yes, exactly. but it was all of this that we were looking at. it just didn t i mean, part of the problem today is that everybody thinks that dr. king made the speech on the steps. and that was it? that was it. everybody held hands. and my hope is that events like this get people to bore down deeper to understand what else was going on and why, you know, we felt we could step forward, and we had the support of family, that we could do something different. well, we re going to get to your moment big moment in the sunshine in just a minute, ernie green, but did i want to highlight something for people who don t know, because i don t assume everybody knows. emmett till was 14 years old. he s part of the whole lynching thing that was going on. he was lynched in mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. those people that lynched him later said that they did it, but it was, of course, after the trial, and it was a rigged trial, but this was a signifying
william brennan, potter stewart, charles evans whittaker is probably his weakest appointment. all five of them committed to the enforcement of brown. and william brennan, any of you know your supreme court history, was not a far right conservative in any way, shape or form. eisenhower actually nominated him when he was in the midst of an election campaign in the fall of 56, and he did that partly for political reasons, too. he wanted a catholic, so a catholic democrat, but eisenhower s judicial appointments lasted decades later, and felix frankfurter said that the supreme court during this era was the eisenhower court. we all know it as the warren court, but it was the eisenhower court, and i ll tell you one of the great myths was that eisenhower didn t know what earl warren stood for. that is factually incorrect. he knew him well. his attorney general brownell socialized with warren and had run two presidential campaigns for him. he knew exactly who he was. and these books
movement, and certainly we profited dearly by experience and that s george washington on this presidents day. so our task is to answer a couple of questions. this discussion is about truman and eisenhower, and the questions on your book will say what prompted president truman to issue the 1948 executive order to desegregate the armed forces, declaring that there should be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services? and similarly, how did president eisenhower decide to call in the united states army to little rock and to federalize the arkansas national guard? now, we re going to answer those questions. the first thing to do is to put this in context, so i m going to ask our historians, both carol and david, to do that right now. and that is to say, as i look at this time period with truman and eisenhower, it struck me that two wars really frame the civil rights movement and the interaction and the response of the presidents. so, if you would,
good afternoon, everybody. good morning, late early day, whatever. i always think it s nice if you are marking the occasion, and we are, of president s day, to say a little bit of something about the presidents for whom this day is named. and that s george washington and abraham lincoln, i found something from george washington i thought was appropriate for our conversation. let me share it with you. we should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. and i think no better way to discuss this, because we got some useful lessons out of the presidency and the civil rights movement and certainly we profited dearly by experience and that s george washington on this presidents day. so our task is to answer a couple of questions. this discussion is about truman and eisenhower, and the questions on your book will say what prompted president truman to issue the 1948 executive order to desegregat
and that s george washington and abraham lincoln, i found something from george washington i thought was appropriate for our conversation. she was terrified of doing it. i talked with her before she died, and the courage that she took, with the support that she got from eleanor, the friendship that developed about that, the phone calls, the letters that forces, declaring that there should be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services? and similarly, how did president eisenhower decide to call in the united states army to little rock and to federalize the arkansas national guard? now, we re going to answer those questions. the first thing to do is to put this in context, so i m going to ask our historians, both carol and david, to do that right now. and that is to say, as i look at this time period with truman and eisenhower, it struck me that two wars really frame the civil rights movement and the interaction and the response of the presidents