Telegram, President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Arkansas Senator Oren Harris

it O.F. Checked by Kardex I. JACK 142-4-5-A - 2 1957 FILES H Newport, Rhode Island September 30, 1957 Dear Mr. Harris: The feeling that prompts your telegram I can readily appreciate, for in my more than four decades of service to our country few events have saddened me as much as the necessity of resorting to Federal force to carry out Federal court orders in your State. I know of no State in the Union that cannot, if it so wills, carry into execution its own and Federal law, and this I feel has been quite as true of Arkansas as any other State. Unfortunately, how- ever, the decision was reached to employ the power of Arkansas to frustrate instead of to effectuate the orders of the Federal court. Your telegram rightly infers that ours is a Federal Union in which State Governments play an exceedingly vital role. That role I have sought in a host of ways to accentuate during the past five years. However, acquiescence in State use of force to block the implementation of Federal court orders, and acquiescence in the use of violence to thwart the Federal judiciary, would be acceding, first, to anarchy, and second, to the reversion of our Federal system to the impotent confederacy of 200 years ago from which our Union sprang. I deplore quite as feelingly as you do the fact, almost incredible in these times, that extraordinary actions became imperatively necessary in Little Rock to ensure compliance with our Federal processes of government. # With kind regard, Sincerely, The Honorable Oren Harris LWIGHT D. Member of Congress 1110 West Main Street Eldorado, Arkansas CROSS CARD FOR STAFF SECRETARY. BNH/sjs