Movement1957
Eisenhower Sends Troops to Little Rock
President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to escort nine African American students into Central High School after Governor Faubus used the National Guard to block desegregation. It was the first time since Reconstruction that a president sent federal troops to protect civil rights.
Why It Matters
Eisenhower's deployment of federal troops demonstrated that the executive branch would enforce Supreme Court rulings on civil rights, establishing the supremacy of federal constitutional law over state resistance.