Essay Sample on President Eisenhower: The Civil Rights Movement Hero

The US Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954 that segregation of public schools based on race was unconstitutional and violated the 14th amendment, which prompted calls for the integration of public schools to proceed with “deliberate speed” (“Brown v. Board of Education”). Among the many others, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, protested against the integration of public schools, and the Governor of the state, Orval Faubus, went against the Supreme Court’s ruling to integrate public schools by calling the National Guard of Arkansas to prevent the integration process at the school. Eisenhower who was known as a moderate president found himself in a difficult position. Given the circumstances, Eisenhower had to choose between upholding the laws of the constitution or averting violence in Arkansas.

The previous presidents before Eisenhower would’ve ignored the crisis at Little Rock, but Eisenhower wasn’t going to let this grow into a major issue. Days after Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling at Central High School, Little Rock, President Eisenhower sent a telegram note to Faubus promising him that “the Federal Constitution will be upheld by [him] by every legal means at [his] command” to express his desire to fulfil his duty as a president to enforce the laws of the country (“The President Today”). Eisenhower was willing to have a meeting with the governor to discuss the crisis at Little Rock, and during the meeting, Eisenhower told Governor Faubus to let “the Guard continue to preserve order but to allow the negro children to attend Central High,” and this may have been the miscommunication that climaxed the tension at Little Rock (“Notes Dictated”). With a mob of over 1000 gathered outside of the school, the African American students had to gain access into the school, and soon, outside the school through a back door because the National Guard was withdrawn by the governor and the local police couldn’t maintain order (Chadwick). Eisenhower believed “that a strong anti-segregationist stance would…‘defeat…developing a viable Republican Party in the South’” and this restricted his actions in the crisis at Little Rock because, as a member of a Republican Party, making decisions that are in the party’s favor and interest is what is advised (Goldzwig and Dionisopoulos 193). Eisenhower was torn between both choices as he had political ties in the south, and the future of his party lied on his decision, but as the President of the United States, his duty was to enforce the laws of the land. There was no going back after the crisis reached its climax, and Eisenhower was required to intervene in the situation at Little Rock.

Eisenhower was determined to ensure that the federal laws are followed, so he prioritized presidential duties over local and party interests. On September 27, 1957, President Eisenhower signed an executive order that sent federal troops to Little Rock to ensure the safety of the black students and to maintain law and order. Eisenhower “stated that Anarchy would result” if the laws of the nation are not upheld by the government and it was the government’s duty to ensure that the law of the land remained “supreme”(“Pres. Urges”). Eisenhower choosing a decision different from the one he made would’ve given other states—that resented the Supreme Court’s ruling—a reason to disregard Supreme Court rulings and other constitutional laws. 

Eisenhower’s act came with unprecedented consequences that went beyond the matters of race and segregation in Little Rock. The last time federal troops were in Little Rock, Arkansas was in 1865 during the Civil War (Huff) and, Jacoway, a citizen of Little Rock said that they “haven’t had troops in the streets” since that year (Chadwick). President Eisenhower’s executive order was criticized for awakening the fears of the Civil War in Arkansas and the disruption of the union between the state and federal governments which created more tension and fear among the citizens of Little Rock. Eisenhower’s executive order also led to people claiming that he exercised too much power and some even went as far as making a “comparison of [the federal] troops to Hitler’s storm troopers,” to suggest that the power vested in Eisenhower was too much and the executive order was unnecessary (“Night Letter”). Eisenhower responded that the use of the federal troops was to “preserve the institutions of free government” not to create a show of power to the people of Arkansas whose best interests, he had in mind (“Night Letter”). The consequences that followed Eisenhower’s act were brutal as they led to more chaos in the state of Arkansas, but what mattered was that he put morality and duty over the crisis he faced. 

President Eisenhower chose to uphold the laws of the constitution despite the consequences that came with his intervention at Little Rock. Eisenhower’s act in Little Rock set a precedent for the federal government intervening in state matters and upholding the laws of the constitution. His involvement in the Civil Rights Movement is followed by presidents who came after him. Eisenhower was dismissed as a Civil Rights Hero because he was a moderate republican whose party interests stood against the anti-segregationist values of the Civil Rights Movement. Some may criticize him for not doing enough for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement, but his act of courage at Little Rock proves that he deserves to be regarded as a Civil Rights Hero because his decision to assist the Little Rock Nine marked a turning point in the desegregation of schools and cost him his political and party ties in the South.