Tuesday, February 21, 2012

How did Truman help African Americans with equality in the military?

Harry Truman went from being the vice president to being the president of the United States in 1945, following the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was elected president in 1948.
On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the U.S. military. In part, this recognized African American service during World War II, which had been slightly higher than the overall representation in the U.S. population. About 11% of military personnel were African American, contrasted to about 10% of the general population.
The order built both on initiatives that President Roosevelt had established and on the findings of December 1946. Truman appointed a distinguished panel to serve as the President's Commission on Civil Rights, which he had created in December 1946. That commission had recommended voting reforms and a stronger civil rights division within the Justice Department.
While it can be considered that Executive Order 9981 helped African Americans, President Truman’s action is generally viewed as helping the United States, in part through benefitting the U.S. military. It was an important milestone in civil rights because it established a precedent for the removal of legal barriers that had prevented people of all races from contributing to national service, including defense, and more generally from participating fully in American society.
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=84

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