| The Supreme Court's vague directives in Brown II ignited decades of turmoil in schools and courtrooms across the South as local judges, influenced by local pressures, advanced their own agendas when school desegregation suits arrived on their dockets. However, segregationists would not gain the upper hand. The South's stubborn solution, known as "Massive Resistance," encountered Elbert Parr Tuttle, John Robert Brown, and John Minor Wisdom---three resolute judges appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Attorney General Herbert Brownell, who destroyed many of the remaining vestiges of southern malfeasance with the power of their pens.;The legal battles placed the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, located in the heart of the former Confederacy, at the center of the integration storm. Republicans ruled the White House after Americans elected General Eisenhower in 1952. During his two terms as Chief Executive, Eisenhower appointed five of the seven judges on the Fifth Circuit's bench, meaning Ike's judicial appointees would be responsible for overseeing southern integration. Although historians have widely criticized Eisenhower's lack of leadership following Brown, they have praised his judicial appointments without seeing in those selections his support for civil rights.;This thesis examines Eisenhower's civil rights legacy and uses the President's judicial appointments as a vehicle for promoting his racial achievements. Eisenhower refused to subordinate quality and integrity and selected outstanding judges whose critical contributions to civil rights is a legacy that should be shared by the President. |
