Truman and Executive Order 9981: Idealistic, Pragmatic, or Shrewd Politician?

Mystery Quotes:  Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman and Johnson

 

“I will then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races…and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality.”

 

“We (the NAACP) didn’t consider him a friend.  We considered him more dedicated to his concept of the role of a Majority Leader in the Senate than he was to the civil rights cause.”

 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

 

“I wish to make it clear that I am not appealing for social equality of the Negro.  The Negro himself knows better than that, and the highest types of Negro leaders say quite frankly, that they prefer the society of their own people.  Negroes want justice, not social relations.”

 

 

 

 

“I wish to make it clear that I am not appealing for social equality of the Negro.  The Negro himself knows better than that, and the highest types of Negro leaders say quite frankly, that they prefer the society of their own people.  Negroes want justice, not social relations.”

-         Harry Truman, address to the National Colored Democratic Association (1940)

“I will then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races…and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality.”

-         Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Charleston, Illinois (1858)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

-         Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

“We (the NAACP) didn’t consider him a friend.  We considered him more dedicated to his concept of the role of a Majority Leader in the Senate than he was to the civil rights cause.”

-         Roy Wilkins, former Executive Director of the NAACP, an oral history taken in 1969 – Speaking of Senator Lyndon Johnson

 

President	Action Taken	Why Was This Important?
Thomas Jefferson	Wrote the Declaration of Independence	(+)  Sets the standard of equality that the United States continues to aspire to.   (-)   What about women and African Americans?  How are they included in this statement?
Abraham Lincoln	Issued the Emancipation Proclamation	(+)  Freed the slaves, but only in areas held by the Confederacy.   (-)  Wasn’t this just an act of war?
Harry S. Truman	Issued Executive Order 9981	(+)  Ended segregation in the military.   (-)  Didn’t baseball have a more successful move toward desegregation, without being forced to, at about the same time?
Lyndon Johnson	Pushed Through the Civil Rights Act of 1964	(+)  Ended unequal voter registration requirements and ended segregation in schools, workplaces and public places.   (-)  Isn’t this the same guy who was against civil rights legislation in the 1950’s?

 

Idealistic	Pragmatic	Shrewd Politician

President Harry S. Truman – Executive Order 9981 (July 26, 1948)

WHEREAS it is essential that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy, with equality of treatment and opportunity for all those who serve in our country’s defense:

NOW THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, and as Commander in Chief of the armed services, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1)      It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.  This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.

2)      There shall be create in the National Military Establishment an advisory committee to be known as the President’s Committee on Equality of treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, which shall be composed of seven members to be designated by the President.

3)      The Committee is authorized on behalf of the President to examine into rules, procedures and practices of the Armed Services in order to determine in what respect such rules, procedures and practices may be altered or improved with a view to carrying out the policy of this order.  The Committee shall confer and advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force, and shall make such recommendations to the President and to said Secretaries as in the judgment of the Committee will effectuate the policy herof.

4)      All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Committee in its work, and to furnish the Committee such information or the services of such persons as the Committee may require in the performance of its duties.

5)      When requested by the committee to do so, persons in the armed services or in any of the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall testify before the Committee and shall make available for use of the Committee such documents and other information as the Committee may require.

6)      The Committee shall continue to exist until such time as the President shall terminate its existence by Executive order.

Harry Truman

The White House

July 26, 1948

 

Harry S. Truman – Letter to Bess Wallace (June 22, 1911)

At this time, Truman lived on the family farm thirty miles south of Independence, Missouri, and he is courting Bess Wallace.  Truman was twenty-seven years old when he wrote this letter.

 

“…Speaking of diamonds, would you wear a solitaire on your left hand should I get it?  Now that is a rather personal or pointed question provided you take it for all it means.  You know, were I an Italian or a poet I would commence and use all the luscious language of two continents.  I am not either but only a kind of good-for-nothing American farmer.  I always had a sneaking notion that some day maybe I’d amount to something.  I doubt it now though like everything.  It is a family failing of ours to be poor financiers.  I am blest that way.  Still that doesn’t keep me from having always thought that you were all that a girl could be possibly and impossibly.  You may not have guessed it but I’ve been crazy about you ever since we went to Sunday school together.  But I never had the nerve to think you’d even look at me.  I don’t think so now but I can’t keep from telling you what I think of you….

