A. Philip Randolph and President Truman Correspondences

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

December 28, 1947		January 7, 1948		January 12, 1948
January 15, 1948		January 20, 1948		February 8, 1948
February 27, 1948		March 4, 1948		March 15, 1948
March 17, 1948		March 22, 1948		April 9, 1948 (a)
April 9, 1948 (b)		April 9, 1948 (c)		June 29, 1948
July 1, 1948		July 15, 1948		July 17, 1948 (a)
July 17, 1948 (b)

Letter, dated December 28, 1947, from A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training, to President Harry S. Truman

December 28, 1947

Dear Mr. President:

On December 10, Grant Reynolds and I wrote you requesting an appointment.

On December 17, we received a reply from Mr. David K. Niles, one of your administrative assistants, indicating that he would "be glad to talk to a delegation at any time that is mutually convenient."

There may be several matters which we would be happy to talk over with Mr. Niles. However, the two hundred Negro leaders who comprise our Committee feel that the matter of discrimination and segregation in the Armed Forces and in particular in prospective U.M.T. legislation is a grave threat to Negro youth and to the internal stability of our nation. Segregation becomes all the more important at a time when the United States should be assuming moral leadership in the world.

We consider the matter so serious and urgent as to require a personal conference with the President.

Representative Negro leaders have indicated that they stand ready to come to Washington at any time. I trust that you will find time to see us at your earliest convenience.

Cordially,

1. Philip Randolph

National Treasurer

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)


Letter, dated January 7, 1948, from Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Harry S. Truman, to A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training

January 7, 1948

Dear Mr. Randolph:

I have your note of December 28^th, addressed to the President.

While I appreciate your desire to talk over this matter with the President in person, it is not going to be possible to arrange an interview in the near future.

Mr. Niles is available at any time that is mutually convenient, but you may wish to take up the matter of Negroes in the Armed Forces with the Secretary of Defense.

Sincerely yours,

MATTHEW J. CONNELLY

Secretary to the President

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated January 12, 1948, from A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training, to President Harry S. Truman

 

January 12, 1948

Dear Mr. President:

On December 10, 1947, Mr. Grant Reynolds and I wrote you requesting that you receive representative Negro leaders to discuss your proposed UMT bill, which if adopted as drawn would subject American youth, Negro and white, to compulsory jimcrow. Mr. David K. Niles replied on December 17, 1947, that he stood ready to receive a delegation.

On December 28, 1947, I wrote you again pointing out that our emergency committee of 225 Negro leaders feels that the matter is of such extreme concern as to require an interview with the President himself.

On January 7, 1948, your secretary, Mr. Matthew J. Connelly, wrote that an interview with you is not "possible to arrange in the near future." It is difficult to believe that there can be matters before you at this time which in urgency exceed the just concern and long-accumulated grievances of one-tenth of our population.

One might reason that consideration of the European Recovery Program and other matters require such time as to make a meeting of Negro leaders impossible. Might I remind you, on the other hand, that the success of many internal and foreign programs finally depends on a healthy state of the body politic. Such a state requires the elimination of, rather than the extension of, segregation and discrimination in military training and the armed forces.

May I ask when it will be possible for you to receive us?

Sincerely yours,

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated January 15, 1948, from Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Harry S. Truman, to David K. Niles, Administrative Assistant to President Harry S. Truman

January 15, 1948

MEMORANDUM FOR

HONORABLE DAVID K. NILES

Dear Dave:

We have just received another letter from Philip Randolph and I would like your advice.

Thank you.

M.J.C.

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated January 20, 1948, from David K. Niles, Administrative Assistant to President Harry S. Truman, to Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Harry S. Truman

January 20, 1948

MEMO FOR HONORABLE MATT CONNELLY:

Dear Matt:

Philip Randolph, the signer of this letter, is an important Negro. He is the head of the Negro Pullman Porters Union, and is not a left-winger. The names of the officers are all known to me and they are pretty conservative Negroes.

I think it might be well if the President could see Philip Randolph, and I would suggest that it be done sometime in the first week of February. By that time, Clark Clifford assures me, the President's civil rights message will be completed and sent up to the Hill. In that message there will be some mention of Jimcrow in military service, and these people will not be able to say that the message is a result of their visit.

