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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Harry Truman and Civil Rights



Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage And Political Risks by Michael R. Gardner is not the best written book out there; it also is repetitive and a bit too hagiographic. Nonetheless, it cites an important and often forgotten moment in civil rights history: the truly remarkable breadth of President Truman's efforts when political and even family forces would suggest he would hold back. This grandson of slave owners (his mother, who lived into his presidency, hated Lincoln because of actions during Civil War Missouri) in the fact of Dixiecrat opposition, started the ball rolling in grand fashion.

Someone who only was a high school graduate with a bit of law school under his belt had a lot to teach the country. He created a special Committee on Civil Rights* to investigate the problems of race in America and suggest solutions, including the end of poll taxes, segregation, and true federal civil rights protections. The breadth of Truman's liberal vision (for "all Americans") is suggested by a speech to the NAACP, him being the first President to make such a speech to that still controversial organization:
Every man should have the right to a decent home, the right to an education, the right to adequate medical care, the right to a worthwhile job, the right to an equal share in making the public decisions through the ballot, and the right to a fair trial in a fair court.

President Truman -- whose approval numbers were at times ones that would make Bush's look good -- took special initiatives a plenty. Not only creating the committee, but also desegregating the armed forces, targeting discrimination in federal employment and housing, and strongly supporting civil rights in the courts. As noted in an amicus brief against racial convenants:
... Constitutional rights guaranteed to every person cannot be denied by the judicial branch of government especially where the discriminations created by private contracts have grown to such proportions as to become detrimental to the public welfare and against public policy.

The book also challenges those who reject the strength of the Vinson Court, at times reduced to a bunch of cronies of the President. Gardner suggests Vinson was a good pick, in part because Truman was a good judge of character, and the Court as a whole attacked segregation in any number of ways. True enough, though this does not mean Brown was necessarily always going to be unanimous even if Vinson staid alive. Or, that on some other issues, the Court left a bit to be desired, at least Truman's picks.

Overall, though the book was a bit tedious, this is an important segment of history, one sadly largely forgotten. Consider the breadth of human rights that Truman felt necessary for the government to uphold, including health care and a good job. Damn liberal, huh?

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* The ultimate report suggests to the importance of privacy rights as compared to those areas -- sometimes touching similar ground -- that the government can regulate more thoroughly: "in a democracy, each individual must have freedom to choose his friends and to control the pattern of his personal and family life. But we see nothing inconsistent between this freedom and a recognition of the trust that democracy also means that in going to school, working, participating in the political process, serving in the armed forces, enjoying government services in such fields as health and recreation ... distinctions of race, color, and creed have no place."

Thus, "personal and family life" is the realm of private choice, while actions in the public sphere -- seen in some eyes as private too (consider homosexuals in the military) -- are different. The importance of a "right to privacy" again is not too remarkable.