s statement left
little doubt that segregation would remain the norm in most instances.
It specified that a change to integrated facilities would be allowed
only after the commander had decided that it could be accomplished
without "inordinate interference with the Station's ability to carry
out its mission." If other facilities stood nearby, the change would
be allowed only after he had coordinated with the naval district
commander.[19-34] Shortly thereafter the Acting Secretary of the Navy
expressed his agreement with Hague's statement,[19-35] thus elevating
it to an official expression of Navy policy.

[Footnote 19-33: Executive Order 9980, announcing
regulations governing fair employment practices
within the federal government, was signed by
President Truman on 26 July 1948, the same day and
as a companion to his order on equal treatment and
opportunity in the services.]

[Footnote 19-34: OIR Notice CP75, Chief, Office of
Industrial Relations, to Chiefs, Bureaus, et al.,
23 Jan 52, sub: Segregation of Facilities for Civil
Service Employees; Navy Department Policy.]

[Footnote 19-35: Ltr, Actg SecNav Francis Whitehair to
Jerry O. Gilliam, Norfolk Branch, NAACP, 19 Mar 52,
P 8(4), SecNav files, GenRecsNav.]

Official protestations to the contrary, the Navy was again segregating
people by race. Evans, in the Department of Defense, charged that this
was in fact the "insidious intent" of Hague's notice. He pointed out
to Assistant Secretary of Defense Rosenberg that signs and notices of
segregation were reappearing over drinking fountains and toilets at
naval installations which had abandoned such practices, that men in
uniform were now subjected to segregation at such facilities, and that
the local press was making the unrefuted claim that local law was (p. 484)
being reestablished on federal properties.[19-36] Somewhat late to the
battle, Dennis D. Nelson seemingly a permanent fixture in the
Pentagon, spoke out against his department's policy, but from a
different angle. He warned the Secretary of the Navy through his aide
that Notice 75 was embarrassing not only for the Navy but for the
White House as well.[19-37]

[Footnote 19-36: Draft Memo, Evans f