fty civil rights groups under the chairmanship of
Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, the Leadership Conference
on Civil Rights presented to President Kennedy a
list of proposals for executive action to end
federally supported segregation. See U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights, _Freedom to the Free_,
p. 129.]

[Footnote 20-32: Memo, Dutton for Yarmolinsky, 26 Oct
61, copy in ASD (M) 291.2 (22 May 61).]

The disquietude White House staff members produced among Defense
Department officials was nothing compared to the trauma induced by the
President's personal attention. John Kennedy rarely intervened but he
did so on occasion quickly and decisively and in a way illustrative of
his administration's civil rights style. He acted promptly, for
example, when he noticed an all-white unit from the Coast Guard
Academy marching in his inaugural parade. His call to the Secretary of
the Treasury Douglas Dillon on inauguration night led to the admission
of the first black students to the Coast Guard Academy. He elaborated
on the incident during his first cabinet meeting, asking each (p. 509)
department head to analyze the minority employment situation in his
own department. He was also upset to see "few, if any" black honor
guardsmen in the units that greeted visiting Ghanian President Kwame
Nkrumah on 13 March, an observation not lost on Secretary McNamara.
"Would it be possible," the new defense chief asked his manpower
assistant, "to introduce into these units a reasonable number of negro
personnel?"[20-33] An immediate survey revealed that Negroes accounted
for 14 percent of the Air Force honor unit, 8 percent of the Army's,
and 2.2 percent of the Marines Corps'. The 100-man naval unit had no
black members.[20-34]

[Footnote 20-33: Memo, SecDef for ASD (M), 13 Mar 61,
ASD (M) 291.2.]

[Footnote 20-34: Memo, ASD (M) for SecDef, 14 Mac 61,
sub: Ceremonial Units and Honor Guard Details, ASD
(M) 291.2.]

[Illustration: PRESIDENT KENNEDY AND PRESIDENT ALLESSANDRI OF CHILE
_review an all-white honor guard unit, White House, 1962_.]

These were minor incidents, yet Kennedy's interest was bound to make a
difference. As Evans wryly put it in regard to the survey of blacks in
the honor guard: "Pen