DAVID K. NILES

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated February 7, 1948 (release date: February 8, 1947), from Kenneth C. Royall, Secretary of the Army, to the press:

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

Public Information Division

FOR RELEASE 6:00 P.M., EST, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1947

MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESS:

In response to queries, Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall has made a copy of his letter to the Honorable Alfred E. Driscoll, the Governor of New Jersey, available for publication. Mr. Royall’s letter follows:

7 February 1948

Honorable Alfred E. Driscoll

Governor of New Jersey

Trenton, New Jersey

Dear Governor Driscoll:

On January 8 you addressed to me a telegraphic inquiry concerning the utilization of Negro manpower in the militia of New Jersey. I have had the matter carefully reviewed by the military Staff of this Department and have myself given it full consideration.

In accordance with a report of competent and experienced officers, the War Department on 27 April 1946 issued regulations which, among other things, required (subject to certain exceptions) that when Negroes are employed in the Army units below the battalion, they will be organized into separate units.

This provision was considered to be in the interest of national defense, and both the Staff and I feel that this is still the case. Therefore, these regulations will be continued in force for the Regular Army and, subject to the exception noted below, will also be effective for the Federally recognized civilian components of the Army.

I have noted the fact that the people of New Jersey by direct majority vote have provided in their Constitution that no person shall…. be segregated in the militia because of race, color…. While the authority to determine all questions relating to the Federally recognized National Guard must necessarily be exercised by the Department of the Army, yet I recognize the importance to a sovereign state of a constitutional provision such as yours, and I have determined that for the present, Army militia units of New Jersey, if otherwise qualified, will not be denied Federal recognition on the ground of non-segregation.

Sincerely yours,

signed

KENNETH C. ROYALL

Secretary of the Army

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated February 27, 1948, from A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training, to President Harry S. Truman

February 27, 1948

Dear Mr. President:

On Monday, February 9, 1948, Mr. David Niles, one of your administrative assistants, reached me by long-distance telephone in Pittsburgh to ascertain if a delegation from this Committee would meet with you on Friday, February 13.

Because of previous FEPC commitments in the Mid-West, I was unable to go to Washington on that date. Mr. Niles then asked me to telephone him when I returned to the East around February 23. When I attempted to reach him the other day, however, I learned that he was out of Washington for several weeks, as were Mr. Connelly and Mr. Ross.

In regards to the conference on the issue of racial segregation and discrimination under pending Universal Military Training legislation, a small delegation from this Committee stands ready to meet with you upon my return East again after March 18. We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

May I in the meantime call to your attention the recent newspaper confirmation of a rumor widely current in Negro circles. In "Washington Notebook" under the by-line of Lem Graves, Jr., the Pittsburgh Courier of February 21, 1948, states that the Department of the Army removed from the second section of the UMT legislation, as originally written in the Office of Selective Service Records, an anti-discrimination proviso.

Sincerely,

National Treasurer

apr/t

cc David Niles

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated March 4, 1948, from Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Harry S. Truman, to David K. Niles, Administrative Assistant to President Harry S. Truman

March 4, 1948

MEMORANDUM FOR

HONORABLE DAVID NILES

Will you again look over the attached file -- along with the latest letter from A. Philip Randolph -- and let us know if you think the appointment should be made.

Thank you.

MJC

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated March 15, 1948, from David K. Niles, Administrative Assistant to President Harry S. Truman, to Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Harry S. Truman

March 15, 1948

MEMO FOR HONORABLE MATT CONNELLY:

Dear Matt:

The President did agree to see Philip Randolph, you will recall, then Randolph, as he says, left on a trip. He is an important Negro in labor ranks and I think if the President can he should now receive Mr. Randolph.

DAVID K. NILES

Administrative Assistant to the President

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Telegram, dated March 17, 1948, from Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Harry S. Truman, to A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training

MR. A. PHILIP RANDOLPH

SUITE 301

216 WEST 125^TH STREET

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

THE PRESIDENT WILL BE GLAD TO SEE YOU 11.00 A.M., MONDAY, MARCH 22^ND.

PLEASE CONFIRM, REGARDS.

MATTHEW J. CONNELLY

SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WB254 PD

NEW YORK NY MAR 18 1948 236

MATTHEW J CONNELLY

SECTY TO PRESIDENT WHITE HOUSE

APPRECIATE CONFERENCE WITH PRESIDENT MONDAY ELEVEN AM MARCH 22^ND DELEGATION WILL BE ON HAND. IMPORTANCE OF ISSUE IS SUCH THAT WE WOULD APPRECIATE HAVING PHOTOGRAPH WITH PRESIDENT

A PHILIP RANDOLPH COMMITTEE AGAINST JIM CROW IN MILITARY SERVICE AND TRAINING SUITE 301 217 WEST 125 ST MONUMENT 25080

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum (with attached March 22, 1948 memorandum from the Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training to President Harry S. Truman), dated March 22, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman to David K. Niles, Administrative Assistant to President Harry S. Truman

Memorandum for: David K. Niles

Administrative Assistant to the President

From: The President

 

Attached is a memorandum left with me by the Negro Committee which was to see me yesterday. I am sending it to you so that you will be familiar with the conversation between us.

