The government began to respond to these pressures before the United States entered World War II. At the urging of the White House the Army announced plans for the mobilization of Negroes, and Congress amended several mobilization measures to define and increase the military training opportunities for Negroes.[1-22] The most important of these legislative amendments in terms of influence on future race relations in the United States were made to the Selective Service Act of 1940. The matter of race played only a small part in the debate on this highly controversial legislation, but during congressional hearings on the bill black spokesmen testified on discrimination against Negroes in the services.[1-23] These witnesses concluded that if the draft law did not provide specific guarantees against it, discrimination would prevail. [Footnote 1-22: The Army's plans and amendments are treated in great detail in Lee, _Employment of Negro Troops_.] [Footnote 1-23: Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs. House of Representatives, 76th Cong., 3d sess., on H.R. 10132, _Selective Compulsory Military Training and Service_, pp. 585-90.] [Illustration: GUNNER'S GANG ON THE USS MAINE.] A majority in both houses of Congress seemed to agree. During (p. 011) floor debate on the Selective Service Act, Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York proposed an amendment to guarantee to Negroes and other racial minorities the privilege of voluntary enlistment in the armed forces. He sought in this fashion to correct evils described some ten days earlier by Rayford W. Logan, chairman of the Committee for Negro Participation in the National Defense, in testimony before the House Committee on Military Affairs. The Wagner proposal triggered critical comments and questions. Senators John H. Overton and Allen J. Ellender of Louisiana viewed the Wagner amendment as a step toward "mixed" units. Overton, Ellender, and Senator Lister Hill of Alabama proposed that the matter should be "left to the Army." Hill also attacked the amendment because it would allow the enlistment of Japanese-Americans, some of whom he claimed were not loyal to the United States.[1-24] [Footnote 1-24: _Congressional Record_, 76th Cong., 3d sess., vol. 86, p. 10890.] [Illustration: GENERAL PERSHING, AEF COMMANDER, INSPECTS TROOPS _of the 802d (Colored) Pioneer Regiment in France, 1918_.] No filibuster was attempted, and the Wagner amendment passed the Senate easily, 53 to 21. It provided