housing area has been
bulldozed and all housing on base integrated." It was examples
like this that convinced me that there was much the commanders
could do.[21-42]

[Footnote 21-42: Interv, author with Gesell, 13 May
72.]

This sense of racial progress made a vivid impression on committee
member Muse who later recalled that "it was amazing how much activity
our presence stirred up. It showed that a lot could be done by
commanders."[21-43] Gesell and Muse were particularly impressed by how
local commanders, acting firmly but informally, could achieve swift
breakthroughs. But actually, as the Gesell-Young trip to Pensacola
demonstrated, often more than the base commander was involved in these
dramatic reforms. A week after their trip to Florida, Gesell and Young
had a casual chat with Under Secretary Fay about conditions at
Pensacola, particularly housing conditions, that, they claimed, had
contributed to a "literally disgraceful" state of black morale,
leading black sailors "almost to the point of rebellion." Although the
base commander seemed concerned, he had deferred to his military
superior who lacked the "philosophical outlook oriented toward the
successful implementation of equal opportunity policies." Fay was
quick to see the point. He pledged the Navy to a "constructive effort"
to eliminate the problem at Pensacola "prior to the Committee's
reporting date [to the President] of 1 June."[21-44] In a matter (p. 543)
of hours Fay was arranging to send the Inspector General to Pensacola,
but the matter did not end there. In late May committee counsel Hewes
asked the Assistant Secretary of Defense concerned with military
installations about housing at Pensacola, thus setting off yet another
investigation of the base.[21-45]

[Footnote 21-43: Idem with Benjamin Muse, 2 Mar 73,
CMH files.]

[Footnote 21-44: Memo, Under SecNav for SecNav, 9 Apr
63, sub: Meeting With the President's Cmte on Equal
Opportunity in the Armed Forces, SecNav file 5420,
GenRecsNav.]

[Footnote 21-45: Ltr, DASD (Family Housing) to Chmn
Gesell, 4 Jun 63, Gesell Collection, J. F. Kennedy
Library.]

Gesell saw the reforms at Pensacola as a direct result of his own
suggestion to a commander. He seemed unaware that his r