| Description |
xx, 276 pages, 20 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-268) and index. |
| Contents |
The Historical Background for Truman's Civil Rights Crusade -- Truman's Committee on Civil Rights, December 5, 1946 -- Truman's Speech to the NAACP at the Lincoln Memorial, June 29, I947 -- The Report of Truman's Committee on Civil Rights, October 29, 1947 -- Truman's State of the Union Address, January 7, 1948 -- Truman's Special Message to Congress on Civil Rights, February 2, 1948 -- The 1948 Democratic Party Convention and the Civil Rights Plank, July I4-I5, 1948 -- The Turnip Day Congressional Session and Executive : Orders 9980 and 9981, July 26, 1948 -- The Great "Comeback" Campaign and Truman's Harlem Speech, October 29, 1948 -- Civil Rights Progress Despite a Recalcitrant Congress:, 1949-1952 -- Truman and the Vinson Court -- Truman's Howard University Commencement Address, June 13, 1952 -- Truman's Final Civil Rights Address in Harlem, October 11, 1952 -- The Truman Civil Rights Legacy -- Epilogue. |
| Summary |
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. |
| Subject |
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972.
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African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century.
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United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1953.
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United States -- Race relations.
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| ISBN |
0809324253 alkaline paper |
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