Download or read book The Racial Integration of the American Armed Forces written by Geoffrey W. Jensen and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2023-02-15 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to win the Cold War, American presidents embraced the mantra of equality of opportunity to justify racial reform efforts within the US military. The problem was that equality of opportunity never guaranteed acceptance—nor was it designed to. In The Racial Integration of the American Armed Forces, Geoffrey W. Jensen clarifies our understanding of the political processes that fundamentally altered the racial composition of the US military. Jensen examines nearly thirty years of military integration that unfolded during the Cold War. America’s racial woes were grist for the propaganda mills in Moscow and their integration effort was intended to curb this assault and protect the nation’s image during this largely ideological struggle. But integration of the armed forces needed more than just Cold War justification. It also required the willingness of the president to lead. Military integration occurred as the result of the longstanding tradition of Congress to allow the executive branch to control the staffing and composition of the military. While past accounts of the integration of the armed forces have focused on the critical roles played by the burgeoning leadership of the civil rights movement and the Black population, Jensen is the first to emphasize the importance of presidential leadership and their staffs. Jensen contends that understanding the action—and inaction—of Cold War presidents and their administrations matters just as much as understanding the efforts of those outside of Washington and the West Wing, as it was the presidents who were the ones dictating the pace at which reform was carried out. Jensen has carefully situated this story within the milieu of the Cold War, the civil rights movement, and, looming over it all, the emergence of Southern resistance to desegregation in the United States. Desperately committed to upholding and expanding their vision of white supremacy, the South recoiled in horror at the prospect of racially integrating the armed forces. From this vantage point, Jensen shows how the use of Black military personnel during the Cold War, and throughout all American history, was not born solely out of humanistic beliefs or desires to improve the social status of the Black community, but out of the strategic necessity of winning the war at hand.

Download or read book Integrating the US Military written by Douglas Walter Bristol and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2017-05 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Integrating the US Military is an edited collection that examines the US Army's role and place in progressive social change through the lens of the military experience of African Americans, women, and gays since World War II. By making this long overdue comparison, the editors argue this anthology demonstrates how the challenges launched against the racial, gender, and sexual status quo in the years after World War II transformed overarching ideas about power, citizenship, and America's role in the world. This anthology's major contribution is synthesizing recent scholarly work on the history of minorities and women in the US military. It does so by examining connections between GIs and civilian society in the context of ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality. Given the militarization of American society since World War II, revealing the links between these legally marginalized groups within the Armed Services is historically significant in its own right. At the same time, this comparison also sheds new light on a broad range of issues that affected civilian society, such as affirmative action, integration, marriage laws, and sexual harassment. Integrating the US Military is a book designed for college students, military professionals, policy makers, and general readers. Allowing readers to view the history of several civil rights movements within the Armed Forces will prompt them to rethink the way they understand the history of social movements. It will also help them to better understand the relationship between the military and American society. Finally, readers will gain a historical perspective on recent debates about the rights of gays in the military and the implications of deploying women in combat."--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book The History of Integration of the Armed Forces written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-11-13 with total page 635 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the quarter century that followed American entry into World War II, the nation's armed forces moved from the reluctant inclusion of a few segregated Negroes to their routine acceptance in a racially integrated military establishment. Nor was this change confined to military installations. By the time it was over, the armed forces had redefined their traditional obligation for the welfare of their members to include a promise of equal treatment for black servicemen wherever they might be. In the name of equality of treatment and opportunity, the Department of Defense began to challenge racial injustices deeply rooted in American society. For all its sweeping implications, equality in the armed forces obviously had its pragmatic aspects. In one sense it was a practical answer to pressing political problems that had plagued several national administrations. In another, it was the services' expression of those liberalizing tendencies that were permeating American society during the era of civil rights activism. But to a considerable extent the policy of racial equality that evolved in this quarter century was also a response to the need for military efficiency. So easy did it become to demonstrate the connection between inefficiency and discrimination that, even when other reasons existed, military efficiency was the one most often evoked by defense officials to justify a change in racial policy." Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., received the A.B. and M.A. degrees in history from the Catholic University of America. He continued his graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Paris on a Fulbright grant. Before joining the staff of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in 1968 he served for ten years in the Historical Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Download or read book Desegregation of the U S Armed Forces written by Richard M. Dalfiume and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "During the years between 1939 and 1953 the United States armed forces moved from a policy of restricting and segregating the Negro soldier, based largely on racial stereotypes that emerged from World War I, to a policy of equal opportunity and integration. Most writers point to 1954 or later as the origin of the Negro Revolution; however, this history of what was in the past an important issue for black Americans sheds light on the 'forgotten years' of the Negro Revolution, particularly World War II. The war's democratic rhetoric had a great impact on the nation's largest minority, a fact overlooked by most scholars. The hypocritical position of the United States - fighting with a racially segregated armed forces to uphold the four freedoms and to defeat an enemy preaching a master race ideology - provided Negro Americans with a clear illustration of the difference between the American creed and practice, and a powerful argument in their struggle for equality. The postwar era made it impossible for the Federal Government and the American people to ignore the race issue any longer. The Truman Administrations' legislative proposals and actions in the field of Negro rights set the pattern for a continuing federal improvement. No longer was it the Federal Government's policy to condone or extend segregation. Of the Truman Administrations' precedent-breaking actions in this area, desegregation of the armed forces was among the first. The President, as Commander-in-chief, could move in this area without legislation from a reluctant Congress. Truman's Executive Order 9981 of July, 1948, which established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, was one of the first federal actions against the separate-but-equal doctrine, coming six years before the 1954 school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court. A reluctant Army was finally convinced of the wisdom of desegregation when the new policy proved a success in the Korean War, a success that provided a powerful argument for those who sought an end to segregation in the United States. This was truly a social revolution, and the result is indicated by the fact that to this day the armed forces remain the most integrated institution in American society"--Jacket.

