Harry Truman and civil rights
Subtitle: moral courage and political risks
By: Michael R. Gardner ; with forewords by George M. Elsey and Kweisi Mfume.
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Carbondale
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
Subjects: Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972.; African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1953.; United States -- Race relations.
Description: Given his background, President Truman was an unlikely champion of civil rights. Where he grew up--the border state of Missouri--segregation was accepted and largely unquestioned. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents had owned slaves, and his beloved mother, victimized by Yankee forces, railed against Abraham Lincoln for the remainder of her ninety-four years. When Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, Michael R. Gardner points out, Washington, DC, in many ways resembled Cape Town, South Africa, under apartheid rule circa 1985. Truman's background notwithstanding, Gardner shows that it was Harry Truman--not Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, or John F. Kennedy--who energized the modern civil rights movement, a movement that basically had stalled since Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. Gardner recounts Truman's public and private actions regarding black Americans. He analyzes speeches, private conversations with colleagues, the executive orders that shattered federal segregation policies, and the appointments of like-minded civil rights activists to important positions. Among those appointments was the first black federal judge in the continental United States. Gardner characterizes Truman's evolution from a man who grew up in a racist household into a president willing to put his political career at mortal risk by actively supporting the interests of black Americans.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-268) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: CHAPTER ONE; title: The Historical Background for Truman's; title: Civil Rights Crusade 4 CHAPTER TWO; title: Truman's Committee on Civil Rights: December 5, 1946 I4 CHAPTER THREE; title: Truman's Speech to the NAACP at the Lincoln Memorial:; title: June 29, I947 28 CHAPTER FOUR; title: The Report of Truman's Committee on Civil Rights:; title: October 29, 1947 43 CHAPTER FIVE; title: Truman's State of the Union Address: January 7, 948 65 CHAPTER SIX; title: Truman's Special Message to Congress on Civil Rights:; title: February 2, 1948 71 CHAPTER SEVEN; title: The 1948 Democratic Party Convention and the Civil Rights Plank:; title: July I4-I5, 1948 87 CHAPTER EIGHT; title: The Turnip Day Congressional Session and Executive; title: Orders 9980 and 9981: July 26, 1948 105 CHAPTER NINE; title: The Great "Comeback" Campaign and Truman's Harlem Speech:; title: October 29, 1948 22 CHAPTER TEN; title: Civil Rights Progress Despite a Recalcitrant Congress:; title: 1949-1952 147 CHAPTER ELEVEN; title: Truman and the Vinson Court 163 CHAPTER TWELVE; title: Truman's Howard University Commencement Address:; title: June 13, 1952 198 CHAPTER THIRTEEN; title: Truman's Final Civil Rights Address in Harlem:; title: October ii, 1952 2o; title: CHAPTER FOURTEEN; title: The Truman Civil Rights Legacy 216 Epilogue 225; title: NOTES 231 BIBLIOGRAPHY 249 INDEX 269.