The President's Committee on Civil Rights was a United States presidential commission established by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

in 1946. The committee was created by Executive Order 9808 on December 5, 1946, and instructed to investigate the status of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

in the country and propose measures to strengthen and protect them. After the committee submitted a report of its findings to President Truman, it disbanded in December 1947.

History

The committee was charged with examining the condition of

in the United States, producing a written report of their findings, and 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 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 Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

; a permanent fair employment practice commission; to abolish poll taxes; and urged other measures. Furthermore, the report raised the distinct possibility that the

UN Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: th ...

from 1945 could also be used as a source of law to fight persistent racial discrimination in the US. On July 26, 1948, President Truman advanced the recommendations of the report by signing Executive Order 9980 and

Executive Order 9981 Executive Order 9981 was issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. This executive order abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces, and led to the re-integra ...

. Executive Order 9980 ordered the

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

of the federal work force and Executive Order 9981 ordered the desegregation of the armed services. He also sent a special message to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

on February 2, 1948, to implement the recommendations of the President's Committee on Civil Rights. The President's Committee on Civil Rights report also paved way for African-American diplomats to break into previously white-dominated positions. Under President Truman, Edward R. Dudley would become the first African American given an ambassadorship, in part due to the findings of race-relations from the committee. However, these moves were largely done due to a harming of foreign relations due to the United States' race problem. Even with the committee's findings, President Truman had trouble acting on his own research, due to domestic backlash.

Membership

The committee was composed of 15 members:"Agency History, Records of the President's Committee on Civil Rights Record Group 220"
from the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, retrieved January 23, 2006 * Charles Edward Wilson (Chairman) * Sadie T. Alexander * James B. Carey *

John Sloan Dickey John Sloan Dickey (November 4, 1907 – February 9, 1991) was an American diplomat, scholar, and intellectual. Dickey served as the 12th President of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, from 1945 to 1970, and helped revitalize the Ivy ...

Morris Ernst Morris Ernst (August 23, 1888 – May 21, 1976) was an American lawyer and prominent attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In public life, he defended and asserted the rights of Americans to privacy and freedom from censorshi ...

* Roland B. Gittelsohn *

Frank Porter Graham Frank Porter Graham (October 14, 1886 – February 16, 1972) was an American educator and political activist. A professor of history, he was elected President of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1930, and he later became the firs ...

* Francis J. Haas * Charles Luckman *

Francis P. Matthews Francis Patrick Matthews (March 15, 1887 – October 18, 1952) was an American who served as the 8th Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus from 1939 to 1945, the 50th United States Secretary of the Navy from 1949 to 1951, and United St ...

* Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. *

Henry Knox Sherrill Henry Knox Sherrill (November 6, 1890 – May 11, 1980) was an Episcopal bishop. He was the 20th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1947 to 1958, having previously served as Bishop of Massachusetts (1930-1947). Biography Henry Knox ...

* Boris Shishkin * Dorothy Rogers Tilly *

Channing Heggie Tobias Channing Heggie Tobias (February 1, 1882 in Augusta, Georgia – November 5, 1961 in Manhattan, NY) was a civil rights activist and 1948 Spingarn Medalist. In 1946 he was appointed to the President's Committee on Civil Rights. He has been called " ...

Publication

*President's Committee on Civil Rights. ''To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights''. Washington: GPO, 1947.

References

Notes

"Executive Order 9980, Regulations Governing Fair Employment Practices Within the Federal Establishment,"
an

from Federal Register, retrieved January 23, 2006. For more details on the desegregation of the armed forces see
"Truman Library: Desegregation of the Armed Forces Online Research File"
from the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, retrieved May 4, 2010.

External links

*

' Full text of document available from th

* Christopher N.J. Roberts
William H. Fitzpatrick’s Editorials on Human Rights (1949)
published by Arbeitskreis Menschenrechte im 20. Jahrhundert, published at "Quellen zur Geschichte der Menschenrechte" {{Authority control African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement African-American history of the United States military Civil rights movement Establishments by United States executive order History of civil rights in the United States Presidency of Harry S. Truman Civil Rights, President's Committee on