HST

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COMMITTEE AGAINST JIMCROW IN MILITARY SERVICE AND TRAINING

March 22, 1948

Memorandum To President Harry S. Truman on Occasion of 11 A.M. Conversation

In your message to Congress on March 17, 1948, your appeal for enactment of Universal Military Training and for revival of Selective Service contained no reference to military segregation and discrimination on the basis of race, despite the recommendations of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights.

Your Committee specifically recommended that there be no segregation nor discrimination in any peacetime draft and in the already existing military establishment. It recommended legislation to that end.

While the committee’s comprehensive report won the hearty approval of Negro citizens at the time it was issued, we are now deeply disturbed by the recent decision of Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall to maintain jimcrow in the National Guard, making an exception only of New Jersey because of its firm constitutional prohibition. A further cause of distress is the exclusion of Negroes from the experimental UMT camp at Fort Knox, Ky., which appears to fit into the pattern of segregated white and Negro battalions planned by the War Department if Congress should enact a permanent draft. The authority for this information comes from Chairman Walter G. Andrews of the House Armed Services Committee and is buttressed by the reliable report that the Army removed an anti-discrimination proviso from the UMT bill as drafted by the Office of Selective Service Records, before the bill reached Congress.

In regard particularly to a revival of Selective Service, Negro veterans are well qualified to insist upon broad, unequivocal anti-segregation and civil rights safeguards for perspective draftees. The weak anti-discrimination Section 4A of the 1940 Selective Service and Training Act was willfully violated by Selective Service and the Army, and the violations were upheld by the courts.

We therefore urge upon you, as Commander—in-Chief, the following steps:

Grant Reynolds, National Chairman

A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer

Albert Black, Washington Chairman

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated April 9, 1948, by Clark M. Clifford, Special Counsel to President Harry S. Truman, to President Harry S. Truman

April 9, 1948

MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT:

The Department of the Army has received inquiries from the Governors of several states with respect to Negro troop policy in their National Guard components. The Secretary of the Army has already made one public reply, and is proposing to make two others, which will no doubt be publicized by the Governors who receive them. I believe these replies are contrary to your stated policy in the Civil Rights Message, and will lead to further criticism and hostile inquiries from both the North and South.

An Advisory Board to the Secretary of Defense now has National Guard troop policy and other elated matters under consideration, and will make a report on the 15^th of April. There is considerable risk involved in waiting for the report of this Board before taking action. While its report would not be binding, it would be a hard thing to override a report made under these conditions.

There is a very simple and practical solution to the National Guard problem, but for reasons that are not clear to me, the Department of the Army does not wish to adopt them. The solution is to leave to the states the problem of determining for themselves whether their National Guard units will be segregated or non-segregated.

I am attaching a proposed letter to Secretary Forrestal, in case you wish to make your position clear in advance of the completion of the Advisory Committee’s report.

Clark M. Clifford

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated April 9, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman to James Forrestal, Secretary of Defense

April 9, 1948

My dear Mr. Secretary:

On February 2, 1948, in a special message to Congress, I said that "I have instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible. The personal policies and practices of all the services in this regard will be made consistent."

It has since been brought to my attention by some of the states that the Department of the Army has made an exception to its current policy in the case of one state, which has adopted a constitution provision against segregation in its National Guard. Other states, naturally, wonder whether they may not do by executive or legislative action what one state has been allowed to do by constitutional amendment.

It appears to me that the matter of personal policies in the various National Guard units could be well a subject for state determination. This determination should be under Department of the Army guidance, as provided for in the National Defense Act, but with full latitude for those states which wish to equalize opportunity to serve in the National Guard without distinctions based on race or color.

I wish you would take up the matter with the Secretaries of the Armed Services, with a view toward equalizing the opportunity to serve in all components of the Armed Services, and with a view toward making the policies of the various services consistent with one another.

Very sincerely yours,

HST

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated April 9, 1948, by Philleo Nash to Clark M. Clifford, Special Counsel to President Harry S. Truman

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HONORABLE CLARK M. CLIFFORD:

April 9, 1948

I believe a situation is developing with respect to the National Guard policy on Negro personnel, which requires a decision and possible action by the President.

