The Supreme Court decision to desegregate public schools, Brown v. Board of Education (1954), did not end segregation immediately. The conflict in Arkansas between federal courts ordering desegregation and state governments refusing to allow it became national and even international news in 1957. Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, refused to allow nine African American high school students to enroll at Little Rock Central High School on September 5, 1957 citing dangers to public safety. In response, President Dwight Eisenhower authorized the 101st Airborne Division to ensure that the court order was carried out.

Sending U.S. troops to enforce a federal court ruling on school desegregation was an unprecedented step. The conflict in Little Rock represented a constitutional crisis that divided the country as both the state and federal government claimed the right to decide if schools could desegregate. President Eisenhower faced a difficult decision to take public opinion into account while still pursuing what he felt was the right course of action under the law. Hundreds of letters were written to President Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Little Rock Crisis on both sides of the issue. Eisenhower balanced what he saw as his legal duties as president with the opinions and beliefs of the people of the United States.