Why Eisenhower Sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock After Brown v. Board

On September 23, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered troops to support the integration of nine black students at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. An excerpt from the article:

"When the governor of Arkansas failed to integrate Central High School, President Eisenhower called in federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine.
When the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separate schools for whites and blacks were unconstitutional and inherently unequal, the slow and often violent dismantling of segregation in educational institutions began across the country.

Knowing that there would be defiance and resistance toward the Brown v. Board of Education decision, particularly in the South where Jim Crow prevailed, the Supreme Court refrained from setting a specific deadline for schools to begin the desegregation process.

But in 1955, in a subsequent ruling that addressed the lagging progress being made by states, the court demanded that integration happen “with all deliberate speed.” The school board of Little Rock, Arkansas, voted to desegregate their high schools starting in 1957, which led to a crisis that catapulted the state’s governor into a showdown with the president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

By 1957, Arkansas had already integrated several state universities and smaller school districts. But when nine black students decided to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, which would desegregate a large urban district, threats of violence and protests ensued."