President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services

The President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, or the Fahy Committee[1] was formed by President Harry S Truman as part of Executive Order 9981.[2] This committee consisted of Charles H. Fahy as chairman and six other members, two of whom were African-American. The committee's main purpose was to oversee successful racial integration of the US Armed Forces.[3]

Fahy Committee
President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services
History
Established byHarry S. Truman on July 26, 1948
DisbandedMay 22, 1950
Related Executive Order number(s)9981
Membership
ChairpersonCharles Fahy
Other committee membersAlphonsus Donahue
Lester Granger
Charles Luckman
Dwight R.G. Palmer
John H. Sengstacke
William E. Stevenson
Jurisdiction
PurposeExamine the practices of the armed forces and suggest measures to guarantee equality of treatment and opportunity
Policy areasCivil rights
Summary
  • Positions in the armed services open to all races
  • Courses in military schools open to all races
  • Armed forces racially integrated
  • Limitations on African-American enlistment in the armed forces abolished

President Truman abolished the commission on July 6, 1950, on what he termed successful completion of integration in the armed forces.

Membership

The committee consisted of the following 7 members:

However, Alphonsus Donahue died in July 1949 and Charles Luckman was not active in the committee, reducing the number of members who submitted the committee's final report to 5.[4]

Report

The committee's findings were published in their final report Freedom to Serve: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services on 22 May 1950. The committee argued that segregation was detrimental to the military's efficiency, in contrast to the claims of pro-segregation officials including the Secretary of the Army, Air Force, and Navy.[5][6]

References
  1. Dalfiume, Richard (1969). Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces. p. 175.
  2. "Executive Order 9981". Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  3. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/desegregation/large/index.php
  4. The President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services (22 May 1950). Freedom to Serve: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. p. VII-XII.
  5. Taylor, John E. (2013). Freedom to Serve: Truman, Civil Rights, and Executive Order 9981. New York: Routledge. p. 100-101. ISBN 9780415894494.
  6. "Statement of Honorable Kenneth C. Royall, Secretary of the Army, Before the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services" (PDF). Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. 22 March 1949. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
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