Letter, Texas Governor Allan Shivers to President Dwight D. Eisenhower Regarding School Segregation

3 THE WHITE HOUSE STATE OF TEXAS Jul 17 11 52 AM '53 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT AUSTIN RECEIVED ALLAN SHIVERS GOVERNOR July 16, 1953 Honorable Dwight D. Eisenhower The White House Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. President: I know how difficult it is for a busy executive to read even a small percentage of his mail, but I do hope you have an opportunity to read this personally. The Supreme Court has recently invited your Attorney General to file a brief or submit argument in a case involving segregation ROFIII-C-1 in the schools of Virginia and South Carolina. The United States is not a party to this lawsuit except insofar as Truman and former Attorney General McGranery intervened. The case has been fully argued on all sides. I see in this unusual Supreme Court invitation an attempt to embarrass you and your Attorney General. There is nothing more local than the public school system. The decision in these cases will have a wide influence in the future economic and political life of our nation, particularly in the 17 southern and southwestern states where this problem is being solved on the local level a.s it must and should be. I assume that the invitation to your Attorney General by the Supreme Court will be accepted. I trust that he will see the implications involved and advise the Court that this local problem should be decided on the local and state level. Most sincerely, ALLAN SHIVERS AS:ec