uld judge the
country's adherence to its basic principles.[21-56]

[Footnote 21-56: Ibid., pp. 92-93.]

_Reaction to a New Commitment_

The Gesell Committee's conclusion that discrimination in the community
was tied to military efficiency meshed well with the civil rights
philosophy of the New Frontier. Responding to the committee's (p. 546)
report, President Kennedy cited "the interests of national defense,
national policy and basic considerations of human decency" to justify
his administration's interest in opening public accommodations and
housing to black servicemen. He considered it proper to ask the
"military community to take a leadership role" in the matter and asked
Secretary McNamara to review the committee's recommendations.[21-57]
The secretary, in turn, personally asked the service secretaries to
comment on the recommendations and assigned the Deputy Under Secretary
of the Army (Manpower), Alfred B. Fitt, to act as coordinator and draw
up the Defense Department's reply.[21-58]

The comments thus solicited revealed that some of McNamara's
senior subordinates had not been won over by the committee's
arguments that the services should take an active role in
community race relations.[21-59] The sticking point at all levels
involved two important recommendations: the rating of commanders
on their handling of racial matters and the use of economic
sanctions. In regard to the proposal to close bases in
communities that persisted in racial discrimination, the
Secretary of the Navy said bluntly: "Do not concur. Base siting
is based upon military requirements."[21-60] These officials
promised that commanders would press for voluntary compliance,
but for more aggressive measures they preferred to wait for the
passage of federal legislation--they had in mind the
administration's civil rights bill then being considered by
Congress--which would place the primary responsibility for the
protection of a serviceman's civil rights in another federal
department. The Secretary of the Air Force suggested that the
services continue to plan, but defer action on the committee's
recommendations until Congress acted on the civil rights
bill.[21-61]

[Footnote 21-57: Ltr, President to SecDef, 21 Jun 63,
copy in CMH. The President also sent the
comm