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Truman/Executive Order desegregating the military
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On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed this executive order establishing the
President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services,
committing the government to integrating the segregated military.
In 1940 the U.S. population was about 131 million, 12.6 million of which was African American,
or about 10 percent of the total population. During World War II, the Army had become the
nation's largest minority employer. Of the 2.5 million African Americans males who registered
for the draft through December 31, 1945, more than one million were inducted into the armed
forces. African Americans, who constituted approximately 11 per cent of all registrants liable for
service, furnished approximately this proportion of the inductees in all branches of the service
except the Marine Corps. Along with thousands of black women, these inductees served in all
branches of service and in all Theaters of Operations during World War II.
During World War II, President Roosevelt had responded to complaints about discrimination at
home against African Americans by issuing Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, directing that
blacks be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants, forbidding discrimination by
defense contractors, and establishing a Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC).
After the war, President Harry Truman, Roosevelt's successor, faced a multitude of problems
and allowed Congress to terminate the FEPC. However, in December 1946, Truman appointed a
distinguished panel to serve as the President's Commission on Civil Rights, which
recommended "more adequate means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the
people of the United States." When the commission issued its report, "To Secure These Rights,"
in October 1947, among its proposals were anti-lynching and anti-poll tax laws, a permanent
FEPC, and strengthening the civil rights division of the Department of Justice.
In February 1948 President Truman called on Congress to enact all of these recommendations.
When Southern Senators immediately threatened a filibuster, Truman moved ahead on civil
rights by using his executive powers. Among other things, Truman bolstered the civil rights
division, appointed the first African American judge to the Federal bench, named several other
African Americans to high-ranking administration positions, and most important, on July 26,
1948, he issued an executive order abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering full
integration of all the services. Executive Order 9981 stated that "there shall be equality of
treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color,
religion, or national origin." The order also established an advisory committee to examine the
rules, practices, and procedures of the armed services and recommend ways to make
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desegregation a reality. There was considerable resistance to the executive order from the
military, but by the end of the Korean conflict, almost all the military was integrated.
Transcript of Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948)
Establishing the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity In the
Armed Forces.
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 created 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 the 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 hereof.
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 Governemt shall testify before the
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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