But are there times when it’s right or necessary?
President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower was faced with this question in 1957. He’d appointed Earl Warren to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Warren had presided over the famous Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling. The decision had led to changes in the operation of various public school systems around the country.
Those changes met with fierce opposition in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas.
When the Democatic Party made Orval Faubus governor of that state, and when he complied by refusing to allow African American students to attend Little Rock Central High School, Eisenhower was faced with an instance of a local official directly and defiantly refusing to comply with a Supreme Court decision.
As a military leader with substantial experience, Ike knew that he could not allow this to continue. After discussions with Faubus and the consideration of various alternatives, Ike ordered the legendary 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock. If the Democratic Party would not allow the school to be desegregated and integrated, then the U.S. Army would do the job.
The soldiers of the 101st Airborne protected the Black students who wanted to attend school. The soldiers escorted the students into, and out of, school, and made sure that they were safe before, during, and after school.
It was an agonizing decision for Eisenhower. He knew that these students had the legal right to attend school, but he also knew that he was treading on thin ice to use troops inside the borders of the United States. He decided to go ahead with the action, saying that it was “a matter of justice.”
As historian Kasey Pipes explains:
The Little Rock crisis was the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. Eisenhower’s actions were watched by many, including Senator John F. Kennedy. At the time, JFK was somewhat critical of Ike’s handling of the crisis. Five years later, in 1962, in a deliberate effort to avoid what he viewed as Ike’s overreaction at Little Rock, President Kennedy sent only U.S. Marshals into Ole Miss during the integration crisis there. When the mobs overwhelmed the Marshals, Kennedy relented and sent federal troops. He even instructed his aides to draw up the executive order based on the Eisenhower order at Little Rock.
Ike not only fixed the situation in Little Rock, but he laid the foundation for JFK’s actions at the University of Mississippi.
Still, it was a painful moment for the nation. No country wants to see its own army required to enforce a court ruling.
No president relishes the thought of sending soldiers into an American city. Eisenhower agonized over it. The day after the 101st Airborne arrived in Little Rock, Ike told a friend it had been a painful decision, as difficult as ordering the D-Day invasion. Ike’s deliberation is a measure of his leadership.
Eisenhower expressed his determination to do the right thing in a televised address to the nation. His military training and composure allowed him to express his thoughts clearly and without passion. He was focused on implementing what others later called a matter of justice.
