Download The Culture of Modernism in the 1920’s and Reactions to

Truman and
Desegregation of the
Military
Integration by Necessity
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During the Second World
War, though the American
military was officially
segregated.
At the Battle of the Bulge the
army asked for AfricanAmerican 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.
Truman's Civil Rights Agenda
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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.
A. Philip Randolph
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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 Truman’s Civil Rights
initiatives.
Message to Congress on Civil
Rights (1948)
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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.
Memorandum (22 March 1948)
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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
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