Memorandum, E. Frederic Morrow to Sherman Adams

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON June 4, 1957 MEMORANDUM TO: The Honorable Sherman Adams present After the visit of Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, you asked me to give consideration to, and subsequently write, a test to foles memorandum on the repeated requests from Negro as as of 6/10/57 leaders that the President confer with them on the many domestic problems plaguing the race at this time. Specifically, over a period of more than a year, A. Philip Randolph and Reverend Martin Luther King have made representation to the White House for an audience with the President. XGF6-Q XXZ I can state categorically that the rank and file of Negroes in the country feel that the President has deserted them in their current fight to achieve first- class citizenship via Civil Rights legislation, etc. XOF102-B-3 Despite the unprecedented record of this Administration in the field of human rights, Negroes are so emotionally XOF 101-Y involved in this struggle that they are unable to estimate what gains have been made. I can understand this feeling, and it is only because I am a staff member of the Administration and have been an eye witness to its efforts that I can look at these protests objectively rather than emotionally. There is tremendous unrest in the country among the Negro population. Tensions are great, emotions are at a high pitch, and the time is approaching when peace- ful resistance and oratory may give way to efforts not conducive to the welfare of our country. I feel the time is ripe for the President to see two or three outstanding Negro leaders, and to let them get off their chests the