Just as when he had been baseball commissioner, Chandler faced the issue of racial integration during his second term as governor. Among his first actions upon his election was to issue an executive order, ensuring that blacks and whites would have equal access to the state park system. He publicly acknowledged the US Supreme Court's 1954 decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" as the law of the land and promised to enforce it. The Kentucky Court of Appeals struck down Kentucky's Day Law, against integration, the following year. Some areas of the state resisted the change. Notably, in 1956, when nine black students in Sturgis, Kentucky, attempted to enter the all-white Sturgis High School, they were blocked by 500 opponents of integration. On September 4, 1956, Chandler called out the National Guard, including a force of over 900 guardsmen and several M47 Patton tanks, to disperse the crowd. The confrontation lasted a total of 18 days before the protesters peacefully dispersed. Shortly thereafter, Chandler took similar actions in response to a protest in the town of Clay, which was resolved without violence also. Of his actions, Chandler remarked, "We regret it is necessary to use this means of guaranteeing equal rights to our citizens, but that we must do."