Anderson 1

To what extent did President Harry Trumans decision to integrate the United States military
influence the conception of the Modern Civil Rights Movement?
Jordan Anderson
002770-0002
Examination Session: May 2014
Arlington High School
History
Word Count: 3661

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Abstract:
Word Count: 282
This paper will investigate the question: To what extent did President Harry Trumans
decision to integrate the United States military influence the conception of the Modern Civil
Rights Movement? The United States government recently agreed to allow women into combat
roles, something never seen before in America. With this comes large changes and society will
likely alter its views on sexual discrimination. In order to discover what the social changes could
be similar to, one could look at another integration in the military, though not an integration of
sexes. This paper deals with the United States military and the implementation of racial
integration in 1948, and how Executive Order 9981 affected the Modern Civil Rights Movement.
The investigation makes use of a range of primary and secondary sources: Books,
database articles, and websites. Books and websites comprise the majority of the information
found in this essay. From their mass arrivals in slave ships several hundred years ago, to their
involvement in the early 21st century, African Americans have looked down upon for their skin
color. With more research into the topic, it is easy to observe that many factors influenced the
Modern Civil Rights Movement.
Upon further investigation, it was found that Executive Order 9981 was only one of many
factors influencing the conception of the Modern Civil Rights Movement, as equality had to be
addressed from several perspectives. The ultimate conclusion of research findings is that civilian
contributions, like those of Rosa Parks and all-black military units who fought with distinction
during wartime, aided in the fight for equality. Executive Order 9981 allowed the Modern Civil
Rights Movement to grow when it did, but was not solely responsible for its formation.

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Table of Contents:

Abstract

Introduction

Pride in Black Combat Units

Executive Order 9981

10

Civilian Contributions

13

Conclusion

17

Bibliography

18

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To what extent did President Harry Trumans decision to integrate the United States military
influence the conception of the Modern Civil Rights Movement?
Word Count: 3661
Introduction:
Since they started coming to what we now know as the United States, African Americans
have been discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Their opportunities were
extremely limited in society, as many were slaves. This way of living a limited lifestyle remained
the same for many years, even after slaves in the United States were freed due to their thirteenth
amendment rights set in the Constitution.
Before and during the 1940s, rights were restricted for African Americans living in a
predominantly white society. The 1896 court case Plessy v. Ferguson set the precedent that
segregation should be accepted. Homer Adolph Plessy was a New Orleans, Louisiana resident
who was of mixed heritage. He was seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African American.
Under state law of Louisiana, however, Homer Plessy was considered to be fully African
American and therefore, had to sit in streetcars labeled as colored. In June of 1892, Homer
Plessy decided to be in an orchestrated test, hoping to challenge the discriminatory laws of the
state before the courts. Belonging to a committee of mixed men in New Orleans called Comit
des Citoyens, which fought for equality, Plessy decided with the committee to board a train in
the whites only section. Plessy bought a first-class ticket for a whites only car on a train
going from New Orleans, Louisiana to Covington, Louisiana. With Plessys approval, the Comit
des Citoyens had hired a private detective who had arrest powers to arrest Plessy for violating the

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Separate Car Act. When asked to get up from his seat and move to another section of the train by
this detective, Homer Plessy refused and was detained. He fought his case originally against the
state of Louisiana, then appealed and fought against the judge who had presided over his original
case, John Howard Ferguson. In that version of the case, the Supreme Court required railway
companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that State, to provide equal, but separate,
accommodations for the white and colored races (Plessy v. Ferguson). The case is what allowed
segregation to legally exist everywhere in the United States, with no real consequences for white
people. From that moment forward, as long as facilities had two separate locations, at least one
for whites and at least one for blacks, segregation was considered legal. Theoretically speaking,
this would be a major rise in the social status of African Americans. The ruling for separate
facilities, however, lead to more discrimination. Much of the time, there would only be one
facility of a certain type for African Americans, while there were several for whites. Most
facilities for whites were kept up well and were in a better condition overall. The facilities for
African Americans tended to be unsanitary and were often not in good condition. The Plessy v.
Ferguson ruling stood in place until it was overturned by the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decision.
Even up to 1945, most southern states had been so successful in their application of Jim
Crow regulations that the vast majority of American blacks failed to move beyond the secondclass status of their ancestors in the early 1880s (George Washington University). Jim Crow
laws were unofficial laws that existed in Southern society, restricting the rights of black
Americans. From the beginning to the end of the American Civil War, the South had undergone
radical changes. The South went from being dependent on slave labor to having no slaves only a
few years later. To combat this radical change, the whites kept the social status of the African

