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Racial Issues Have Often Been A Test for U.S. Presidents With Conflicted Feelings

President Eisenhower was not a fan of the 1954 Supreme Court order against segregated schools; but he sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Ark., to ensure it was enforced at Central High.
Abraham Lincoln warned that "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

President Trump is only the latest man in the White House to see his plans, his governing coalition and his popular standing all at risk because of a racially charged issue.

In the days since he blamed the fatal violence in Charlottesville, Va., on people on "both sides" of the confrontation, Trump has been rebuked by key senators from his own party and deserted by members of his business advisory boards, (which he then said he disbanded). The mayor of Phoenix has asked the president to delay a planned visit.

The entire membership of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities has resigned, and Trump himself has decided not to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala and not

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