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OCR Page 1 of 8THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Re: Stoppage of
negro Enlistment
July 26, 1946.
MEMORANDUM
FOR: THE HONORABLE DAVID K. NILES
Major Mitchell of the General Staff came in this morning
to say that General Eisenhower and the Secretary of War have each
received a telegram from the United Negro and Allied Veterans,
protesting stoppage of Negro enlistments. The Major wanted to
know how we were going to respond to the attached telegrams. I told
him that would be a matter which you would decide, and would he be
good enough to send us a copy of their reply when it goes out.
I have been closely in touch with the situation from the
beginning. Stoppage of Negro enlistments is a very clumsy move,
which is partly responsible for certain resistance to the report of
the Gillam Board.
Of the 880,000 voluntary enlistments, 16 per cent have
been Negroes and of these, 68 per cent have been Grade 5 men in the
AGCT tests.
Marcus Ray produced very sensible solution to this problem,
namely, that the Army should set up quotas for the various AGCT grades.
This proposal was rejected by the War Department, and then
nothing was left except for the Department to stop Negro enlistments.
It appears that General Eisenhower is not too happy about
this stoppage, and the War Department may "water down" its stoppage.
I suggested to Marcus Ray that he call you and come in and
discuss the whole thing with you. You may not want to say anything
one way or the other to Ray, but I feel we ought to show an interest
in this matter to the Secretary. The War Department is, as usual,
being clumsy about the race problem and it really is not necessary.
a PHILLEO NASH
Attachment
AREY TRUMAN ARCHIVES "NATIONAL AND LIBRARY
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