Analysis: Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights

Date: October 29, 1947

Author: The President's Committee on Civil Rights

Genre: report

Summary Overview

Though civil rights activism had been ongoing since the end of the Civil War, as World War II drew to an end, many African Americans saw an opportunity for renewed progress. Many black soldiers, fighting in segregated units, served in World War II and returned home with a feeling that they had earned the right to be treated as equals. However, the response they received—especially, but not exclusively, in the Southern states—was that they were still viewed as inferior by white American society. On December 5, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9808, forming the President's Committee on Civil Rights and charging it with examining the status of civil rights in the United States and reporting back to the president with recommendations as to how to strengthen and protect those rights. Almost one year later, the fifteen-member committee produced a 178-page report, entitled To Secure These Rights: The Report of The President's Committee on Civil Rights.

Defining Moment

As World War II came to an end, some things in the United States had changed—President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died in the last months of the war, with Truman succeeding him; Nazi Germany had been defeated and America's wartime ally, the Soviet Union, was increasingly seen as a threat; and the development of atomic weapons changed the very nature of warfare. Some things, however, remained much the same—racism and segregation were still just as pervasive, despite the fact that so many African Americans had fought and died alongside other Americans from every other racial and ethnic background during the war.

When Truman became president in April 1945, he was primarily concerned with the final stages of the war and the construction of the postwar world, where, increasingly, concern was focused on the perils of Communism both in the Soviet Union and at home. However, Truman also demonstrated a concern about civil rights that many did not expect. He was born into a family that had supported segregation, and he had even been accused of affiliations with the Ku Klux Klan early in his political career, though he had long since repudiated the Klan and its beliefs. When he became president, the Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House—as well as all other federal buildings—was completely segregated. Many states had laws specifying public segregation of the races.

This was not only the United States of which Truman became president; it was the country to which the 880,000 African American World War II veterans had just returned. When they did insist upon their rights being respected or spoke out against segregation, groups like the Klan met them with violence. On September 19, 1946, a meeting between Truman and civil rights leaders took place, and Truman was informed about the deterioration of race relations, especially in the South, where even returning soldiers still in uniform were subjected to racial violence at the hands of whites. The day following the meeting, Truman consulted with his attorney general about what could be done to stop the violence, suggesting the appointment of a commission to examine civil rights in the country and to make recommendations. On December 5, 1946, Truman signed Executive Order 9808, officially forming the President's Committee on Civil Rights. The committee had the right to subpoena testimony from whomever it wished, including people with a significant amount of influence in political, business, and civil rights circles.

On June 29, 1947, Truman spoke in front of the Lincoln Memorial to members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He committed the federal government to the advancement of civil rights for the first time, alienating both Republicans and his fellow Democrats, many of whom were from Southern states and had no intention of dismantling segregation. However, the report of the committee four months later would present the nation's first blueprint for doing so.

Author Biography

In December 1946, President Harry S. Truman established the fifteen-member Committee on Civil Rights, whose charge was to make recommendations as to legislation that could be passed by Congress to protect people from racial discrimination. In Executive Order 9808, Truman instructed the committee to scrutinize the state of civil rights in the United States and offer suggestions for legislation and other means of improving upon the defense of those rights in written form. The committee was made up of people from politics, business, and civil rights organizations, including its chairperson, General Electric CEO Charles E. Wilson, African American attorney Sadie T. Alexander, American Civil Liberties Union cofounder Morris L. Ernst, Catholic bishop Francis J. Haas, Charles Luckman, and Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., the son of Truman's presidential predecessor. The committee's report to President Truman was published in October 1947 and the group disbanded in December of that year.

Document Analysis

After a year-long process of investigation and thought, the President's Committee on Civil Rights issued its report, To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights. In this document, the committee makes specific recommendations as to the best ways for the federal government to live up to the basic principles upon which the nation had been founded: freedom of conscience, equality of opportunity, and the right to safety and security for all Americans. In doing so, the committee has harsh words and advises direct action to address the problems of racial segregation and discrimination in American society.

The first section of the fourth chapter of the report gives a set of recommendations for improving the offices of the federal government that would deal with civil rights issues. It proposes the improvement of the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department, by establishing regional offices able to concentrate on areas where civil rights abuses were more prevalent. It proposes that the office act more proactively, rather than simply responding to complaints, and that the state governments establish similar offices. The section advises the founding of a special group within the Federal Bureau of Investigation with training in civil rights matters. The committee also suggests instituting permanent commissions on civil rights at both the federal and state levels, and increasing professionalization of police forces.

The second section deals with recommended changes to federal law, in order to make it easier to convict those guilty of civil rights violations. It proposes the passage of a federal anti-lynching law—something that, although proposed a number of times, all prior administrations had not supported. Laws against involuntary servitude are sought. Also, in direct response to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, laws against unlawful detention of people not charged with a crime and in favor of the resolution of claims of losses by Japanese Americans during the war are advocated.

The third section recommends actions to ensure the rights of minorities, such as the right to vote and run for office. In immigration matters, the report proposes the end of all laws discriminating against people of different national origins. Finally, it deals with the problem of segregation and discrimination in the armed forces, urging laws against these practices. It recommends the registration of groups so that their true motives might be known. Interestingly, the president's committee suggests that the president's own loyalty program be revisited to ensure that it did not trample on the civil rights of federal employees.

The concluding sections of the report deal with “the elimination of segregation, based on race, color, creed, or national origin, from American life,” in matters of housing, health care, employment, and public services, as well as the end of segregation in facilities of interstate transportation, such as bus stations. Specific suggestions mention the District of Columbia and federal territories, but overall, the report recommends the complete desegregation and end of discrimination in all aspects of American life.

Glossary

abridgment: a shortened or condensed form of a book or speech that still retains the basic contents; reduction or curtailment

amicus curiae: “friend of the court”; someone who is not party to a case but gives information regarding the case without the solicitation of the parties.

briefs: a writ summoning one to answer to any action; a memorandum of points of fact of law for use in conducting a case

commensurate: having the same measure; of equal extent or duration; proportionate; adequate

enunciation: utterance of pronunciation; a formal announcement or statement

fallacious: containing a fallacy; logically unsound; misleading

indoctrinate: to instruct in a doctrine, principle, or ideology, especially to imbue with a particular biased belief of point of view; to teach or inculcate

stenographic: the art of writing in shorthand

suffrage: the right to vote, especially in a political election

Bibliography and Additional Reading

Dudziak, Mary L. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2000. Print.

Gardner, Michael R. Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2002. Print.

Geselbracht, Raymond H., ed. The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman. Kirksville: Truman State UP, 2007. Print.

To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. Natl. Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

Vaughan, Philip H. The Truman Administration's Legacy for Black America. Reseda: Mojave, 1976. Print.