Harry S. Truman Civil Rights Plank

Harry S Truman- Why did he insist on a Civil Rights plank in the 1948 platform of the Democratic party?

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States of America. Truman was raised on a farm in Missouri, and did not attend college. He had various types of jobs. For example, he joined the National Guard, and fought in World War I. Although he was past draft age and was not a suitable candidate for the Army due to his poor vison and status as a farmer, Truman still volunteered for service at the start of World War I. He became a captain in France, and led his troops to abundant successes on the battlefield. However, most people know Truman as one of America’s former presidents. Truman was sworn in as the President of the United States of America on April 12th, 1945, just after 82 days of being the Vice President. He became President because his successor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had passed away from a massive stroke. In 1948, when Harry S. Truman was running for the next term as President, he had insisted on a Civil Rights plank in the 1948 platform towards the Democratic party due to his experience growing up in Lamar, a racist city of Missouri, and his belief that the nation appeared to be hypocritical about the way African Americans were treated, while also claiming to be democratic in securing people’s rights.

Truman was born in 1884 in Independence, Missouri, where racism was part of the southern culture back then. Many African Americans who lived in Independence had been slaves before 1865. The whites of Independence lived on tree lined avenues, while the African Americans lived in the “dumps”. Poverty and unpleasantness exposed African Americans who lived in Independence to crime. They were treated like dirt on the side of the road, it did not matter what age they were or where they came from. If they were of color, the white population of Independence, Missouri did not care about them (BIO.com). Truman’s ancestors had owned slaves, and within his immediate family they had African American servants. Truman’s background formed what one would have expected from a white male who lived in Independence Missouri.

It is said that public office changed Truman’s views on Civil Rights. Civil rights are the rights where human beings receive equal treatment, and are to be free from unfair treatment, or in this case discrimination. People were discriminated against when it came to education, employment, housing, and more. Civil Rights have gotten rid of these barriers based on people’s race and ethnicity. Human beings were then able to live in peace without judgement. Civil rights had originated from federal legislation such as the emancipation proclamation, which freed the slaves in 1863, and the federal court system. Before Truman became President, he demonstrated that he had some civil rights achievements. In his campaign to be re-elected Senator of Missouri, he said the following in 1940,

“I believe in brotherhood….of all men before the law…. if any (one) class or race can be permanently set apart from, or pushed down below the rest in politics and civil rights, so may any other class or race…and we say farewell to the principles on which we count our safety…The majority of our Negro people find but cold comfort in our shanties and tenements. Surely, as free men, they are entitled to something better than this” (History Learning Sight)

Truman felt that everyone should live freely, and the discrimination against colored people had to come to an end. At the time, this was a profound thing to say in Missouri considering that his audience was primarily white. By Truman approaching the people of Missouri and acknowledging this epidemic, he showed that his perception on racism had changed for the better.

When Truman was “appointed” Vice-President candidate by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Roosevelt saw Truman as a wise liberal for a Missouri man. Roosevelt died in office in 1945, and as the Constitution decrees, Truman then took over the position of President without being elected into the presidency. When Truman became President, he did nothing of significance to make progress helping African Americans. So much for a libertarian from Missouri. Why was this? Well, the answer was quite simple. The country was facing its final stages of the wars in Europe and the Far East. This meant that some domestic issues had to take a back seat, and civil rights was one of them.

In 1946, Truman established a Civil Rights Committee whose goal was to look into violence against African Americans within America. Truman’s committee was filled with liberals that were open minded toward helping gain rights for African Americans. The liberals created a report called “To Secure These Rights” which wanted the federal government to use its authority to end segregation in America. Lynching was to be made a federal offence, and the poll tax was to be abolished. African Americans were guaranteed their right to vote in elections free from threats and violence (Axelrod, Alan. When the Buck Stops with You). The report was eye-opening to most of America, because the report proposed to end all discrimination and segregation. The South had state laws that legally kept whites and African Americans apart. In the north and western states, there were no state laws that enforced racial separation, but segregation was a way of life then. This report showed the hypocrisy of the nation, because the government claimed to be the leader of democracy in the world, while they were suppressing African American rights.

In 1948, Truman issued two Executive Orders which banned segregation in the armed forces and guaranteed fair employment in the civil service, even though it might have taken two years for the