The President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, or the Fahy Committee was formed by President
Harry S Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th Vice president of the United States, vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Frank ...
as part of
Executive Order 9981.
This committee consisted of
Charles Fahy as chairman and six other members, two of whom were African-American. The committee's main purpose was to oversee successful
racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of Race (classification of human beings), race, and t ...
of the US Armed Forces.
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:
*
Charles Fahy (chairman), former
Solicitor General of the United States
The solicitor general of the United States (USSG or SG), is the fourth-highest-ranking official within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and represents the federal government in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. ...
* Alphonsus J. Donahue, businessowner from Connecticut
*
Lester Granger, president of the
National Urban League
*
Charles Luckman, president of
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...
* Dwight R. G. Palmer, president of the
General Cable Corporation
*
John H. Sengstacke, publisher of
The Chicago Defender
*
William E. Stevenson, president of
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
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.
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.
References
External links
*
Freedom to Serve: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services'
{{Harry S. Truman
Presidency of Harry S. Truman
United States presidential commissions