Civil Rights Act strengthened the hands of the commander, it
also quickly revealed the ultimate limits of voluntary compliance
itself. The campaign against Titles II and III discrimination was only
one facet of the Department of Defense's battle against off-base
discrimination, which also included major attacks against
discrimination in the National Guard, in the public schools, and,
finally, in housing. It was in these areas that the limits of
voluntary compliance were reached, and the technique was abandoned in
favor of economic sanctions.

Because of its intimate connection with the Department of Defense, the
National Guard appeared to be an easy target in the attack against
off-base discrimination. Although Secretary McNamara had accepted his
department's traditional voluntary approach toward ending
discrimination in this major reserve component,[23-43] the possibility
of using sanctions against the guard had been under discussion for
some time. As early as 1949 the legal counsel of the National Guard
Bureau had concluded that the federal government had the right to
compel integration.[23-44] Essentially the same stand was taken in
1961 by the Defense Department's Assistant General Counsel for
Manpower.[23-45]

[Footnote 23-43: For the discussion of McNamara's
initial dealings with the National Guard on the
subject of race, see Chapter 20.]

[Footnote 23-44: "Opinion of the Legal Adviser of the
National Guard Bureau, April 1949," reproduced in
Special Board to Study Negro Participation in the
Army National Guard (ARNG) and the United States
Army Reserve (USAR), "Participation of Negroes in
the Reserve Components of the Army," 3 vols. (1967)
(hereafter cited as Williams Board Rpt), II:
20-21.]

[Footnote 23-45: Memo, Asst Gen Counsel (Manpower) for
ASD (M), 17 Jul 61, sub: Integration of National
Guard, ASD (M) 291.2.]

These opinions, along with the 1947 staff study on the guard and the
1948 New Jersey case,[23-46] provided support extending over more than
a decade for the argument that the federal government could establish
racial policies for the National Guard. Indeed, there is no evidence
of opposition to this position in the 1940's, and southe