Presidents, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK and Johnson Civil Rights. Essay Example

Civil Rights
(The Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years)

Civil Right in the Truman Era
• Post-war prosperity, Cold War rhetoric led to increasing assertiveness of African-Americans
• Truman began to address civil rights issues, shortly after the war o 1946 - appoints commission to propose civil rights legislation o 1948 - Proposes civil rights legislations
 Called for permanent Federal civil rights commission
 Called for a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee to end discrimination in employment
 Blocked by Southern Democrats in Congress o African-Americans key in Truman's surprise victory in 1948 election
 Truman again pushes FEPC, also anti-lynching legislation
 again blocked in Congress by Southern Democrats
 Despite failure of legislation, civil rights from here on become a permanent part of the liberal agenda o Little luck in Congress, but Truman made advances through executive action
 Strengthened civil rights section of Justice Departments
• Ordered the desegregation of the Army, with other branches following suit

• Tackling School Segregation in the Courts
• Under the leadership of the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall, civil rights advocates focused on the schools
• Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas - 1954
• Marshall argued before the Supreme Court that Plessy v. Ferguson was wrong, that separate schools were inherently damaging to Black students
• Led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, Supreme Court ruled against Topeka o declared that "separate education facilities are inherently unequal" o Overturned legal basis for segregation in education o However, in 1955 Court ruled that desegregation should take place "with all deliberate speed," which led to many delaying tactics by segregationists

Eisenhower and Civil Rights
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) was cautious in his support for civil rights o Did not believe legislation and court decisions could change people's minds o Felt