As Lawmakers Celebrate Truman Order Desegregating Military, Congress Battles Over Diversity

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, has been trying to figure out when people stopped feeling shame.

On Thursday night, ahead of President Joe Biden’s speech celebrating the 75th anniversary of President Harry Truman’s executive order desegregating the military, Cleaver told Biden that he feels like the country is re-litigating the issues of that time. He said there doesn’t seem to be a sense of shame around discrimination any more, the way there was for many years.

But he can’t seem to place when the sense of shame disappeared.

“I’m hearing now from African Americans more than any time, maybe in my adult life, who are saying all of our hard won freedoms are now in jeopardy,” Cleaver said last week. “Because I don’t see any I don’t see many Republicans standing up and pushing against what’s happening.”

Earlier in July, far-right members of the U.S. House were able to secure amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act — the annual bill authorizing the Department of Defense’s programs — that eliminated funding for the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, restricted abortion rights for women in the military and restricted transgender healthcare for military members.

And then last week, the Senate passed with bipartisan support its own version of the NDAA, which included an amendment from Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, that required an audit of the Department of Defense’s DEI office and prevented any new hires in the office until the audit is finished.

“It’s so strange that it just so happens that this week we will be celebrating Truman, who he thought was paving the way for future freedoms,” Cleaver said. “He never imagined, I don’t think, that the old battles would come again.”

Truman’s name was heard frequently in Washington last week, as the Truman Library Institute held events across town marking the 75th anniversary of the executive order.

The order came on the heels of World War II, when many Black veterans were fighting for “Double Victory,” victory over the fascist governments overseas and victory over racism and discrimination at home. Pressure from Black voters and violence against Black veterans spurred Truman, the grandson of slave owners, to create a Civil Rights commission that offered concrete recommendations, like calling for equal voting rights and for the Department of Justice to create an office that would focus on violence against Black Americans.

When Congress failed to act, Truman issued two executive orders — one desegregating the federal workforce and one desegregating the military.

In his speech at the National Archives Thursday night, Biden marked the significance of the order, saying it made the military stronger. He said he believed America was still in a “forward march toward its North Star.”

“But something dangerous is happening. I’ve worked across the aisle my entire career; I think my colleagues will attest to that. I have good friends that are Republicans. We disagree,” Biden said, before referencing his friendship with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“The Republican Party used to always support the military,” he added. “But today, they are undermining the military.”

He went on to criticize Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, who is holding up more than 300 Senate confirmations of Department of Defense nominees because over the military’s policies on abortion. He also mentioned Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, criticizing him for holding up a fist in solidarity to protesters on Jan. 6, 2021 shortly before the Capitol riot, and Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, for saying the military is becoming less capable.

“Frankly, they have no idea what in God’s name they’re talking about,” Biden said.

Schmitt, a freshman who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been vocal about his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as conservatives have increasingly pushed back on diversity initiatives in schools, particularly efforts to provide a more nuanced view of historic injustices in the United States.

Neither Schmitt, nor Hawley attended the Truman events in Washington — the Senate voted late into the night on both Wednesday and Thursday.

At the Capitol, Schmitt said he believes that the military should have people from all races and genders and that the military should be doing more to recruit from historically black colleges and universities. But he said he believes there is a difference between having a diverse military and DEI.

“DEI is a philosophy based in cultural Marxism where you divide people, you separate people,” Schmitt said. “It’s this sort of race essentialism. And I think that’s disruptive. I think that’s poison in our military, which has been this great meritocracy. So that’s my objection. It’s divisive.”

DEI initiatives have become a frequent target for conservatives who have pushed back on “critical race theory,” a law school level concept that explores systemic racism in American institutions. While most of the challenges to DEI initiatives initially focused on public schools and higher education, Republicans have begun challenging diversity initiatives in federal programs.

Hawley also said there shouldn’t be DEI initiatives in the military, saying he believes its an effort to have “severe race consciousness.”

“DEI is either quotas, which are unconstitutional now, at least in higher education context. Or it is the theory that America is systemically racist, I mean it comes out of that sort of whole body of thought,” Hawley said. “And so I just, I disagree with it.”

Alex Burden, the executive director of the Truman Library Institute, said current political battles of the NDAA and, in Florida, over the school curriculum, make learning about Truman and his executive orders more relevant than ever.

“This ongoing struggle to provide full opportunity and full access to all Americans is still ebbing and flooding,” Burden said. “And I think it’s important to look in the rearview mirror and understand what has happened in the past, and that this is kind of a long timeline, and that people will need to continue to pay attention to these issues.”

At a Truman Institute Library panel on Friday morning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, panelists talked about the continued importance of diversity in the military, 75 years after Truman’s order.

The military has to pay attention to diversity as it attempts to recruit a new generation, said Anthony Woods, the secretary of Maryland’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs who was discharged from the Army under the Clinton era “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prevented LGBTQ people from serving openly in the military. He later joined the U.S. Army Reserves after the policy was overturned.

Woods said the military has failed to meet its recruitment goals in recent years and that the military is an ideal place to integrate cultural and social issues.

“It’s filled with leaders who understand the art and science of leading people,” Woods said. “And there’s nothing better at bringing people together than being united around a common purpose and a common mission.”

Earlier in the week, a panel talked about Black service members from the American Revolution to World War II, prior to military desegregation. One panelist, who studies the Civil War, pointed out that the military was more segregated in the 1940s than it was in the 1860s.

Cleaver’s father and two uncles served in World War II and his family benefited from their ability to capitalize on the GI bill, even though some college options were still limited for Black veterans at the time. He said the battle over the NDAA, which is typically passed with large bipartisan support, is embarrassing the country.

“It’s the first time, people are openly saying we may lose our freedom, because there’s no no longer any embarrassment,” Cleaver said. “For a time, people who had you know, archaic views camouflaged them or said nothing went or with the crowd. But now, the cover’s off.”

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