Executive Order 9981

What the order says

Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 at the White House on 26 July 1948, declaring a presidential policy of equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.

It directed that the policy be put into effect as rapidly as possible, while allowing time for changes deemed necessary to preserve efficiency and morale.

The text never uses the words segregation, desegregation or integration, although Truman's administration treated ending segregation as its intended result.

A seven-member committee, not a switch

The order created a seven-member President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, authorized to examine service rules and recommend changes to the president and the service secretaries. It became known as the Fahy Committee after its chair, Charles Fahy.

Truman acted as commander in chief after his broader civil-rights program met threatened filibusters and congressional inaction. The committee delivered its final report on 22 May 1950.

What did not happen by nightfall

Signing did not mix segregated units that day. The order established policy and an enforcement mechanism; implementation continued through the Fahy Committee and the Korean War, and the services did not proceed uniformly — the Navy and the newly independent Air Force moved differently from the more resistant Army.

One day after the order, Army Chief of Staff Omar Bradley publicly said the Army was not in the business of social reform.