President's Committee on Civil Rights

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The President's Committee on Civil Rights was established by U.S. President Harry Truman's Executive Order 9808 on December 5, 1946. The committee was instructed to investigate the status of civil rights in the United States and propose measures to strengthen and protect the civil rights of American citizens. After the committee submitted a report of its findings to President Truman, it terminated December 1947[1].

The committee was composed of 15 members: Charles E. Wilson (Chairman), Sadie T. Alexander, James B. Carey, John S. Dickey, Morris L Ernst, Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, Dr. Frank P. Graham, Reverend Francis J. Haas, Charles Luckman, Francis P. Matthews, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., Reverend Henry Knox Sherrill, Boris Shishkin, M.E. Tilly, and Channing H. Tobias[2].

The committee was charged with: (1) examining the condition of civil rights in the United States, (2) producing a written report of their findings, and (3) submitting recommendations on improving civil rights in the United States. In December 1947, the committee produced a 178 page report entitled To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights. In the report, it proposed to improve the existing civil rights laws; to establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission, Joint Congressional Committee on Civil Rights, and a Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice; to develop federal protection from lynching; to create a Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC); to abolish poll taxes; and urged other measures[3].

On July 26, 1948, President Truman advanced the recommendations of the report by signing executive orders 9980 and 9981. Executive Order 9980 ordered the desegregation of the federal work force and Executive Order 9981 ordered the desegregation of the armed services[4]. He also sent a special message to Congress on February 2, 1948 to implement the recommendations of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights[5].

Contents

[edit] Notes

  1. ↑ "Executive Order 9808, Establishing the President's Committee on Civil Rights, Harry S Truman" from Federal Register, retrieved January 23, 2006. For more details on the assigned tasks of the committee, see President's Committee on Civil Rights. To Secure These Rights: The Report of Harry S. Truman's Committee on Civil Rights. Boston: St. Martin's, 2004. ISBN 0-312-40214-7
  2. ↑ "Agency History, Records of the President's Committee on Civil Rights Record Group 220" from the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, retrieved January 23, 2006
  3. ↑ President's Committee on Civil Rights. To Secure These Rights (2004).
  4. ↑ "Executive Order 9980, Regulations Governing Fair Employment Practices Within the Federal Establishment," and "Executive Order 9981, Establishing the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, Harry S Truman" from Federal Register, retrieved January 23, 2006. For more details on the desegregation of the armed forces see, "The Truman Administration, and the Desegregation of the Armed Forces: A Chronology" from the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, retrieved January 21, 2006
  5. ↑ "Special Message to the Congress on Civil Rights, Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953" on February 2, 1948, from the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, retrieved January 21, 2006

[edit] External sources

[edit] Secondary sources

  • Berman, William C. The Politics of Civil Rights in the Truman Administration. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-8142-0142-3
  • Hamby, Alonzo L. Beyond the New Deal: Harry S. Truman and American Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-231-08344-0
  • McCoy, Donald R. and Richard T. Ruetten. Quest and Response: Minority Rights and the Truman Administration. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1973. ISBN 0-7006-0099-X
  • Vaughan, Philip H. The Truman Administration's Legacy for Black America. Reseda, California: Mojave Books, 1976. ISBN 0-87881-047-1

[edit] Primary sources

  • Civil Rights Archival Materials at the Truman Presidential Museum & Library retrieved January 21, 2006
  • President's Committee on Civil Rights. To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights. Washington: GPO, 1947.
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