Recognizing the 60th Anniversary of the Integration of the Armed Services
RECOGNIZING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INTEGRATION OF THE ARMED SERVICES -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 22, 2008)
SPEECH OF
HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER
OF MISSOURI
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MONDAY, JULY 14, 2008
* Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, in 1940 the U.S. population was about 131 million, 12.6 million of which was African American, or about 10 percent of the total population.
* During World War II, the Army had become the Nation's largest minority employer. Of the 2.5 million African Americans males who registered for the draft more than one million were inducted into the armed forces. African Americans, who constituted approximately 11 per cent of all draftees Along with thousands of black women, these inductees served with distinction in all branches of service and in all Theaters of Operations during World War II.
* I have a proud personal connection to one of those who risked their lives in the segregated service. Over 966 Black military aviators were trained at the Tuskegee Airfield. One of these men, I am proud to say, was my uncle, the Reverend LeRoy Cleaver, Jr.
* The Tuskegee Airmen carried a heavy burden. Every single mission, every success, every failure was viewed in relation to the color of their skin. They could fly the skies valiantly and return to the tarmac only to have their white peers refuse to return their salutes.
* Even the Nazis asked why African American men would fight for a country that treated them so unfairly. Yet the Tuskegee Airmen were eager to fly and die for a Nation that had done little for them.
* These men, like over a million others who fought in World War II, fought two wars: One was in Europe, and the other in the hearts and minds of Americans.
* As a poignant example, the white commander of the Tuskegee airfield was once asked--with all seriousness--how do African Americans fly? He said, ``Oh, they fly just like everybody else flies--stick and rudder.'' Little by little, every victory at war was translated to a victory here in the United States.
* On February 2, 1948, President Truman, in no small part due to the bravery of the men of Tuskegee, announced in a special message to Congress that he had, ``instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible.''
* President Truman's former colleagues and drinking partners, the Senators from the Southern States immediately threatened a filibuster. The typically bull-headed man from Missouri forced the issue by using his executive powers. Among other things, Truman bolstered the civil rights division, appointed the first African American judge to the Federal bench, named several other African Americans to high-ranking administration positions, and most important, 60 years ago on July 26, 1948, he issued an executive order abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering full integration of all the services.
* Executive Order 9981 declared that ``there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.'' By the end of the Korean conflict, almost all the military was integrated.
* The men and women I am proud to represent in Missouri's Fifth District have contributed a great deal to this Nation we love. They have fought wars, supplied the expansion the West, founded religions, painted masterpieces, composed symphonies--but perhaps none have done more to shape the face of the earth than President Truman. May history always remember Executive Order 9981 as quintessential Truman. In classic Truman style, the order was an example of making a decision not because it was easy, but because it was the right thing to do.
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