#OTD20 | September 24, 1957

Ike Orders Troops to Support Integration of Little Rock Central High School

September 24, 1957: President Dwight D. Eisenhower orders federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to support the integration of Central High School.

The action comes in response to the serial refusal by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus to allow nine black students to attend the school. More immediately, Eisenhower's directive is  precipitated by events of a day earlier when an angry mob agitated in front of Central High School, while nine African American students were escorted inside by Little Rock police and state troopers.

On President Eisenhower's orders, the Secretary of Defense athorizes one thousand members of the 327th Airborne Battle Group of the 101st Airborne Division to be flown from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Little Rock. They arrive around Central High School by 7:00 p.m.

That same evening, at 9:00 p.m. EDT, President Eisenhower addresses the nation from the White House indicating his decision and stating that “mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts.”