Civil rights movement

=== Truman administration: 1945–1953 ===
Partly in response to the [[March on Washington Movement]] under Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the [[Fair Employment Practices Committee]] was created to address racial discrimination in employment,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Fair Employment Practices Committee |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=March 20, 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fair-Employment-Practices-Committee |language=en}}</ref> and in 1946, Truman created the [[President's Committee on Civil Rights]]. On June 29, 1947, Truman became the first president to address the demands of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP). The speech took place at the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the NAACP convention and was carried nationally on radio. In that speech, Truman laid out his agreement on the need to end discrimination, which would be advanced by the first comprehensive, presidentially proposed civil rights legislation. Truman on "civil rights and human freedom" declared:<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=June 29, 2018 |title=Truman addresses NAACP, June 29, 1947 |language=en |work=Politico |url=https://politi.co/2Mz2C4K |access-date=July 27, 2021}}</ref>

{{blockquote|… Our immediate task is to remove the last remnants of the barriers which stand between millions of our citizens and their birthright. There is no justifiable reason for discrimination because of ancestry, or religion, or race, or color. We must not tolerate such limitations on the freedom of any of our people and on their enjoyment of basic rights which every citizen in a truly democratic society must possess.}}

In February 1948, Truman delivered a formal message to Congress requesting adoption of his 10-point program to secure civil rights, including anti-lynching, voter rights, and elimination of segregation. "No political act since the [[Compromise of 1877]]," argued biographer [[Taylor Branch]], "so profoundly influenced race relations; in a sense it was a repeal of 1877."<ref name=Mikas>{{Cite book |last1=Milkis |first1=Sidney M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW9KEAAAQBAJ&dq=en&pg=PA1946 |title=The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776–2021 |last2=Nelson |first2=Michael |date=2021 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=978-1-0718-2463-4 |language=en |page=1946}}</ref>  Truman was opposed by the [[conservative coalition]] in congress, so instead issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 ending discrimination in federal employment and in the armed forces.<ref name=Mikas/>