In addition to the complications caused by the various inquiries from Governors about non-discrimination, the situation is going to be further complicated on the 15^th of April when the Grey Board makes its report.

This is an advisory board to the Secretary of Defense, which is looking into all questions relating to the composition and utilization of such civilian components as the National Guard, the ROTC, the Enlisted Reserve, etc.

The question of segregation in the National Guard is a part of this Board’s agenda. In general, there are only three recommendations the Board can make, and two of them will surely lead to inquiries, controversies, and embarrassment.

I am suggesting that the President may wish to anticipate the action of this Board by acting himself along lines already laid out in his Civil Rights Message.

The three possibilities of the Grey Board are:

From the standpoint of consistency with the President’s announced position in the Civil Rights Message — his wish to see equality of opportunity equalized in the Armed Services and his declaration that the Services should be made consistent in their policies — the state’s rights approach would be preferable. In addition, it holds out some hope of freedom from heckling from both the Northern and the Southern states.

The Department of the Army, however, does not seem to care for this view. Secretary Royall’s letter to Governor Driscoll is based on the Gillem Board policy of small segregated units and composite larger units, and his proposed letters to the other Governors also adopt this view.

In previous statements to the Negro press, however, the War Department last year created the impression that there is no objection to the formation of non-segregated units by the states themselves. Clippings are attached.

I am now attempting to learn the probable nature of the Grey Board Report. This may not be possible. In order to be ready, I am attaching a proposed memorandum from yourself to the President to the Secretary of Defense. The latter would have the effect of stating the President’s wishes, which would be binding regardless of the decision of the Advisory Board.

I am attaching some citations which would seem to establish the authority of the Secretary of the Army to delegate to the states the right to self-determination in National Guard troop policy.

Philleo Nash

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated June 29, 1948, from Grant Reynolds, National Chairman; A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training, to President Harry S. Truman

June 29, 1948

Dear Mr. President,

Because Congress enacted, and you have now signed, a Selective Service Bill devoid of any safeguards for Negro youth, we should like to request, at your very earliest convenience, a conference with you to discuss the issuance of an executive order abolishing all segregation and discrimination from the armed forces.

In the light of past official civil rights pronouncements, it is our belief that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, is morally obligated to issue such an order now. Unless this is done, Negro youth will have no alternative but to resist a law, the inevitable consequence of which would be to expose them to the un-American brutality so familiar during the last war.

America must not subject one-tenth of its population to such treatment again. Knowing that you have in your power to prevent this, we are seeking an opportunity to confer with you on implementing this essential part of your civil rights program.

Sincerely yours,

Grant Reynolds, National Chairman
A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated July 1, 1948, from Mary McLeod Bethune, Founder President National Council of Negro Women, Inc., to Kenneth C. Royall, Secretary of the Army

July 1, 1948

The Honorable Kenneth C. Royall

Dear Sir,

It has come to our attention that you have released to us three additional ROTC units designed to serve Negro youth for training as officers — one in Florida, my own state; one in Louisiana and one in Maryland.

I do want, for the National Council of Negro Women, a large organization Mr. Secretary, representing 800,000 women of this country, to extend our gratitude and congratulations on this definite forward step toward the goal we all seek. This will enable our sons to equip themselves for leadership responsibilities in the protection of their own country. Seventy-five percent of our Negro soldiers come from the South and it is very significant and important that at this time this open door of opportunity they so badly need and richly deserve should be opened to them by your hands. This step will encourage the setting up of opportunities for our WACS, WAVES, SPARS and WAFS to prepare themselves as well for the task that lies ahead. I shall be happy to emphasis this important opportunity for patriotic service.

I am hoping, Mr. Secretary, that this forward step that you have taken will prove an incentive to the next stride you will make in perfecting the training and utilization of all our man power and our woman power.

Please know how grateful we are and how happy we shall be to cooperate in any way that we can.

Sincerely yours,

Mary McLeod Bethune

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated July 15, 1948, from Grant Reynolds, National Chairman; A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training, to President Harry S. Truman

July 15, 1948

President Harry S. Truman

Dear Mr. President,

We were indeed happy that you decided to call Congress back into special session in order to act on civil rights legislation among other matters. We trust that in your message to Congress on July 26 you will specifically ask for legislative approval of anti-lynching and other safeguards for Negro draftees. You are undoubtedly aware of the intense bitterness on the part of Negro citizens because of the bi-partisan "gentleman's agreement" to scuttle the Langer amendment to the draft bill early in June.

