If you look at Siena Research Institutes's well publicized list of best presidents, you'll find two names perched together -- Woodrow Wilson at #8 and Harry Truman at #9. For a lot of reasons, it would be easy to rank Wilson higher or Truman lower. Wilson's presidency helped shape America at a critical time, and many of the institutions he created and compromises he made are still with us today. On the other hand, Truman's star has gone up and down several times over the decades since his presidency, and his actions often look like weak tea in the shadow of FDR. Through the years, Truman has always rated just behind Wilson in the Siena chart.
But if you left it up to me, Wilson would drop many slots down the chart and Truman would bob near the top. And there's one simple reason.
Despite having been elected with the greatest number of African-American votes to come to a Democrat since the Civil War, Wilson not only allowed but encouraged segregation. Under his administration federal offices became strictly divided by race -- even if that meant constructing a wall across a room to separate black and white federal workers. African Americans in senior positions were demoted or dismissed. Wilson also re-segregated the armed forces, putting black soldiers together into all-black units under the command of a white officer, and setting back decades of progress.
On the other hand, there is Executive Order 9981. In 1947, a civil rights commission appointed by Harry Truman recommended that the nation immediately adopt legislation to ensure fair employment practices within the government, including the armed forces. Truman in turn presented these findings to Congress -- where the result was threats of filibuster of any such legislation by southern senators. As an alternative, one senator introduced legislation that would have allowed members of the military to option out of segregated units.
Truman saw that the legislation wasn't coming any time soon. So in 1948, he signed this simple order.
- It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.
This was six years before Brown v. Board of Education. Twelve years before the lunch counter sit-ins. Fifteen years before King's "I have a dream" speech. In 1948, there were large areas of the country where African Americans were restricted in where they could work, where they could eat, where they could live. Prominent generals within the Army declared that integration was "offensive" to the American public. There were claims that it would weaken unit cohesion and efficiency.
Within the military there was as much foot dragging as possible. Resistance only increased with the beginning of the Korean War, with military leaders claiming that desegregation was a distraction. It took three years before the military commission completed its plan, and for the next two decades there were assignments in the military still effectively limited by race. But by the end of the Korean War, segregated America had a integrated military -- no matter how offensive some might have found it.
Truman did not ask permission. He did not tell his commanders to take a poll. He understood that there was clear injustice in the system and he acted to correct it. That goes a long way toward earning him a spot among America's greatest presidents.
It would be nice to think we had another.