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American people down with Jim Crow laws, meaning blacks were restricted to doing only the
things which whites allowed. Legally they were free men, but because of these practices and the
lack of action by the federal government at the time, the social statuses of many African
Americans were almost identical to that of their slave ancestors.
This treatment began to slowly change following the end World War II and the possibility
of this being due to the desegregation of the military interested me. Looking into the factors
causing the civil rights movement of the 20th century is important. Society must understand its
past in order to understand its present. Analyzing the effect of the integration of the military is
important because of the status of the military in American society. The armed forces are seen as
role models and many people look up to military personnel. The potential effects they may have
on society could be extremely large and researching Executive Order 9981 allowed me to
observe the scale on which these effects might take place. My goal in this paper is to bring to
light the role of Executive Order 9981 and other events in the beginnings of the Modern Civil
Rights Movement. The conception of the Modern Civil Rights Movement was influenced by not
only President Harry Trumans decision to integrate the United States military in 1948, but more
so the contributions of African Americans and others , both in and out of military service.

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To what extent did President Harry Trumans decision to integrate the United States military
influence the conception of the Modern Civil Rights Movement?
Word Count: 3661
Body:
PRIDE IN BLACK COMBAT UNITS
All-black combat units during World War II and the Korean War were effective in
influencing the civil rights movement by giving African Americans a sense of pride and unity.
During the Second World War, the 332nd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Corps
flew more than 700 missions and never lost a bomber to enemy aircraft. They earned more than
744 Air Medals and Clusters, more than 100 Flying Crosses, 14 Bronze Stars, 8 Purple Hearts, a
Silver Star, and a Legion of Merit (Library of Congress). These brave men, also known as the
Tuskegee Airmen, were one of the most decorated fighter groups of the war. This gave them an
extreme amount of pride and confidence. Similarly, the Armys 92nd Infantry Division was
extremely decorated. In total, the 92nd earned more than 12,000 decorations and citations
including two Medals of Honor (92nd Infantry World War II Association). The 92nd Infantry
Division, one of the few all-black combat ground divisions during World War II, received a large
number of awards and proudly served during wartime.
Many times, units comprised of African American men would suffer large numbers of
casualties due to the extremely dangerous, near suicidal missions they would sometimes be given
by white superiors. During a battle of the Vosges Mountains campaign on La Schleife Hill,
gunners of the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion fought from an exposed position south of the
town, sustaining 50 percent casualties and losing three of their four 76-mm guns . . . This battle,
which won the 614th a Presidential Unit Citation, was out of the ordinary (Capistrano and

