64, copy in CMH. Emphasis not in original.]

No one--not the Civil Rights Commission, the Gesell Committee, the
civil rights organizations, and, judging from the volume of complaints,
not even black servicemen themselves--seriously tried to disabuse
these officials of their satisfaction with the pace of reform. (p. 580)
Certainly no one equated the importance of on-base discrimination with
the blatant off-base discrimination that had captured everyone's
attention. In fact, problems as potentially explosive as the
discrimination in the administration of military justice were all but
ignored during the 1960's.[22-79]

[Footnote 22-79: The administration of military
justice was not considered by the Civil Rights
Commission nor by the Gesell Committee, although it
was mentioned once by the NAACP as a cause of
numerous complaints and once by the Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in regard to
black representation on courts-martial. See NAACP,
"Proposals for Executive Action to End Federal
Supported Segregation and Other Forms of Racial
Discrimination," submitted to the White House on 29
Aug 61, White House Central Files, J. F. Kennedy
Library; Memo, Philip M. Timpane, ODASD (Civ Pers,
Indus Rels, and CR) for DASD (Civ Pers, Indus Rels
and CR), 23 Feb 65, sub: Representation by Race on
Courts-Martial. ODASD (Civ Pers, Indus Rels, and
CR) files.]

[Illustration: USAF GROUND CREW, TAN SON NHUT AIR BASE, VIETNAM,
_relaxes over cards in the alert tent_.]

The sense of satisfaction that pervaded Fitt's comment, however
understandable, was lamentable because it helped insure that certain
inequities in the military community would linger. The failure of
Negroes to win skilled job assignments and promotions, for example,
would remain to fester and contribute significantly to the bitterness
visited upon a surprised Department of Defense in later years. In
brief, because the services had become a model of racial equality when
judged by contemporary standards, the impulse of almost all concerned
was to play down the reforms still needed on base and turn instead to
the pressing and spectacular challenges that la