Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks [Hardcover]

Adjunct Professor Michael Gardner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2002

Given his background, President Truman was an unlikely champion of civil rights. Where he grew up—the border state of Missouri—segregation was accepted and largely unquestioned. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents had owned slaves, and his mother, victimized by Yankee forces, railed against Abraham Lincoln for the remainder of her ninety-four years. When Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, Michael R. Gardner points out, Washington, DC, in many ways resembled Cape Town, South Africa, under apartheid rule circa 1985.

 

Truman’s background notwithstanding, Gardner shows that it was Harry Truman—not Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, or John F. Kennedy—who energized the modern civil rights movement, a movement that basically had stalled since Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. Gardner recounts Truman’s public and private actions regarding black Americans. He analyzes speeches, private conversations with colleagues, the executive orders that shattered federal segregation policies, and the appointments of like-minded civil rights activists to important positions. Among those appointments was the first black federal judge in the continental United States.

            

One of Gardner’s essential and provocative points is that the Frederick Moore Vinson Supreme Court—a court significantly shaped by Truman—provided the legal basis for the nationwide integration that Truman could not get through the Congress. Challenging the myth that the civil rights movement began with Brown v. Board of Education under Chief Justice Earl Warren, Gardner contends that the life-altering civil rights rulings by the Vinson Court provided the necessary legal framework for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.

 

Gardner characterizes Truman’s evolution from a man who grew up in a racist household into a president willing to put his political career at mortal risk by actively supporting the interests of black Americans.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Attorney Gardner, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, crafts a persuasive brief to argue that Harry Truman was the 20th century's best president in terms of civil rights the true successor to the Great Emancipator. His provincial Missouri background notwithstanding, Truman was influenced by his World War II experiences and voracious reading to become a presidential champion of human rights. Gardner cites Truman's American human rights "firsts," among them that he was the first president to accept an invitation from the NAACP and the first to have an integrated inaugural in segregated Washington, DC. Truman sustained his human rights record throughout his seven-year presidency, naming the first African American to the federal bench, ending segregation in the armed forces and the federal civil service, opening the capital's public swimming pools to black families in 1950, and delivering the 1953 Howard University commencement address. More problematic is the author's argument that Truman's Supreme Court appointees especially Chief Justice Fred Vinson and Tom Clark laid judicial groundwork for the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision. Here, Gardner's assessment contradicts prevailing scholarly consensus. Regardless of who is right on this point, however, Gardner's first book is highly recommended for all libraries. William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ. in Shreveport
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Gardner, a practicing lawyer and [former] adjunct professor at Georgetown University, sets the record straight on the part that our thirty-third president played in the struggle for racial equality. His well-documented conclusions will astonish even many of those whose memories go back to the period of which he writes.”

—New York Law Journal

“[A] compelling account of Truman as a civil rights advocate because it was the right—not politically expedient—position for America following World War II. . . Harry Truman—the lifelong civil rights activist—cared for and was admired by not only the common citizens but also the forgotten ones.”—ForeWord

“[A] persuasive brief to argue that Harry Truman was the 20th century’s best president in terms of civil rights—the true successor to the Great Emancipator. . . . Gardner’s first book is highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)

 

“Harry Truman and Civil Rights is an exceptional read. This book will reaffirm Truman’s position as an important figure in the African American quest for equality.”—The Baltimore Afro-American

 

“This is truly a remarkable book. I doubt that anybody in the instant history business like myself fully understood that the bedrock of Harry Truman was human rights. Nuclear weapons, Greek-Turkish aid, Marshall plan, Berlin airlift were all acquired tastes, imposed on him by a world running madly at warp speed. But beneath everything, as Gardner notes, was the feeling rooted in his soul that all humans regardless of color, race, or creed deserved equal treatment.”

—Hugh Sidey, Chair and CEO of the White House Historical Association

 

“Harry Truman and Civil Rights presents a riveting account of the little-known, yet pivotal role President Harry Truman played in the cause for civil rights. . . . President Truman’s bravery and dogged determination opened many doors and forever changed the course of history. This book is a tribute to the visionary courage displayed by this statesman who began laying the foundation to right the horrific injustices that prevailed against people of color during his time.”

