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Placing the Blame. What was happening in America was that Orval Faubus had failed in his attempt to overturn the law of the land with force. In the strongest official language he had used since entering the White House, President Eisenhower placed the blame for Little Rock's ordeal where it belonged: on Orval Faubus. Replying to a message of protest from Georgia's Senator Richard Russell (whom Ike had gone out of his way to placate during the fight on civil rights legislation in the 85th Congress), the President said:
"Few times in my life have I felt as saddened as when the obligations of my office required me to order the use of a force within a state to carry out the decisions of a federal court. My conviction is that had the police powers of the State of Arkansas been used not to frustrate the orders of the court but to support them, the ensuing violence and open disrespect for the law and for the federal judiciary would never have occurred . . .
"As a matter of fact, had the integration of Central High School been permitted to take place without the intervention of the National Guard, there is little doubt that the process would have gone along quite as smoothly and quietly as it has in other Arkansas communities."