Truman and Desegregation of the Military

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Truman and Desegregation of the Military
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Integration by Necessity

• During the Second World War, though the American
  military was officially segregated.
• At the Battle of the Bulge the army asked for
  African-American volunteers to fight with white
  troops on the front lines.
• By the time the German offensive had been turned,
  many prejudices had broken down among the
  racially mixed units.

3
Truman's Civil Rights Agenda

• Following WWII, the United States had just
  concluded a war against nations that practiced
  racism at its most wretched extent, yet the Jim
  Crow system persisted through much of the
  country.
• This was especially embarrassing when the United
  States sought to differentiate itself from the
  Soviet Union on the basis of freedom.
• Despite this, any attempt to unseat the Jim Crow
  system would face daunting political obstacles.
• Although many African-Americans had come to
  represent a sizable political constituency in
  many Northern cities, Southern segregationists
  were sure to block any civil rights legislation
  in the Senate.

4
A. Philip Randolph

• In late summer 1947, President Truman requested
  passage of the Universal Military Training
  program, a preparedness regimen that would
  require every young man between the ages of
  eighteen and twenty to be trained for one year as
  part of a reserve force.
• A. Phillip Randolph had criticized the president
  for not backing his words with action.
• In December 1947 Randolph asked the president for
  a meeting to discuss the bill.
• By January, Randolph was writing again, this time
  telling the president that he could not imagine
  what could have greater urgency on his schedule.
• Eventually Randolph met with Truman to discuss
  the Universal Military Training program and
  Trumans Civil Rights initiatives.

5
Message to Congress on Civil Rights (1948)

• In 1946, Truman established the President's
  Committee on Civil Rights by executive order.
• Their report, To Secure These Rights, which
  established a federal agenda for ending
  discrimination, called for a variety of measures
  including federal anti-lynching legislation and a
  permanent commission on civil rights.
• In his 1948 Special Message to Congress on Civil
  Rights, President Truman outlines ten legislative
  objectives for strengthening to constitutional
  rights of minorities.
• He also outlines the steps to be taken by the
  federal government to end discrimination.

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Memorandum (22 March 1948)

• On 22 March 1948, President Truman received a
  memo from the Committee Against Jim Crow in
  Military Service and Training
• They were criticizing his support of the
  Universal Military Training bill as it contained
  no provision to eliminate segregation from the
  armed forces.
• Furthermore, the memo criticized Secretary of the
  Army Kenneth C. Royall for maintaining
  segregation in the National Guard.

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• Multimedia Citations
• Slide 2 http//www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs/
  04_a03_d02.html
• Slide 3 http//teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi
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• Slide 4 http//www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/harlem/i
  mages/240x240_randolph_p.jpg
• Slide 5 http//www.nato.int/docu/review/2006/issu
  e2/graphics/contents/a4b.jpg
• Slide 6 http//www.buffalosoldiers.com/AfricanAme
  ricans_AirNationalGuard..jpg