Why did Eisenhower damage the civil rights movement?

However, Eisenhower had unwittingly helped the case by appointing Warren; he was unsupportive of BROWN, claiming that 'all they (Southerners) are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big overgrown Negroes'1. Eisenhower took the evolutionary approach; he believed that forcing the issue would only cause more hostility, damaging America's society.

His second significant action was intervention at the High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957). Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas stationed the National Guard around the school to keep nine black students out. He used force to challenge federal law, resulting in federal troops being ordered in by Eisenhower. Although his actions had helped the civil rights movement, he acted solely because his hand was forced, not for the civil rights cause. He feared hostility from opposition of the civil rights movement, claiming that he had acted because he was concerned about America's international 'prestige and influence', not to uphold black civil rights.

In 1956, Democratic senators claimed that Eisenhower's earlier civil rights bill sought to use federal power to force the miscegenation of white and black children. Eisenhower said that 'there were certain phrases' that he 'did not completely understand' and made no effort to keep it intact.

In conclusion, Eisenhower's lack of involvement (as seen in BROWN) and perseverance (as with the bill) was the main reason why he was damaging to the civil rights movement. Truman had given the civil rights movement momentum and Eisenhower made no attempt to sustain it, thus damaging it. Any additions that he made to the civil rights movement were accidental, such as the appointing of Earl Warren, or forced by others, such as Little Rock.

Race Relations in the USA since 1900, by Vivienne Sanders, page 66