Truman - To Secure These Rights Flashcards
Did Blacks support his party?
They did until the 1930,’s/40’s, until president Roosevelt took charge, where there vote largely changed to the Democratic Party
Who is Truman and when did he become president?
Truman became president in 1945, and at the age of 38 he paid $10 to join the KKK. As a young man he was very racist and often referred to blacks as ‘niggers’
What was ‘To Secure These Rights’?
1947
It was a report examining the experiences and problems AA experienced, and it proposed radical changes to make America more of a society
What were the 6 highlighted problems ‘To Secure These Rights’ (1947) showed?
1) Lynching
2) Police brutality
3) Voting Rights - only 18% of Blacks down south could vote due to legal obstacles
4) Discrimination in Army
5) Employment and education - On average received 18 cents p/h less
6) Health Care - 1 black doctor for every 3,377 patients compared to 750 whites.
What recommendations did ‘To Secure These Rights’ (1947) speak of?
1) New laws to deal with lynching - police now could intervene and prosecute.
2) New legislation to outlaw police brutality.
3) Fair employment Practices (FEP) to make permanent the FEPC Roosevelt created.
4) Southern States should be forced to end segregation in education and healthcare.
5) All initiatives that denied the right to vote for black citizens should be abolished.
Did ‘To Secure these Rights’ (1947) work?
Not really - the suggestions were unrealistic for a lot, and they were not De Facto laws - Truman didn’t have the support of congress to achieve everything he recommended.
What did Truman do to help Blacks in turn of Government appointments?
Truman used his power as president to appoint AA’s to important roles. He Made Ralph Bunche American Ambassador and appointed William Hastie as the first black federal judge.
What was:
- Executive order 9980?
- Executive order 10308?
- Fair Deal programme?
- Guaranteed fair employment practices
- Prevented Housing administrations from lending money to building segregated houses
- Committed the government to building houses in urban areas to address some AA problems
What did Truman do for Desegregation?
- In 1948, Truman signed executive order 9981, guaranteeing equality for everyone in the army - despite race/colour/origin.
- Desegregation of Dulles Airport cafeteria - right before foreign dignitaries arrived.
- At his inauguration he had a segregated crowd - no president before did this. (1949)
What was the Result of the 1948 Election?
Truman looked to have lost from the start - the Democratic Party were split - the north supporting Truman while the South opposed, putting forward J.Strom Thurmond as there own candidate. From 1945-1947 - Blacks didn’t believe what Truman was saying, but as he stood firm to Southern Democrats they changed opinions and won Truman the election.
Overall, How successful was Truman? (Good Stuff)
Truman was the first President since Lincoln to commit himself to a civil rights agenda. ‘To Secure these rights’ (1947) was groundbreaking and backed up with some action - he successfully desegregated the Armed Forces and promotes equality of employment, as well as fulfilling some more recommendations.
Overall, How successful was Truman? (Bad Stuff)
Truman’s achievements were limited - for example, the FEPC was under-funded and lacked support for civil servants. Also he could not force defence companies to adopt fair employment. His Fair Deal housing programme was poorly conceived - poor built houses were soon destroyed for public housing and fewer houses than thought were built. Truman’s initiatives were simply not comprehensive enough to deal with the racism on all levels of Americas Society.