I am going to send you the book number of Life.  There is a page of books in it that look good.  Don’t get Ashes of God, for I am going to get it and I’ll and I’ll let you have it.  Every review I have read on it says it is fine.  I have thrown my sticks away and use only a cane now.  I told Ethel I am going to get me a gold-headed one and an eyeglass, if some one of my friends lent me the coin, and pretend that I had been to Georgie V’s crowning.  Don’t you abhor snobs?  Think of such men as Morgan paying to be allowed to dance with royalty.  You know there isn’t a royal family in Europe that wouldn’t disgrace any good citizen to belong to.  I think one man is just as good as another so long as he’s honest and decent and not a nigger or a Chinaman.  Uncle Wills says that the Lord made a white man from dust, a nigger from mud, and then threw what was left and it came down a Chinaman.  He does hate Chinese and Japs.  So do I.  It is race prejudice I guess.  But I am strongly of the opinion that negroes ought to be in Africa, yellow men in Asia, and white men in Europe and America….”

Senator Harry S. Truman – Speech to the National Colored Democratic Association at Chicago, Illinois (July 14, 1940)

In this address to a group of civil rights leaders, Truman provides his definition of racial equality.

 

“I wish to make it clear that I am not appealing for social equality of the Negro.  The Negro himself, knows better than that, and the highest types of Negro leaders say quite frankly, that they prefer the society of their own people.  Negroes want justice, not social relations.  I merely wish to sound a note of warning.  Numberless antagonisms and indignities heaped upon any race will eventually try human patience to the limit, and a crisis will develop.  We will know the Negro is here to stay and in no way can be removed from our political and economic life, and we all should recognize his inalienable rights as specified in our Constitution.  Can any man claim protection of our laws if he denies that protection to others?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senator Harry S. Truman – Speech at Sedalia, Missouri (July 25, 1940)

With this speech, Truman kicked off his campaign for re-election to the Senate.  His campaign headquarters were in Sedalia – the result of Truman trying to distance himself from Thomas Pendergast, who had just pled guilty to charges of income tax evasion.  This speech is also known as “The Brotherhood of Man” Speech.
 

“I believe in the brotherhood of man; not merely the brotherhood of white men, but the brotherhood of all men before the law.  I believe in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.  In giving to the Negroes the rights that are theirs, we are only acting in accord with our own ideals of a true democracy.  If any class or race can be permanently set apart from, or pushed down below, the rest in political and civil rights, so may any other class or race when it shall incur the displeasure of its more powerful associates, and we may say farewell to the principles on which we count our safety.

During the World War the need of men for an Army and for war industries brought more and more of the Negroes from rural areas to the cities.  In the years past, lynching and mob violence, lack of schools, and countless other equally unfair conditions, hastened the progress of the Negro from the country to the city.  In these centers the Negroes have never had much choice in regard to work or anything else.  By and large, they work mainly as unskilled laborers and domestic servants.  They have been forced to live in segregated slums, neglected by the authorities.  Negroes have been preyed upon by all types of exploiters, from the installment salesman of clothing, pianos, and furniture to the venders of vice.  The majority of our Negro people find but cold comfort in shanties and tenements.  Surely, as freemen, they are entitled to something better than this.”

 

 

 

President Harry S. Truman – Letter to Attorney General Tom Clark (September 20, 1946)

The incident Truman is referring to in this letter involved Isaac Woodward.  Woodward was an African-American from North Carolina who served in the army with distinction during World War II.  Just hours after his discharge from the army, Woodward was beaten by police in South Carolina.  He had boarded the bus in Georgia, and was on his way back to North Carolina.  The driver of the Greyhound bus he was on contacted police in South Carolina, where they removed Woodward from the bus and beat him.  Woodward was permanently blinded as a result of the beating.

