NEW YORK -- In "My Life" (Knopf, 2004), former U.S. President Bill Clinton writes: "Elizabeth Eckford, who at 15 was deeply seared emotionally by vicious harassment as she walked alone through an angry mob, was reconciled with Hazel Massery, one of the girls who had taunted her 40 years earlier."
The occasion was a gathering held at the Little Rock Central High School in September 1997 to commemorate the incident that made the capital of Arkansas known throughout the world.
In September 1957, Gov. Orval Faubus used the National Guardsmen to block nine black students from entering Central High. Following a court injunction, Faubus withdrew the state troops, but he kept up his racist warnings and violence continued. Soon President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard while sending 1,000 federal troops to protect the students. The National Guard, despite its name, is normally under the command of the governor of each state.