e services in 1942, (p. 103)
as indeed it was throughout much of American society. If this practice
appeared somehow more restrictive in the Marine Corps than it did in
the other services, it was because of the corps' size and traditions.
The illusion of equal treatment and opportunity could be kept alive in
the massive Army and Navy with their myriad units and military
occupations; it was much more difficult to preserve in the small and
specialized Marine Corps. Given segregation, the Marine Corps was
obliged to put its few black marines in its few black units, whose
small size limited the variety of occupations and training
opportunities.

Yet the size of the corps would undergo considerable change, and on
balance it was the Marine Corps' tradition of an all-white service,
not its restrictive size, that proved to be the most significant
factor influencing racial policy. Again unlike the Army and Navy, the
Marine Corps lacked the practical experience with black recruits that
might have countered many of the alarums and prejudices concerning
Negroes that circulated within the corps during the war. The
importance of this experience factor comes out in the reminiscences of
a senior official in the Division of Plans and Policies who looked
back on his 1942 experiences:

It just scared us to death when the colored were put on it. I
went over to Selective Service and saw Gen. Hershey, and he
turned me over to a lieutenant colonel [Campbell C.
Johnson]--that was in April--and he was one grand person. I told
him, "Eleanor [Mrs. Roosevelt] says we gotta take in Negroes, and
we are just scared to death, we've never had any in, we don't
know how to handle them, we are afraid of them." He said, "I'll
do my best to help you get good ones. I'll get the word around
that if you want to die young, join the Marines. So anybody that
joins is got to be pretty good!" And it was the truth. We got
some awfully good Negroes.[4-16]

[Footnote 4-16: USMC Oral History Interview, General
Ray A. Robinson (USMC Ret.), 18-19 Mar 68, p. 136,
Hist Div, HQMC.]

Unfortunately for the peace of mind of the Marine Corps' personnel
planner, the conception of a carefully limited and isolated black
contingent was quickly overtaken by events. The President's decision
to abolish volunteer enlistments for the armed forces in December 1942
and t