 

“…I had as callers yesterday some members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and they told me about an incident which happened in South Carolina where a negro sergeant who had been discharged from the army just three hours was taken off a bus and not only seriously beaten, but his eyes deliberately put out, and that the mayor of this town had bragged about committing this outrage.

I have been very much alarmed at the increased racial feeling all over the country and I am wondering if it wouldn’t be well to appoint a commission to analyze the situation and have a remedy to present to Congress – something similar to the Wickersham Commission on Prohibition.

I know you have been looking into the Tennessee and Georgia lynching, and have also been investigating the one in Louisiana, but I think it is going to take something more than handling each individual case after it happens – it is going to require the inauguration of some sort of policy to prevent such happenings….”

 

 

 

President Harry S. Truman – Letter to his sister Mary Jane Truman (June 28, 1947)

Truman wrote this letter to his sister the day before he was to deliver a speech to the NAACP in Washington D.C.  In this letter, Truman discusses his upcoming speech, and mentions Abraham Lincoln.  It should be noted that Truman’s mother was from the South, and very much sympathized with the Confederacy.

 

“…I was very glad you called me today.  I had expected to call you tonight.  The situation here is very bad.  I am afraid the Taft-Hartley Law will not work.  But I’ll be charged with the responsibility whether it does or does not work….

I’ve got to make a speech to the Society for the Advancement of Colored People tomorrow, and I wish I didn’t have to make it.  Mrs. R. (Eleanor Roosevelt) and Walter White, Wayne Morse, Senator from Oregon and your brother are the speakers.  Walter White is white in color, has gray hair and blue eyes, but he is a Negro.  Mrs. Roosevelt has spent her public life stirring up trouble between whites and black – and I’m in the middle.  Mamma won’t like what I say because I wind up by quoting old Abe.  But I believe what I say and I’m hopeful we may implement it….”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Harry S. Truman – Address to the NAACP (June 29, 1947)

Truman delivered this speech to the NAACP at the Lincoln Memorial, becoming the first President to address the NAACP.  The speech was carried live on radio.  Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, Eleanor Roosevelt and Walter White, the head of the NAACP, spoke before Truman.

 

“…It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our country’s efforts to guarantee freedom and equality to all our citizens.  Recent events in the United States and abroad have made us realize that it is more important today than ever before to insure that all Americans enjoy these rights.

When I say all Americans I mean all Americans.

The civil rights laws written in the early years of our Republic, and the traditions which have been built upon them, are precious to us.  Those laws were drawn up with the memory still fresh in men’s minds of the tyranny of an absentee government.  They were written to protect the citizen against any possible tyrannical act by the new government of this country.

But we cannot be content with a civil liberties program which emphasizes only the need of protection against the possibility of tyranny by the Government.  We cannot stop there.

We must keep moving forward, with new concepts of civil rights to safeguard our heritage.  The extension of civil rights today means, not protection of the people against the Government, but protection of the people by the Government. 

We must make the Federal Government a friendly, vigilant defender of the rights and equalities of all Americans.  And again I mean all Americans.

 

 

As Americans, we believe that every man should be free to live his life as he wishes.  He should be limited only by his responsibility to his fellow countrymen.  If this freedom is to be more than a dream, each man must be guaranteed equality of opportunity.  The only limit to an American’s achievement should be his ability, his industry, and his character….

The support of desperate populations of battle-ravaged countries must be won for the free way of life.  We must have them as allies in our continuing struggle for the peaceful solution of the world’s problems.  Freedom is not an easy lesson to teach, nor an easy cause to sell, to peoples beset by every kind of privation.  They may surrender to the false security offered so temptingly by totalitarian regimes unless we can prove the superiority of democracy.

Our case for democracy should be as strong as we can make it.  It should rest on practical evidence that we have been able to put our own house in order.

For these compelling reasons, we can no longer afford the luxury of a leisurely attack upon prejudice and discrimination.  There is much that State and local governments can do in providing positive safeguards for civil rights.  But we cannot, any longer, await the growth of a will to action in the slowest State of the most backward community.

