Governor Orval E. Faubus
Governor of the State of Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
I have your telegram in which you request a meeting with me. Would it suit your convenience to come to my office on the Naval Base at Newport either Friday afternoon, September thirteenth, at three o'clock or Saturday morning, the fourteenth at nine o'clock. If you would let my office know your method of transportation to the Newport area, my staff will arrange to have you met and brought to the Base.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Note: This telegram was released at the U. S. Naval Base, Newport, R. I. Governor Faubus' telegram follows:
Dear Mr. President:
I have accepted summons from the United States District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas, to appear before that Court on September 20, to answer certain allegations in litigation affecting the high school in Little Rock. Recognizing that we jointly share great responsibility under the Federal Constitution, I feel that it is advisable for us to counsel together in determining my course of action as Chief Executive of the State of Arkansas with reference to the responsibility placed upon me by the State and Federal Constitutions.
The United States District Court has already entered an order relative to integration of the high school in Little Rock, and this order has been affirmed by the Circuit. Court of Appeals.
All good citizens must, of course, obey all proper orders of our Courts and it is certainly my desire to comply with the order that has been issued by the District Court in this case, consistent with my responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States, and that of Arkansas.
May I confer with you on this matter at your earliest convenience.
ORVAL E. FAUBUS
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Telegram to the Governor of Arkansas in Response to His Request for a Meeting. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233563