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Kaufman). The 614th proved African Americans could see things through and finish them even
when faced with dilemmas presented to them.
Combat was also seen by other types of servicemen besides soldiers in the infantry. Doris
Dorie Miller was a cook aboard the USS West Virginia during the December 7, 1941 attack on
Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. He was assigned to carry wounded fellow Sailors to places of
greater safety. Then an officer ordered him to the bridge to aid the mortally wounded Captain of
the ship. He subsequently manned a .50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun until he ran
out of ammunition and was ordered to abandon ship (United States Navy). The bravery of
blacks in the service extended to all occupations within the military, as shown by this man who
was merely a cook on a ship before the attacks occurred.
This bravery was not limited to only the Second World War. In the Korean War
recapturing of Yechon, Captain Charles Bussey, commander of the engineer company, was
awarded the Silver Star for having prevented a flanking operation by a North Korean battalion
during the battle. Bussey's platoon-size unit killed more than 250 enemy soldiers. Captain
Bussey's bravery inspired his regiment and exemplified the preparedness and leadership
capabilities of African-American soldiers (Government of New Jersey). The capturing of
Yechon is widely considered to be the first significant successful offensive operation by the
United States Army in Korea. Bussey was an inspiration for other young African Americans and
gave them a sense of unity. He demonstrated that African Americans in combat were extremely
capable of going beyond the call of duty. The 2nd Ranger Company was also an all-black unit that
served during in the Korean War. They were the recipients of over 100 purple hearts indicating
that almost every man in the unit was wounded in action. The awards for bravery made them
stand above the rest. Nine men earned Silver Stars for heroic combat actions . . . Twelve men

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earned the Bronze Star for valor . . . Every man in the unit earned either the Combat
Infantrymans Badge or the Combat Medical Badge. The 2nd Ranger Company earned the 100
percent Combat Infantrymans Streamer (Bond 43). This display of commitment surpasses that
of most other units during the Korean War. The 2nd Ranger Company showed what African
Americans could do in combat and they were rightfully praised for their service.

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EXECUTIVE ORDER 9981

Executive Order 9981 became a building block for the integration of society and fair
treatment of others. Executive Order 9981 was introduced in 1948 by President Harry Truman
and was essential for the growth of civil rights in the United States. The executive order
mandated that no person in the armed services could be discriminated against based on their race,
national origin, color, or religion. The United States Congress used the wording of Executive
Order 9981 to their advantage, allowing them to hold off on integration as long as possible
because there was no specific time frame in which they had to integrate. Even with this problem,
every branch of the United States armed services was fully integrated by 1954. Executive Order
9981 led to the desegregation of the United States armed services and assisted in bringing out the
civil rights movement.
During an interview, an African American Korean War veteran named Harold Coleman
said, "By me being in the service, it gave me that much more ability to realize that we should be
free, and free to do whatever we want, and free to succeed . . . It made me feel we that should be
integrated, that . . . we should not be held back the way we were" (St. Petersberg Times). The
integration of the military had many African American people wanting equal rights back home in
the civilian world. Referring to Harry Truman, former Defense Secretary William Cohen said
His executive order cleared a path for integration and opportunity, decreeing that never again
should racism be the rule, regulation or regular practice of the armed forces (Cohen). The
contributions of Executive Order 9981 were seen by many, even far after the original signing of
it by the President in 1948. For example, in a speech at Constitution Hall during a celebration
commemorating the 50th anniversary of racial integration in the military, Cohen agreed that
Executive Order 9981 opened possibilities for equality in the civilian world.

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The States' Rights Democratic Party, or Dixiecrat party also contributed to the success
of Order 9981. Dixiecrats were members of a segregationist political party formed in 1948 in
response to civil rights administration passed by Harry Truman. The Dixiecrats wanted to keep
Jim Crow laws in Southern society and keep white supremacy in their communities. They
believed the federal government was intruding on their rights by proposing African Americans
should have the same rights, and their Southern way of life was changing because of the
supposedly oppressive federal governments policies. During the spring of 1948 southern
Democrats began to turn from the party, and the black vote, an important element in the big city
Democratic vote since the formation of the Roosevelt coalition, now became in the minds of the
campaign planners an essential ingredient in a Truman victory (MacGregor). Although the
Dixiecrat party lasted for only one year, it did make a large enough difference in the vote count.
Harry Truman and other Democrats began to focus on potential voters in the form of the African
American people, as some of the politicians had lost some expected election votes to the
Dixiecrat party.
Obviously, many things energized the civil rights movement after World War II. In July
1948, President Harry Truman signed . . . Executive Order 9981, mandating equality of
treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces (Alvah). This Executive Order
was something that started the civil rights movement after World War II. The fair treatment of all
federal employees definitely brought about a new way of thinking about civil rights during the
time. It should be easily seen that the elimination of Jim Crow in federal employment and the
military invigorated the fight against discrimination in other areas. With discrimination on the
ropes in the venue of federal government, it was only a matter of time before broader fights
against societal injustice could be successfully raised and won (Newby 86). Executive Order

