Letter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from W. D. Arnold Regarding Integration

10/30 Haynestield acted 11/3/59 NURSERIES Im GROWERS OF HARDY NURSERY STOCK SOUTH 4237 BRISTOL, TENN.-VA. MATERIAL + LANDSCAPE PLANNING & MAINTENANCE October 25, 1957 The President The White House Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. President: Recent editorials in syndicated columns and several recent news items expressing the opinions of certain members of the clergy and others, have suggested that the equitable way out of our present integration dilemma is to establish the prin- ciple of freedom of choice. To suggest that this principle has to be "established" seems ludicrous but the extreme in- terpretationsof the courts make it seem necessary that the executive and the legislative branches of the government find a meeting ground if we are to save this country from dangerous divisions of loyalty. Many Southerners feel that they can no longer find justice under law, or the freedom to give their children the protections they deem vital so long as we are subject to the dictates of the Federal Government as now practiced. However one may feel about the issues he must still face the fact that there are two sides and that the Southern whites by far are under the greatest pressure and are therefore most likely to think of extreme measures to win some representation and respect for their view. Mr. President, as an army man, you know how important South- erners have been in the defense of this country. I leave it to you to judge their proportionate worth in the armed forces both in officer personnel and in enlisted personnel. Surely these people cannot be all wrong nor can Herbert Brownell or William Rogers be all right. It is time the situation was cleared and the principle of freedom of choice established in the school issue. You, of course, are familiar with the idea that under freedom of choice there would be schools for Negroes who want to re- main with their kind and for whites who feel the same way, and also schools for Negroes and whites who care to practice the doctrine of integration. This might conceivably inspire the SECUALTION OF construction of additional much needed school facilities-wte only benefit I can envision emanating from integration. margin 1875