—Kweisi Mfume, NAACP President and CEO

 

“This book tells the story of a native son of Missouri who put everything at risk to achieve a moral good. Truman’s very personal crusade for civil rights divided his party, alienated the South, and nearly cost him his presidency. His moral courage is an example for all elected officials and a lesson for all Americans.”                   —Missouri Senator Jean Carnahan

 

“Harry Truman’s convictions, commitment, and courage are admirably recounted by Michael Gardner. He describes the actions that flowed from them. He recalls long overlooked actions taken by the Department of Justice at Truman’s direction. He pointedly contrasts Truman’s courage with the timidity of his two immediate successors and reminds us of the belated conversion of Lyndon Johnson to the course Truman had advocated years earlier. . . .Truman had the courage. He took the risks. All of us are indebted to him.”—George M. Elsey, administrative assistant to President Truman

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (February 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809324253
• ISBN-13: 978-0809324255
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,230,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative But In Dire Need of Editing, September 1, 2004

By 

Damon Kessler (Concord, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks (Hardcover)

In reading Gardner's book, I learned a lot about Truman's impressive record as a civil rights advocate during his tenure as president. Gardner presents more than ample evidence to support his thesis that HST demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to Black civil rights, despite weak (white) public interest in this issue and the political risks of alienating a powerful block of Dixiecrats. He is successful in describing the many facets of racism -- rigid segregation, voter intimidation, lynching, all-white juries, etc. -- that African Americans encountered as they returned home after presumably fighting for 'freedom and democracy' in WWII. Truman, he aptly shows, refused to ignore the glaring contradiction between U.S. ideals and practices, and understood that racism on the home front undermined the country's foreign policy goals.

Gardner is, however, so preoccupied with establishing HST as a moral and courageous leader that he tends to neglect elements of Truman's social and political environment that made it possible for him to advance a civil rights agenda and indeed, get elected in 1948 against all the odds. For example, there WAS a legacy of Black resistance to oppression by this time... and not just the nascent stirrings of a civil rights movement to which Gardner alludes. Marvey Garvey had fired the imaginations and aspirations of tens of thousands of Blacks with the organziation of the UNIA. The NAACP was well-established and published The Crisis under the editorship of W.E.B. DuBois. Langston Hughes offered up brilliant poetry and fiction that touched on the sting of Black experience in a racist America. Billie Holiday recorded the haunting song about lynching, "Strange Fruit." And of course, there were liberal Euro-Americans who genuinely believed in racial equality and human rights, just as Truman did. There is no way he could have pulled off his victory in the 1948 election without deep connections to and alliances with moderate and liberal supporters.

Gardner points out that Truman's hands were tied by Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress when it came to passing civil rights legislation. Instead, the president showed great political savvy by using his Executive Order powers (as he did when he desegregated the armed services) and appointing like-minded friends to the courts. One was Fred Vinson, who became Truman's chief justice and presided over a handful of Supreme Courts cases that laid the groundwork for the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Gardner provides a compelling description of these cases in Chapter 11, "Truman and the Vinson Court."

This book does have one major flaw, and a couple reviewers have made reference to it. Gardner repeats himself ad naseum, making the same point over and over in the same chapter and sometimes across chapters. Too much of the time, I felt like I was reading an unedited dissertation. For example, Garder (appropriately) uses quotes from a variety of primary sources, but then, rather than clarifying or elaborating on the points made in the quote, he writes virtually the same thing in a follow-up paragraph. The repetition was VERY annoying, and I found myself barely skimming sections of the book in search of the next substantive point.

Overall, there is certainly enough substance in the book to make it worth reading. Gardner does shed valuable light on Truman's civil rights record. A good editor, however, would have made for a much better reading experience.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political R, May 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks (Hardcover)

A marvelous book that captures the seldom recognized strength and courage of this civil rights pioneer President. Prof. Gardner eloquently tells of Truman's ground breaking and couragous actions that changed the landscape of civil rights within the United States. Every American should read this book and learn about how Truman's moral convictions guided him and gave him the unwavering strength to take on widespread racist in the US without fear. Truman's story is an inspiration -- from his endearing and solid relationships with his wife and mother, to his passionate speeches before the NAACP and on the Lincoln Memorial steps. Prof. Gardner has truly painted a fabulous portrait of this remarkable President. This book is a must read!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Wonderful Book, March 19, 2002

By 

Edith Nash (Wisconsin Rapids, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks (Hardcover)

Just read the most wonderful book, Harry Truman and Civil Rights by Michael R. Gardner. The subtitle is Moral Courage and Political Risks and the author's extensive use of excerpts from Philleo Nash's 800 page oral history at the Truman Library is a wonderful support to the author's thesis. Philleo's work on the speeches that outlines Truman's total commitment to civil rights is well described and very lively. I released this oral history just three years ago to total access, and I couldn't be more pleased with what Michael Gardner has done with it.