Lawlessness fell on Little Rock during these years, as segregationists bombed the offices of the mayor and school superintendent, fired gunshots into the home of an NAACP leader, and made countless threats against black students. In the end, the pressure proved too much for the man charged with keeping the peace. Shortly after the schools reopened, Little Rock’s police chief sat down at his kitchen table, fired three bullets into his wife and then turned the gun on himself.27
