I 1 1 I* J s''^< V^.T J jw^-; -"T wmi^tlwd M r*S^ I f'^' ft^cr TO ^ SECURE THESE RIGHTS V. I'/re Report of The President's Committee on Civil Rights V* .J%1 i <- ) f.. i»' V _it*; 32.5Hh wit6 an introduction by CHARLES E. WILSON 194? COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN UAS.k.r'A "^X* Chinsegut Hill University of Florida " (yuxcu^e THE REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS to secure these rights governments . are instituted among men . THB DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIMON AND SCHUSIER New York: 1947 323,^ Us St /947 tittlNSBGUT HILL LIBRARY SECOND PRINTING PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY UNION LABOR PRINTED BY REEHL LITHO COMPANY, INC. BOUND BY METRO BINDERY COMPANY, INC. Introduction The report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights is grounded in several fundamental assumptions about the Ameri- can people. We believe that they cherish freedom and want to see it protected and extended. We believe that they have the courage to overcome the prejudices and fears which have brought the scourge of disunity to so much of the world. We believe that they have the intelligence to come to enlightened opinions, after calm and mature consideration of a national problem. Civil rights is such a national problem. The world is today confused by differing and often contradictory uses of the lan- guage in which free men express their ideals. It is our hope that our Report will help in the continuing rededication of our peo- ple to the historic principles which have made us great. We also hope that it will help other nations to judge our capacity for vigorous self-criticism and improvement through the normal processes of democracy. We have done our honest best to deal with long-standing and perplexing questions. We ask only a fair hearing, and a serious discussion of our proposals in the nation's cities, towns, and ham- lets. Action to implement our report can only come with the consent of the people expressed through their leaders. We be- lieve that their decisions will be consistent with the ancient tenets of our faith: all men are brothers; and each man is his brother's keeper. All of the members of the Committee join me in expressing our thanks to the distinguished publishing house of Simon and Schuster for making our Report widely available. Charles E. Wilson, Chairman .. Table of Contents Page Assignment from the President vii I. The American Heritage: The Promise of Freedom and Equahty 3 II. The Record : Short of the Goal 13 Our Diverse Population 13 Signs of Recent Progress ly The Condition of Our Rights 20 1. The Right to Safety and Security of the Person 20 2. The Right to Citizenship and Its Privileges . 32 3. The Right to Freedom of Conscience and Expression 47 4. The Right to Equality of Opportunity 53 Segregation Reconsidered 79 Civil Rights in the Nation's Capital 87 III. Government's Responsibility: Securing the Rights 99 Constitutional Traditions 104 The Role of the Supreme Court 112 The Civil Rights Section Experiment 114 The Problem of Sanctions 126 The Climate of Opinion 133 IV. A Program of Action: The Committee's Recommenda- tions 139 Assignment from the President Mr. President: This is the report which we have prepared in accordance with the instructions which you gave to us in your statement and Executive Order on December 5, 1946: Freedom From Fear is more fully realized in our country than in any other on the face of the earth. Yet all parts of our population are not equally free from fear. And from time to time, and in some places, this freedom has been gravely threatened. It was so after the last war, when organized groups fanned hatred and intolerance, until, at times, mob action struck fear into the hearts of men and women because of their racial origin or religious beliefs. Today, Freedom From Fear, and the democratic institutions which sustain it, are again under attack. In some places, from time to time, the local enforcement of law and order has broken down, and individuals—sometimes ex-servicemen, even women—have been killed, maimed, or intimidated. The preservation of civil liberties is a duty of every Government—state. Federal and local. Wherever the law enforcement measures and the authority of Federal, state, and local governments are inadequate to discharge this primary function of government, these measures and this authority should be strengthened and improved. The Constitutional guarantees of individual liberties and of equal protection under the laws clearly place on the Federal Government the duty to act when state or local authorities abridge or fail to protect these Constitutional rights. Yet in its discharge of the obligations placed on it by the Constitution, the Federal Government is hampered by inadequate civil rights statutes. The pro- tection of our democratic institutions and the enjoyment by the people of their rights under the Constitution require that these weak and inadequate statutes should be expanded and improved. We must provide the Department of Justice with the tools to do the job. I have, therefore, issued today an Executive Order creating the President's Com- mittee on Civil Rights and I am asking this Committee to prepare for me a written report. The substance of this report will be recommendations with respect to the adoption or establishment by legislation or otherwise of more adequate and effective means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States. VII EXECUTIVE ORDER 9808 ESTABLISHING THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS WHEREAS the preservation of civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution is essential to domestic tranquility, national security, the general welfare, and the continued existence of our free institutions; and Whereas the action of individuals who take the law into their own hands and inflict summary punishment and wreak personal vengeance is subversive of our democratic system of law enforcement and public criminal justice, and gravely threatens our form of government; and Whereas it is essential that all possible steps be taken to safeguard our civil rights: Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. There is hereby created a committee to be known as the President's Com- mittee on Civil Rights, which shall be composed of the following-named mem- bers, who shall serve without compensation: Mr. C. E. Wilson, chairman* Mrs. Sadie T. Alexander, Mr. James B. Carey, Mr, John S. Dickey, Mr. Morris L. Ernst, Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, Dr. Frank P. Graham, The Most Reverend Francis J. Haas, Mr. Charles Luckman, Mr. Francis P. Matthews, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., The Right Reverend Henry Knox Sherrill, Mr. Boris Shishkin, Mrs. M. E. Tilly, Mr. Channing H. Tobias. 2. The Committee is authorized on behalf of the President to inquire into and to determine whether and in what respect current law-enforcement measures and the authority and means possessed by Federal, State, and local governments may be strengthened and improved to safeguard the civil rights of the people. 3. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Committee in its work, and to furnish the Committee such information or the services of such persons as the Committee may require in the performance of its duties. 4. When requested by the Committee to do so, persons employed in any of the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall testify before the Committee and shall make available for the use of the Committee such documents and other information as the Committee may require. 5. The Committee shall make a report of its studies to the President in writing, and shall in particular make recommendations with respect to the adoption or establishment, by legislation or otherwise, of more adequate and effective means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States. vni , 6. Upon rendition of its report to the President, the Committee shall cease to exist, unless otherwise determined by further Executive Order. HARRY S. TRUMAN. The White House, December 5, ig^6. The Committee's first task was the interpretation of its assignment. We were not asked to evaluate the extent to which civil rights have been achieved in our country. We did not, therefore, devote ourselves to the construction of a balance sheet which would properly assess the great progress which the nation has made, as well as the short- comings in the record. Instead, we have almost exclusively focused our attention on the bad side of our record—on what might be called the civil rights frontier. This necessary emphasis upon our country's failures should not be permitted to obscure the real measure of its successes. No fair-minded student of American history, or of world history, will deny to the United States a position of leadership in enlarging the range of human liberties and rights, in recognizing and stating the ideals of freedom and equality, and in steadily and loyally working to make those ideals a reality. Whatever our failures in practice have been or may be, there has never been a time when the American people have doubted the validity of those ideals. We still regard them as vital to our democratic system. If our task were to evaluate the level_of achievement in ouiLidyil rights record, mention~wouId have to be made of many significant developments in our history as a nation^ Wewould want to refer to the steady progress toward^he goal of universal suffrage which has marked the years between 1789 and the present.