Political pressures (particularly from Missouri Attorney General John Ashcroft) challenged the implementation of the plan.Freivogel (2002), 216. During the 1984 Missouri gubernatorial campaign, Ashcroft used the issue of busing to his advantage, claiming that the plan was "illegal and immoral".Freivogel (2002), 217. Ashcroft won both the Republican Party primary and the general election by campaigning against the plan. Despite Ashcroft's opposition and legal challenges, the plan significantly desegregated St. Louis schools. In 1980, 82 percent of black students in the city attended all-black schools, while in 1995, only 41 percent did so. By the late 1990s, roughly 13,000 students were enrolled in the transfer program.
