to equate the notice given the persistent (p. 502)
but subtle problem of on-base discrimination with the sometimes brutal
injustice visited on black servicemen off-base in the early 1960's.
Black servicemen often found the short bus ride from post to town a
trip into the past, where once again they were forced to endure the
old patterns of segregation. Defense Department officials were aware,
for example, that decent housing open to black servicemen was scarce.
With limited income, under military orders, and often forced by
circumstances to reside in the civilian community, black servicemen
were, in the words of Robert S. McNamara, President Kennedy's
Secretary of Defense, "singularly defenseless against this
bigotry."[20-2] While the services had always denied responsibility
for combating this particular form of discrimination, many in the
black community were anxious to remind them of John F. Kennedy's claim
in the presidential campaign of 1960 that discrimination in housing
could be alleviated with a stroke of the Chief Executive's pen.

[Footnote 20-2: Robert S. McNamara, _The Essence of
Security_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), p. 124.]

But housing was only part of a larger pattern of segregation that
included restrictions on black servicemen's use of many places of
public accommodation such as restaurants, theaters, and saloons, some
literally on the doorstep of military reservations. James Evans listed
some twenty-seven military installations in the United States where in
1961 segregation in transportation and places of public accommodation
was established in adjacent communities by law or custom.[20-3]
Moreover, instances of blatant Jim Crow tactics were rapidly
multiplying near bases in Japan, Germany, the Philippines, and
elsewhere as host communities began to adopt the prejudices of their
visitors.[20-4] The United States Commission on Civil Rights charged
that black servicemen were often reluctant to complain to their
superiors or the Inspector General because of the repeated failure of
local commands to show concern for the problem and suspicion that
complainers would be subjected to reprisals.[20-5]

[Footnote 20-3: James C. Evans, OASD (M), "Suggested
List of Military Installations," 9 Jun 61, copy in
CMH. Evans's list was based on incomplete data. A
great number of military installation