The action most necessary today to strengthen the fabric of democracy is of the type that would enhance the dignity of second-class citizens. Because the 1948 Republican platform expressed its disapproval of army segregation and because the recently adopted platform of your own party in essence called for the abolition of racial distinctions within the military establishment, we feel that you now have a bi-partisan mandate to end military segregation forthwith by the issuance of an Executive Order.

May we take this opportunity to renew our request for a conference with you in the immediate future to discuss such an Executive Order. The date for registration under the draft is only a month away and it is the hope of all Negro youth that here will be an alternative beyond submission to a discriminatory law and imprisonment for following the dictates of self-respect.

Sincerely,

Grant Reynolds, National Chairman
A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Memorandum, dated July 17, 1948, from James Forrestal, Secretary of Defense, to Clark M. Clifford, Special Counsel to President Harry S. Truman

17 July, 1948

MEMORANDUM FOR MR. CLIFFORD CLARK:

Attached is a letter which I had intended on sending to Mr. Grant Reynolds and Mr. A. Philip Randolph today. I saw in this morning’s New York Times, however, a brief news item which stated that Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Randolph had written or wired the President, requesting that he issue an Executive Order for the purpose of carrying out the civil rights plank in the platform.

In order to avoid any mix-up in the matter, I am sending the proposed letter to you — for I imagine that you will be working on any similar requests which the President has received from Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Randolph, and others. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have on this matter, and, as you will note, my proposed letter is in reply to a letter from Messrs. Reynolds and Randolph to the President — Matt Connolly having referred the letter to this office last week.

James Forrestal

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)



Letter, dated July 17, 1948, from James Forrestal, Secretary of Defense, to Grant Reynolds, National Chairman; A. Philip Randolph, National Treasurer, Committee Against JimCrow in Military Service and Training

17 July, 1948


Dear Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Randolph,

Your letter of June 29th, addressed to the President, has been referred to me for reply.

In your letter, you mention the possibility of "an executive order abolishing all segregation and discrimination from the armed forces."

Since your letter was written, the Democratic Convention has adopted a platform which, among other things, "calls upon the Congress to support our President in guaranteeing these basic and fundamental rights: " The right of equal treatment in the service of defense of our nation."

You will recall that when the Selective Service legislation was being considered by the Armed Services Committee of the Senate, an amendment was proposed which would have had the effect of permitting every person in the armed services to state whether or not he wished to serve in a unit consisting of exclusively members of his own race. The Committee asked for my comments on this proposal, and I informed the Committee that I am opposed to including in the Selective Service bill a provision which would compel segregation.

In my opinion, the field of inter-racial relations is one in which definite progress has been made by the military. Furthermore, it is a field in which even greater progress will be made in the future.

Some of the supporters of the proposed amendment which I mentioned earlier stated that this amendment was necessary in order to prevent the possible issuance of an executive order prohibiting segregation - the very step which you now propose. As evidence of the possibility of such a step, the supporters of the amendment cited the President's civil right's message of February 2, 1948.

The specific language of the President's message reads as follows:

"During this recent war and in the years since its close we have made much progress toward equality of opportunity in our Armed Services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. I have instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the Armed Services eliminated as rapidly as possible. The personnel policies and practices of all the Services in this regard will be made consistent."

The instructions to which the President referred in this message were delivered to me orally, and my reply to the President was that these instructions were in accord with my own conception of my responsibilities, under unification. I referred to the fact that I felt that substantial progress had been made by all of the Services, and that I felt confident that further progress could be made - and that much progress, among other things, could take the form of a more nearly uniform approach to inter-racial problems by the three Services.

In addition to the matters I have mentioned up to this point, I should like to call your attention to a meeting which I held on April 26, to discuss may of the problems to which your letter refers. A list of the persons invited to attend this meeting is attached for your information. I am presently awaiting the recommendations of the group which attended the April 26 meeting - and I am in hopes that one outgrowth of the meeting will be the setting up of an advisory panel to assist the Military Establishment in handling the many difficult problems facing the armed services in the field of inter-racial relations. In this general connection, I think that you may be interested in a letter we recently received from Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune, a copy of which I attach for your information.

Any concrete and practical suggestions which either of you may have will be greatly appreciated. I would be less than candid with you, however, if I failed to say that Mr. Randolph's much-publicized testimony before the Congress seems to me a step in the wrong direction.

Sincerely, James Forrestal

(Source: Truman Presidential Library | Digitization: Project WhistleStop)