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9981 directly influenced the fight against societal injustice in other areas besides the federal
government. Some civilian minorities were involved in the making of Executive Order 9981.
Philleo Nash and other minority advisers wanted to let the services discover, under guidance
from a White House committee, the inefficiency of segregation. The services would quickly
conclude, the advisers assumed, that equal treatment and opportunity were impossible in a
segregated system (MacGregor). Advisors who helped draft Executive Order 9981 wanted to
use the military as a model for society, allowing it to realize segregation was limiting equality
and imposing on the rights of American citizens.
The civil rights movement would not have occurred when it did without the integration of
the military. Executive Order 9981 effectively set a basis for social equality: The proclamation
that blacks should be able to pursue their right to fight absent discrimination was an essential
precursor to Brown; the presidential decree demonizing discrimination in federal employment
was a powerful social statement which helped form the Court's contemporary thinking on social
equality (Newby 86). This executive order effectively influenced the Supreme Courts decision
in Brown v. Board of Education. The case was one of the sparks in the civil rights movement, and
this proves that 9981 is what caused that spark to ignite. Desegregation of federal employment
also sparked off the civil rights events of the 1950s and 1960ssit-ins, Freedom Rides, the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, and morewhich finally led to a breakdown of segregation in larger
society, resulting in the integration of schools, transportation, restaurants, lodging, and all aspects
of American life (Schamaun 2). Executive Order 9981 was obviously a major precursor to the
civil rights movement led by African Americans in the 20th century.

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CIVILIAN CONTRIBUTIONS
The Modern Civil Rights Movement was largely started with the contributions of
American civilians to challenge inequality. On December 5 of 1955, after the arrest of the
seamstress and local NAACP secretary Rosa Parks for refusing to move to the back of the bus to
accommodate a white passenger, the Montgomery NAACP organized a boycott of the city's
buses (Alvah). Rosa Parks refused to go along with Jim Crow laws and because of it, the
famous Montgomery bus boycott occurred. This was an influential movement that was one of the
largest civil rights-based boycotts in history. The person in charge of the Montgomery bus
boycott was Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. He became a huge figure in the Civil
Rights Movement and eventually was assassinated because his ideas, which were changing
societys views on racism and racial discrimination, were unpopular with some whites. Doctor
Martin Luther King, Jr. was so dedicated to his cause that In the eleven-year period between
1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times,
appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action (Haberman). Martin Luther King, Jr.
spoke in several areas of the nation about the social injustice occurring. He was one of the first
people to challenge inequality. During the Birmingham campaign, more citizens began resorting
to civil disobedience in order to have their political voices heard. Because of the number of
volunteers increasing daily, actions soon expanded to kneel-ins at churches, sit-ins at the library,
and a march on the county building to register voters. Hundreds were arrested (Stanford
University). These acts of civil disobedience were some of the first in the Civil Rights
Movement. The lack of fear of being arrested by police showed that African Americans were
willing to fight for equality, no matter the consequences.

