little from those of civil rights
leaders, its position as an independent federal agency and its access
to the news media added a constant and special pressure on the
services.[20-26]

[Footnote 20-25: See, for example, Ltr, Chmn,
Commission on Civil Rights, to SecDef, 26 Mar 62;
Memo, ASD (M) for Under SA et al., 7 May 62, sub:
Survey, United States Commission on Civil Rights;
Memo, Under SecNav for ASD (M), 25 May 62, sub:
United States Commission on Civil Rights Survey of
the Department of Defense; Ltr, Yarmolinsky to Berl
I. Bernhard, Staff Dir, U.S. Comm on Civil Rights,
14 Nov 62; Memo, ASD (M) for Under SA et al., 31
May 61; Ltr, Bernhard to Runge, 6 Jul 61; Ltr Runge
to Bernhard, 17 Jul 61. Copies of all in CMH.]

[Footnote 20-26: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, "The
Services and Their Relations With the Community,"
17 Jun 63.]

Another pressure on the armed forces in the early sixties was exerted
by the civil rights bureaucracy in the White House itself. Various
presidential assistants subjected the services' reports on progress in
the equal opportunity field to unprecedented scrutiny, asking
questions that forced the Defense Department to explain or justify its
racial policies and practices.[20-27] In March 1961, civil rights
assistants on the President's staff inquired about the number of (p. 508)
Negroes on the Defense Department's military and civilian screening
boards.[20-28] Later, Special Assistant Frank D. Reeves inquired about
the employees working in the executive area of the department and
suggested that the front offices do something about hiring more black
office workers.[20-29] And again as a result of a number of questions
raised about the Navy's race policy, presidential assistant Wofford
sponsored a White House meeting on 18 September 1961 for several civil
rights representatives and Adam Yarmolinsky, Special Assistant to the
Secretary of Defense, with the Chief of Naval Personnel, Vice Adm.
William R. Smedberg. Beginning with Yarmolinsky's probing questions
concerning the perennial problem of racial composition of the
Steward's Branch, the meeting evolved into a general review of the
Navy's recent problems and achievements in