Executive Order 9981 was an executive order issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. The Order led to the re-integration of the services during the Korean War (1950–1953).[1] It was a crucial event in the post-World War II civil rights movement and a major achievement of Truman's presidency.[2][3] For Truman, Executive Order 9981 was inspired, in part, by an attack on Isaac Woodard who was an American soldier and African American World War II veteran. On February 12, 1946, hours after being honorably discharged from the United States Army, he was attacked while still in uniform by South Carolina police as he was taking a bus home. The attack left Woodard completely and permanently blind. President Harry S. Truman ordered a federal investigation.
Truman subsequently established the President's Committee on Civil Rights, whose report condemned the state of civil rights in the nation, made a historic speech to the NAACP and the nation in June 1947 in which he described civil rights as a moral imperative, submitted a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress in February 1948, and issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 on June 26, 1948, desegregating the armed forces and promoting anti-discrimination in the federal government.
- ^ "Executive Order 9981". Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
- ^ Evans, Farrell (November 5, 2020). "Why Harry Truman Ended Segregation in the US Military in 1948". history.com. A&E Television Networks. Archived from the original on January 9, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
- ^ "How Harry S. Truman went from being a racist to desegregating the military". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 20, 2022.