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More leaders than King existed, like Malcolm X. Reaching out to Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., James Farmer, and other civil rights leaders, Malcolm X proposed a broad coalition of
black activist organizations, working in concert to achieve social justice (Columbia University).
Malcolm X, who did not agree with many ideas of Kings, wanted to work with him in order to
achieve social justice. He had come to realize that the only way for equality to come was for
African Americans to all lend a hand together. Adults were not the only African Americans who
knew they must fight for their rights. Many children saw the necessity in challenging white laws.
One example of this is the Little Rock Nine, a group of students attended Central High School in
Arkansas. These students were African American and knew they would be treated poorly. On
their first day of school, Angry mobs, encouraged by Arkansas governor Orval Faubus's
defiance of the federal government, surrounded and threatened the students. Ultimately,
President Dwight Eisenhower reluctantly ordered the National Guard to protect them. The efforts
to integrate Central High School made headlines around the world (Alvah). President
Eisenhowers support of the Little Rock Nine gained international attention and may have
influenced subsequent efforts for the equal rights of African Americans. The decision of
Eisenhower to uphold the law was not an easy one, but was necessary in the establishment of this
new era of equality.
The court case of Brown v. Board of Education reached the Supreme Court through the
fearless efforts of lawyers, community activists, parents, and students. Their struggle to fulfill the
American dream set in motion sweeping changes in American society, and redefined the nations
ideals (Smithsonian Institution). This landmark court case allowed blacks and whites to
integrate in civilian society. This was done because of the hard work of many people, not only
those in the military. In Brown v. Board of Education, Chief Justice Vinson died and Earl Warren

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took his place shortly after. Writer Roger Smith argues that If it was not for Chief Justice Fred
Vinson's unexpected death then Earl Warren would not have succeeded him, and Vinson, who
seemed more conservative than Warren, probably would have not made the same decision
(Smith). Warrens taking over of Vinsons position is believed to have directly influenced the
decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which was a large part of the Civil Rights
Movement.
Martyrs also served as a disturbing form of motivation for African Americans to be
involved: A fourteen-year-old boy, Emmett Till, had been brutally murdered and his body
thrown in the Tallahatchie River . . . the trial of Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam for the murder of
Till shook the conscience of a nation and helped spark the movement for civil rights for black
Americans (Linder). The brutality of the murder of Emmett Till was seen at his funeral, where
his mother insisted it be an open-casket funeral. Large amounts of people came to witness what
had happened to the boy. His disfigured face shocked the public and newspapers began to
circulate with some stories about injustice emerging. So outraged by the murder of Till, many
African Americans saw him as a martyr for their cause. This led more of the African American
people to unify, and it put a face on their cause.
Baseball player Jackie Robinson was largely influential in the Civil Rights Movement as
well. He dramatized the racial question in 1947 when he broke baseball's color line and began
playing in the major leagues. A member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he often faced trouble with
opponents and teammates as well. But an outstanding first season led to his acceptance and eased
the way for other black players, who now left the Negro leagues to which they had been
confined (Hamby 271). Because of Robinson, African Americans were not held back in the
sport of baseball. They had the ability to play professionally with their white counterparts.

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Bringing the two races together in sport allowed more segregationists to change their ways and
provided citizens the opportunity to see the wrongs of segregation. To many, this marked what
would be the coming of a new age for African Americans.

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To what extent did President Harry Trumans decision to integrate the United States military
influence the conception of the Modern Civil Rights Movement?
Word Count: 3661
Conclusion:
Other factors contributed to the Civil Rights Movement besides Executive Order 9981. In
the military, many all-black units and also specific soldiers who were African American showed
the public they were no less than white people in any way, through the form of combat. Civilians
taking part in demonstrations and standing up for the rights of African Americans also directly
influenced the rest of the Civil Rights Movement and began to inspire many Americans. With
that said, this executive order by Truman is one of the many things which initially started the
Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, allowing for integration in all areas of society.
Being that a president of the United States passed this executive order, it became a large
part of the foundation for civil rights. It was one of the most influential pieces of the Civil Rights
Movement and effectively allowed the Civil Rights Movement to begin when it did and not in
later years. Although Executive Order 9981 was essential to the Civil Rights Movement
occurring when it did because of the momentum gained, other factors, such as contributions of
civilians and the unity felt by all-black combat units in the military, were also equally effective in
influencing the Modern Civil Rights Movement.

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