President Eisenhower was not recognized for addressing any civil rights issues such as Little Rock Nine. However, with elections rolling around, Eisenhower took large strides to ensure that this was passed to make sure that he would win the "black vote". Yet, to get the bill to pass required ample amounts of revisions to create a compromise with the southerners and southern senators: which was overriding state laws, using armed forces to enforce these civil rights, and those interfering with the bill would be sent to trial against a judge (not an all-white jury as only white citizens could be jury-members at the time). However, many continued to vote as they believed the bill wouldn't last long.
At that point in time, europe had conqoured nearly all of the world, giving them a massive advantage. They were also more technogolically advanced than other countries, giving them yet another advantage.
Theodora believes that giving up their reputation as nobility and becoming fugitives would be almost impossible for them, and she says she would rather face death because death is already going to happen.