More difficult, he went on, was the issue of promotion. Black men without the opportunities for education that whites might have had would always be at a disadvantage in a desegregated army, Ike said. A better practice was to keep black units intact, thus allowing them to develop a cadre of black officers. Eventually, Eisenhower hoped, “the human race may finally grow up,” and such concerns would disappear. But for now, “if we attempt by passing a lot of laws to force someone to like someone else, we are just going to get into trouble.” These comments reveal a man who believed that racial
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