Stolengood
Banned
Wait, Cardiff, Wales?A US soldier started what was almost a race riot in Cardiff when he hit a black civilian for refusing to step onto the road rather than brush past him on a crowded pavement.
Wait, Cardiff, Wales?A US soldier started what was almost a race riot in Cardiff when he hit a black civilian for refusing to step onto the road rather than brush past him on a crowded pavement.
Immediately after winning the 1940 election, during the lame duck period, FDR issues an Executive Order similar to Truman's EO 9981, which ends segregation in the Armed Services. So how does this affect the war? What are the political ramifications of this action? And how does this affect the Civil Rights movement?
You think if a Japan Home Island invasion was seriously on the table (yes, I know he was dead by then but it's only a year after the OP) that de-segregation could be considered, given the meat grinding that would have ensued?
I suppose major league sports would follow the example and desegregate sooner than IOTL by a few years.
My father lived through WW2, the amount of racism he saw by white US troops towards black servicemen was significant.
A US soldier started what was almost a race riot in Cardiff when he hit a black civilian for refusing to step onto the road rather than brush past him on a crowded pavement.
It might well provoke an outright mutiny in the Army, which at that time was heavily influenced if not dominated by older Southern officers to whom such a move would be outrageous.
OTL, Southern Democrats strongly supported the military buildup of 1941. The draft extension which passed by one vote in August 1941 was supported something like 115-4 by Southern Democrats. But if the military was integrated, that would mean blacks in command over whites sometimes. Many white Southerners would oppose conscription into such an army. If conscription remained in force, there could even be draft resistance. This would not be viewed as treasonous, as the U.S. was not at war.
I think that right after Pearl Harbor, FDR could get away with it. Using the aforementioned "we need every man to fight the war" type of messaging combined with the fervent patriotism in the aftermath of the attack would make anyone hard pressed to oppose it openly.
Also, considering the state of the US military's leadership at the start of the war, having a revolt among the senior officer corps might actually be a good thing.
Even if FDR were to issue an executive order desegregating the armed forces in 1940, the war will STILL be fought with an essentially segregated military. In OTL, it took six years (from 1948-1954) for Truman's desegregation order to be put into effect ((the 94th Engineer Battalion, the last remaining ''Negro'' unit in the Army was finally deactivated in November, 1954). Senior officers will drag their feet, Congress will call for hearings, orders issued by the White House will take years to be carried out.
Unfortunately I agree with the reasons advanced for why FDR would not have done so. In addition to the political issues the armed forces themselves were opposed to integration claiming that they had enough problems with the massive expansion of the military without adding the issues of racial integration.
FDR did do minor things like a request to the Navy in September 1941 asking that slots be found in addition to mess stewards. Similarly he should be given credit for the Tuskegee Airmen.
The institutional racism of the Army, and to be fair most of society, was such that integration was not considered even during the 1944-1945 manpower crises.
Unfortunately I agree with the reasons advanced for why FDR would not have done so. In addition to the political issues the armed forces themselves were opposed to integration claiming that they had enough problems with the massive expansion of the military without adding the issues of racial integration.
FDR did do minor things like a request to the Navy in September 1941 asking that slots be found in addition to mess stewards. Similarly he should be given credit for the Tuskegee Airmen.
The institutional racism of the Army, and to be fair most of society, was such that integration was not considered even during the 1944-1945 manpower crises.
No, it wasn't. He was a racist by today's standard's, yes, but what kept baseball from being integrated was the owners' misgivings, not Landis's.Not as long as Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (the only one that really mattered at the time), is alive. He would not die until October 1944 and even by the standards of the time his racism was extreme.
No, it wasn't. He was a racist by today's standard's, (1) yes, but what kept baseball from being integrated was the owners' misgivings, not Landis's.