Harry S. Truman

=== Civil rights ===
{{Further|President's Committee on Civil Rights}}
A 1947 report by the Truman administration titled ''To Secure These Rights'' presented a detailed ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. Speaking about this report, international developments have to be taken into account, for with the [[United Nations Charter|UN Charter]] being passed in 1945, the question of whether international human rights law could be applicable also on an inner-land basis became crucial in the United States. Though the report acknowledged such a path was not free from controversy in the 1940s United States, it nevertheless raised the possibility for the UN-Charter to be used as a legal tool to combat racial discrimination in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geschichte-menschenrechte.de/schluesseltexte/william-h-fitzpatricks-editorials-on-human-rights-1949/ |title=William H. Fitzpatrick's Editorials on Human Rights (1949) |author=Christopher N.J.Roberts |publisher=Quellen zur Geschichte der Menschenrechte |access-date=November 4, 2017 }}</ref>

In February 1948, the president submitted a civil rights agenda to Congress that proposed creating several federal offices devoted to issues such as [[voting rights]] and [[employment discrimination|fair employment]] practices.{{sfn |Truman Library, Special Message|1948}} This provoked a storm of criticism from southern Democrats in the runup to the national nominating convention, but Truman refused to compromise, saying: "My forebears were Confederates&nbsp;... but my very stomach turned over when I had learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of Army trucks in Mississippi and beaten."{{sfn |Truman|1973| p=429}}

Tales of the abuse, violence, and persecution suffered by many African American veterans upon their return from World War II infuriated Truman and were major factors in his decision to issue [[Executive Order 9981]], in July 1948, requiring equal opportunity in the armed forces.{{sfn|Kirkendall|1989|pp=10–11}} In the early 1950s after several years of planning, recommendations and revisions between Truman, the [[President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity|Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity]] and the various branches of the military, the services became racially integrated.{{sfn|MacGregor|1981|pp=312–315, 376–378, 457–459}} Truman later appointed people who aligned with civil rights agenda. He appointed fellow colonel and civil rights icon [[Blake R. Van Leer]] to the board of the [[United States Naval Academy]] and [[UNESCO]] who had a focus to work against racism through influential [[The Race Question|statements on race]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001269/126969eb.pdf |title = UNESCO. (1950). Statement by experts on race problems. Paris, 20 July 1950. UNESCO/SS/1. UNESDOC database |access-date = June 8, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120407030543/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001269/126969eb.pdf |archive-date = April 7, 2012 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3N_KlLQISQMC&dq=blake+%22van+leer%22&pg=PA35|title=Summary Minutes of Meeting|year=1956|publisher=United States National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.|access-date=March 20, 2023|archive-date=April 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412052422/https://books.google.com/books?id=3N_KlLQISQMC&dq=blake+%22van+leer%22&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref>

Executive Order 9980, also in 1948, made it illegal to discriminate against persons applying for civil service positions based on race. A third, in 1951, established the [[Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs|Committee on Government Contract Compliance]], which ensured defense contractors did not discriminate because of race.{{sfn|National Archives|1948}}{{sfn|National Archives|1953}}