position of the Air Force was made clear in the reprimand:

Your actions in this instance are prejudicial to good order and
military discipline and do not conform to the standards of
conduct expected of a commissioned officer of the United States
Air Force. As a member of the Armed Forces, you are obliged to
abide by all municipal and state laws, regardless of your
personal feelings or Armed Forces policy relative to the issue at
hand. Your open violation of the segregation policy