Quote of the Day (Truman)

"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."—Executive Order 9981, signed on this day in 1948 by President Harry S. Truman

(Some lawyer—maybe Clark Clifford, the President’s counsel?—came up with the wording of this order, but no matter—it is, rightly, associated with Truman, and has become one of his greatest legacies.

With this step, the civil-rights movement took a giant step forward. It was all the more impressive in view of Truman’s own background from a slaveholding state in the antebellum era that had not looked favorably upon civil rights, as well as vociferous opposition from segregationist Southern Democrats and from top military brass. Together with his recognition of the state of Israel and his signing of the legislation to implement the Marshall Plan, this forms part of a trio of landmark legislation passed in a year that has become more famous for his “whistle-stop” campaign.”

Just how much this legislation was needed is suggested by Clifford’s Counsel to the President: "I thought the Navy at times resembled a Southern plantation that had somehow escaped the Civil War. Blacks swabbed the decks, shined shoes, did the cooking, washed the dishes, and served the food. Virtually no other jobs were open to them."

Though he had already notified Congress earlier in the year on his intention to remove discrimination from the armed forces, Truman still faced powerful countervailing pressures not to do so, including from Southern Democrats. His campaign had tried to placate them by rejecting the strong civil-rights platform (including desegregation of the armed forces) advocated by Hubert Humphrey at the Democratic Convention, but when that effort was overridden, renegade Southern Democrats bolted the convention and nominated Strom Thurmond for President on the “Dixiecrat” ticket.

Even after the announcement of the executive order, anonymous high Army officials leaked to the press that they felt they were not included as part of the move, necessitating a public announcement by Truman that the order applied to all parts of the armed services. In certain ways, Truman’s bold move came just in time—within two years, the U.S. would be at war in Korea, ostensibly to fight for another country’s freedom, and it would not have looked good to have our own troops still facing discrimination. By the end of that war, virtually all of the armed forces were integrated. Since then, the armed forces have become one of the areas of American life most open to advancement by African-Americans.)