Download or read book Integration of the Armed Forces 1940 1965 written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the quarter century that followed American entry into World War II, the nation's armed forces moved from the reluctant inclusion of a few segregated Negroes to their routine acceptance in a racially integrated military establishment. Nor was this change confined to military installations. By the time it was over, the armed forces had redefined their traditional obligation for the welfare of their members to include a promise of equal treatment for black servicemen wherever they might be. In the name of equality of treatment and opportunity, the Department of Defense began to challenge racial injustices deeply rooted in American society. For all its sweeping implications, equality in the armed forces obviously had its pragmatic aspects. In one sense it was a practical answer to pressing political problems that had plagued several national administrations. In another, it was the services' expression of those liberalizing tendencies that were permeating American society during the era of civil rights activism. But to a considerable extent the policy of racial equality that evolved in this quarter century was also a response to the need for military efficiency. So easy did it become to demonstrate the connection between inefficiency and discrimination that, even when other reasons existed, military efficiency was the one most often evoked by defense officials to justify a change in racial policy."_x000D_ Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., received the A.B. and M.A. degrees in history from the Catholic University of America. He continued his graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Paris on a Fulbright grant. Before joining the staff of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in 1968 he served for ten years in the Historical Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Download or read book All That We Can Be written by Charles Moskos and published by . This book was released on 1996-08-22 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique study of how the Army became the premier model for developing black leadership in a racially integrated setting, the authors show how this system works and how it can be applied throughout American society. This book offers crucial insights for race relations in civilian society as well. 12 charts and graphs.

Download or read book The Air Force Integrates 1945 1964 written by Alan L. Gropman and published by University Press of the Pacific. This book was released on 2002-02 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Documenting the racial integration of the Air Force from the end of World War II to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, retired Air Force colonel Alan L. Gropman contends that the service desegregated itself not for moral or political reasons but to improve military effectiveness. First published in 1977, this second edition charts policy changes to date. 31 photos.

Download or read book The U S Military and Civil Rights Since World War II written by Heather Stur and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2019-09-26 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through examinations of U.S. military racial and gender integration efforts and its handling of sexuality, this book argues that the need for personnel filling the ranks has forced the armed services to be pragmatically progressive since World War II. The integration of African Americans and women into the United States Armed Forces after World War II coincided with major social movements in which marginalized civilians demanded equal citizenship rights. As this book explores, due to personnel needs, the military was a leading institution in its opening of positions to women and African Americans and its offering of educational and economic opportunities that in many cases were not available to them in the civilian world. By opening positions to African Americans and women and remaking its "where boys become men" image, the military was an institutional leader on the issue of social equality in the second half of the 20th century. The pushback against gay men and women wishing to serve openly in the forces, however, revealed the limits of the military's pragmatic progressivism. This text investigates how policymakers have defined who belongs in the military and counts as a soldier, and examines how the need to attract new recruits led to the opening of the forces to marginalized groups and the rebranding of the services.

