2: Interv, author with McNamara, 11 May
72; see also Ltr, Yarmolinsky to author, 30 May 72.
Yarmolinsky called the presidential appointment an
example of the Defense Department's borrowing the
prestige of the White House.]

[Footnote 21-13: Memo, ASD (M) for Asst Legal Counsel
to President, 7 Nov 61, sub: Racial Discrimination
in the Armed Services, ASD (M) 291.2.]

This special connection between the Department of Defense and the
Gesell Committee influenced the course of the investigation. True to
his concept of the committee as a fact-finding team, McNamara
personally remained aloof from its proceedings, never trying to
influence its investigation or findings. Ironically, Gesell would
later complain about this remoteness, regretting the secretary's
failure to intervene in the case of the recalcitrant National
Guard.[21-14] He could harbor no complaint, however, against the
secretary's special assistant, Yarmolinsky, who carefully guided the
committee's investigation to the explosive subject of off-base
discrimination. Even while expressing the committee's independence,
Gesell recognized Yarmolinsky's influence. "It was perfectly clear,"
Gesell later noted, "that Yarmolinsky was interested in the off-base
housing and discrimination situation, but he had no solution to
suggest. He wanted the committee to come up with one."[21-15]
Yarmolinsky formally spelled out this interest when he devised the
group's presidential directive. The committee, he informed Vice
President Lyndon B. Johnson during March 1962, would devote itself to
those measures that should be taken to improve the effectiveness of
current policies and procedures in the services and to the methods
whereby the Department of Defense could improve equality of
opportunity for members of the armed forces and their dependents in
the civilian community.[21-16]

[Footnote 21-14: Interv, author with Gesell, 3 Nov 74,
CMH files. The Secretary of Defense met with the
committee but once for an informal chat.]

[Footnote 21-15: Interv, author with Gesell, 13 May
72.]

[Footnote 21-16: Memo, Yarmolinsky for Vice President,
13 Mar 62, SD 291.2.]

The citizens chosen for this delicate task, "integrationist