How President Truman Helped Spearhead the Civil Rights Movement by Desegregating the Military After World War II

Abstract

After the conclusion of World War II, the United States underwent a period of cultural change. Economic, political, and social issues that were improving as a result of the United States’ victory in the war. Chief among them, was attempting to remedy the United States’ own racial issues. Many areas in the United States remained segregated. The irony of the U.S. fighting a war because a foreign country was committing genocide on certain minorities while black children could not even attend school with their white peers is obvious. One of the many key contributors to this change was President Harry Truman. As President, he set up committees dedicated to working towards racial equality, made Executive Orders in favor of desegregation, and supported legislation that would advance the Civil Rights Movements. Truman took over after his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, died in April of 1945, and Truman guided the United States to victory in the war.