Our National Government must show the way….”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W.E.B. DuBois – “An Appeal to Reason” (October 23, 1947)

DuBois had long been a leader in the African-American community.  He had been a key member of the NAACP from its founding in 1909 until 1934, when he left the organization over the issue of integration.  The NAACP wanted to fight for integration, while Dubois favored separatism.  He came back to the NAACP in 1944 and was responsible for “An Appeal to Reason,” a document whose audience was the United Nations.  Dubois and others had been working on the ninety-four page document since 1946.

 

“…We appeal to the world to witness that this attitude of America is far more dangerous to mankind that the Atom bomb; and far, far more clamorous for attention than disarmament or treaty.  To disarm the hidebound minds of men is the only path to peace; and as long as Great Britain and the United States profess democracy with one hand and deny it to millions with the other, they convince none of their sincerity, least of all themselves.  Not only that, but they encourage the aggression of smaller nations; so long as the Union of South Africa defends Humanity and lets two million whites enslave ten million colored people, its voice spells hypocrisy….

Therefore, Peoples of the World, we American Negroes appeal to you; our treatment in America is not merely an internal question of the United States.  It is a basic problem of humanity; of democracy; of discrimination because of race and color; and as such it demands your attention and action.  No nation is so great that the world can afford to let it continue to be deliberately unjust, cruel and unfair toward its own citizens….”

 

 

 

 

The President’s Commission on Civil Rights – “To Secure These Rights” (October 29, 1947)

The President’s Commission on Civil Rights (PCCR) was created on December 5, 1946 when President Truman issued Executive Order 9808.  Truman issued a statement that read “…I am asking this Committee to prepare for me a written report.  The substance of this report will be recommendations with respect to the adoption or establishment of legislation or otherwise of more adequate and effective means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States.”  The committee was very balanced – both racially and politically.  They heard testimony from over forty people and read written comments by 200 more individuals.  The issued their 178 page report on October 29, 1947.

“In a democracy, each individual must have freedom to choose his friends and to control the pattern of his personal and family life.  But we see nothing inconsistent between this freedom and a recognition of the truth that democracy also means that in going to school, working, participating in the political process, serving in the armed forces, enjoying government services in such fields and health and recreation, making use of transportation and other public accommodation facilities, and living in specific communities and neighborhoods, distinctions of race, color and creed have no place….

A lynching in a rural American community is not a challenge to that community’s conscience along.  The repercussions of such a crime are heard not only in the locality, or indeed only in our own nation.  They echo from one end of the globe to the other, and the world looks to the American national government for both an explanation of how such a shocking event can occur in a civilized country and remedial action to prevent its recurrence.

Similarly, interference with the right of a qualified citizen to vote locally cannot today remain a local problem.  An American diplomat cannot forcefully argue for free elections in foreign lands without meeting the challenge that in many sections of America qualified voters do not have free access to the polls.  Can it be doubted that this is a right which the national government must secure?...

Our foreign policy is designed to make the United States an enormous, positive influence for peace and progress throughout the world.  We have tried to let nothing, not even extreme political differences between ourselves and foreign nations, stand in the way of this goal.  But our domestic civil rights shortcomings are a serious obstacle….

The international reason for acting to secure our civil rights now is not to win the approval of our totalitarian critics.  We would not expect it if our record were spotless; to them our civil rights record is only a convenient weapon with which to attack us.  Certainly we would like to deprive them of that weapon.  But we are more concerned with the good opinion of the people of the world….

The injustice of calling men to fight for freedom while subjecting them to humiliating discrimination within the fighting forces is at once apparent.  Furthermore, by preventing entire groups from making their maximum contribution to the national defense, we weaken our defense to that extent and impose heavier burdens on the remainder of the population.

Legislation and regulations should expressly ban discrimination and segregation in the recruitment, assignment, and training of all personnel in all types of military duty.  Mess halls, quarters, recreational facilities, and post exchanges should be non-segregated.  Commissions and promotions should be awarded on considerations of merit only.

Selection of students for the Military, Naval, and Coast Guard academies and all other service schools should be governed by standards from which considerations of race, color, creed or national origin are conspicuously a