Download or read book Foxholes Color Lines written by Sherie Mershon and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Well-written, thoughtful, and incisive... A fresh look at why the armed services took so long to implement a policy imposed upon them by their civilian leaders." -- Journal of Military History

Download or read book Integration of the Armed Forces 1940 1965 written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Black White Olive Drab written by Andrew H. Myers and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the first Army bases to implement on a large scale President Truman's call for racial integration of the armed forces, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, quickly took its place in the Defense Department's official history of the process. What reporters, and later on, historians, overlooked was the interaction between the integration of Fort Jackson and developments, in particular, the civil rights movement, in the wider communities in which the base is situated.In Black, White, and Olive Drab, Andrew H. Myers redresses this oversight; taking a case-study approach, Myers meticulously weaves together a wide range of official records, newspaper accounts, and personal interviews, revealing the impact of Fort Jackson's integration on the desegregation of civilian buses, schools, housing, and public facilities in the surrounding area. Examining the ways in which commanders and staff at the installation navigated challenges over racial issues in their dealings with municipal authorities, state politicians, federal legislators, and the upper echelons of the military bureaucracy, Myers also addresses how post leaders dealt with the potential for participation in civil rights demonstrations by soldiers under their command. Original and provocative, Black, White, and Olive Drab will engage historians and sociologists who study military-social relations, the civil rights movement, African American history, and the South, as well as those who are interested in or familiar with basic training or the American armed forces.

Download or read book Blue Gold and Black written by Robert John Schneller and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the twentieth century, the U.S. Naval Academy evolved from a racist institution to one that ranked equal opportunity among its fundamental tenets. This transformation was not without its social cost, however, and black midshipmen bore the brunt of it. Blue & Gold and Black is the history of integration of African Americans into the Naval Academy. The book examines how civil rights advocates? demands for equal opportunity shaped the Naval Academy?s evolution. Author Robert J. Schneller Jr. analyzes how changes in the Academy?s policies and culture affected the lives of black midshipmen, as well as how black midshipmen effected change in the Academy?s policies and culture. Most institutional history is written from the top down, while most social history is written from the bottom up. Based on the documentary record as well as on the memories of hundreds of midshipmen and naval officers, Blue & Gold and Black includes both perspectives. By examining both the institution and the individual, a much more accurate picture emerges of how racial integration occurred at the Naval Academy. Schneller takes a biographical approach to social history. Through written correspondence, responses to questionnaires, memoirs, and oral histories, African American midshipmen recount their experiences in their own words. Rather than setting adrift their humanity and individuality in oceans of statistics, Schneller uses their first-hand recollections to provide insights into the Academy?s culture that cannot be gained from official records. Covering the Jim Crow era, the civil rights movement, and the empowerment of African Americans from the late 1960s through the end of the twentieth century, Blue & Gold and Black traces the transformation of an institution that produces men and women who lead not only the Navy, but also the nation.

Download or read book Strength for the Fight written by Bernard C. Nalty and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1989 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surveys the history of blacks in the armed forces from the 1600s to the 1980s.

Download or read book Blacks in the United States Armed Forces Integration written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Racial Integration in the Armed Forces written by Charles C. Moskos and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Brotherhood in Combat written by Jeremy P. Maxwell and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass long advocated military service as an avenue to equal citizenship for black Americans. Yet segregation in the U.S. armed forces did not officially end until President Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1948. What followed, at home and in the field, is the subject of Brotherhood in Combat, the first full-length, interdisciplinary study of the integration of the American military during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Using a wealth of oral histories from black and white soldiers and marines who served in one or both conflicts, Jeremy P. Maxwell explores racial tension—pervasive in rear units, but relatively rare on the front lines. His work reveals that in initially proving their worth to their white brethren on the battlefield, African Americans changed the prevailing attitudes of those ranking officials who could bring about changes in policy. Brotherhood in Combat also illustrates the schism over attitudes toward civil-military relations that developed between blacks who had entered the service prior to Vietnam and those who were drafted and thus brought revolutionary ideas from the continental United States to the war zone. More important, Maxwell demonstrates how even at the height of civil rights unrest at home, black and white soldiers found a sense of brotherhood in the jungles of Vietnam. Incorporating military, diplomatic, social, racial, and ethnic topics and perspectives, Brotherhood in Combat presents a remarkably thorough and finely textured account of integration as it was experienced and understood in mid-twentieth-century America.

Download or read book The Black Officer Corps written by Isaac Hampton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Armed Forces started integrating its services in 1948, and with that push, more African Americans started rising through the ranks to become officers, although the number of black officers has always been much lower than African Americans' total percentage in the military. Astonishingly, the experiences of these unknown reformers have largely gone unexamined and unreported, until now. The Black Officer Corps traces segments of the African American officers' experience from 1946-1973. From generals who served in the Pentagon and Vietnam, to enlisted servicemen and officers' wives, Isaac Hampton has conducted over seventy-five oral history interviews with African American officers. Through their voices, this book illuminates what they dealt with on a day to day basis, including cultural differences, racist attitudes, unfair promotion standards, the civil rights movement, Black Power, and the experience of being in ROTC at Historically Black Colleges. Hampton provides a nuanced study of the people whose service reshaped race relations in the U.S. Armed Forces, ending with how the military attempted to control racism with the creation of the Defense Race Relations Institute of 1971. The Black Officer Corps gives us a much fuller picture of the experience of black officers, and a place to start asking further questions.