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FROM THE EDITOR
Laying the Groundwork for Veterans Rights As we salute our veterans in this THL issue, I am reminded of the important work of another veteran who changed the way America honors and provides for her veterans. I speak of a World War I captain in the U.S. Field Artillery named Harry S. Truman. After serving as Roosevelt’s vice president for only 82 days, Truman was called on to carry some heavy burdens while leading our country out of World War II. The end of that war was hastened by his decision to use the atom bomb (of which he knew nothing before he became president). Later on, when the U.S. and her western allies entered a “cold war” with Russia, Truman responded with the Berlin Airlift, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan. On his presidential watch, he later had to deal with the Korean conflict. In the midst of those types of epic global crises, Truman found the need and the energy to react to his disgust for the shabby treatment that many veterans, but especially minority veterans, received when they returned to civilian status at the close of World War II. Truman was particularly appalled by the abuse of black veterans in the South when they attempted to assert their claims for equal civil treatment. The rampant retaliatory discrimination included beatings, murder and lynching. Truman characteristically expressed his views on the subject. “My stomach turned over when I learned that negro soldiers just back from overseas were being dumped out of army trucks in Mississippi and beaten. My God! I had no idea it was as terrible as that. We’ve got to do something!” and “When a mayor and city marshal can take a negro sergeant off a bus in South Carolina, beat him up, and put out one of his eyes and nothing is done about it by the state authorities, something is radically wrong with the system.” The system he referred to allowed men and women to be routinely denied constitutional equality and fair employment opportunities after they defended their country at great personal cost and sacrifice. Truman responded to this shameful domestic situation by both executive order and legislative agenda. Sixty years ago, as Commander in Chief and by the stroke of his pen, Truman integrated the armed services, stating “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.” He also proposed a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, which Congress declined to pass, and other civil rights legislation, which Congress did pass. Surprisingly, Truman’s compassion for World War II veterans was not particularly popular with the voting public. Not surprisingly, “Give ‘em Hell” Harry Truman did not seem to care. He merely pointed to “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his oval office desk. Irrespective of the political consequences, Truman – even with his Southern family background - placed principle and compassion above political expediency as he fought to ensure that veterans will be accorded the honor and dignity they deserve, regardless of race. The ground work for civil rights and fair employment practices so boldly laid out in the 1940s by Harry S. Truman provided a foundation for today’s veterans’ rights. The struggle to protect the legal rights of those who selflessly defend our country continues today. What was so readily apparent in the 1940s to a Missouri piano-playing haberdasher with a high school education now is obvious to all of us. We should take care of the warriors who take care of us – regardless of their race, creed, color or gender.
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