President Truman once said, “No citizen of this great country ought to be discriminated against because of his race, religion, or national origin. That is the essence of the American ideal and the American Constitution.”

On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 banning segregation in the Armed Forces. This executive order echoed the president’s intent to establish civil rights within the federal government by stating "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
To learn more about President Truman’s Executive Order 9981, visit Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.

W. Stuart Symington became the first secretary of the Air Force on 18 September 1947. A longtime believer that integration was the most efficient and effective way to utilize personnel, Secretary Symington made it clear that he intended to desegregate the service. He was described as a man "who refused to recognize racial distinctions and who used high-powered business methods to bring racial equality to the Air Force.”

To read Secretary Symington’s commencement address to Air University first graduating class of AWC and ACSS at Maxwell Air Force Base in 1949, click here.

Eugene Zuckert was the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. Sec Symington appointed Assistant Secretary Zuckert to work with Gen Idwal H. Edwards on the study, development, and implementation of integration within the Air Force. Assistant Secretary Zuckert considered his most professionally satisfying achievement was the abolishing of segregation and the way the Air Force lead the charge on integration.

To learn more about Assistant Secretary Zuckert's role in integration of the Air Force, see The Air Force Integrates 1945-1964.

Gen Vandenberg was the Chief of Staff of the Air Force when executive order 9981 was issued. Once receiving the direction from Sec Symington that the Air Force would be integrating, he supported the plan and oversaw the implementation of it. Gen Vandenberg later said that efficiency wasn't the sole reason the Air Force stood behind integration, he also said, "it was a bold attempt to tackle a broad-gauged national problem."

To read more about Gen Vandenberg's role in integration of the Air Force, see Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965.

Lt Gen Edwards, while assigned as deputy chief of staff for personnel, ordered a study on the impact of segregation in the Air Force. He believed that segregation led to an inefficient utilization of manpower and had a negative impact on the Air Force’s mission. The study proved that segregation led to waste and inefficiency within the service. Lt Gen Edwards led the team who created the Air Force’s plans and policies for desegregating the Air Force. He was the Commandant of Air University from 1951-1953.

To learn more about Lt Gen Edwards' role in integration of the Air Force, see the book The Air Force Integrates, 1945-1964

James C. Evans was a civilian assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He provided insight, opinion, reports, and recommendations on Executive Order 9981 and its implementation in the armed services. Mr. Evans’ name is sometimes referred as a “behind the scenes fighter” in the story of integration as his signature is attached to many memorandums, internal notes, and correspondences in relation to integration and other racial matters. Mr. Evans received a degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1925. By the 1930s, Mr. Evans was teaching black pilots at West Virginia State College, where he served as chair of the engineering department and taught and mentored NASA “Hidden Figure” mathematician Katherine G. Johnson. He also lobbied the Air Corps to fund Black pilot training, which subsequently led to the training program at Tuskegee. During his federal service career, he served under 5 Secretaries of War, 10 Secretaries of Defense and 6 Presidents of the United States. Mr. Evans retired from federal service in 1970.

In 1955 James C. Evans wrote a report on the integration progress of the armed forces, see Integration in the Armed Services: A Progress Report.

In 1948, then Lt Col Jack Marr, a staff officer in the office of Air Force Personnel, was assigned to study the effects of segregation within the Air Force. His study proved that segregation within the Air Force was an inefficient use of manpower. This study was used to build the Air Force’s plan for integration and was the most socially forward-thinking strategy towards integration of all the armed services. One of the resources he used was Noel F. Parrish’s Air Command and Staff School thesis on the segregation of black Air Force personnel.

To learn more about Col Marr’s research and role in integration of the Air Force, see The Air Force Integrates 1945-1964.

Noel F. Parrish was the white commander of the Tuskegee Army Airfield during World War II. His involvement working with the legendary Tuskegee Airmen gave him the unique experience of seeing first-hand the challenges black airmen faced within the armed forces. He understood the problematic and unjust practices of segregation was a self-defeating measure within the armed forces. While attending Air University’s Air Command and Staff School in 1947, he wrote his thesis on the issues caused by segregation of black personnel within the Air Force. His thesis was used by Lt Col Marr as part of this study and eventual development of Air Force integration plans.

To read his Air Command and Staff School thesis, click here.

General Davis was the commander of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and 332nd Fighter Wing at Lockbourne Army Air Base, Ohio after the war. In the newly established Air Force, then Colonel Davis was invited to serve as an advisor to Lt Col Jack Marr’s integration study. Colonel Davis was also invited to work with the Fahy Committee to testify on the Air Force's integration policy. In that role, he reported to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force and his experience as a commander of black units was proven to be vital during the creation of integration policies and procedures. He was also the first black military officer to attend any War College, graduating from the Air War College in 1950.

You can read his 1950 Air War College thesis, by clicking here.

Maj General Lucius was the first African American support officer and the third overall to be appointed general in the U.S. Air Force. Propelled by the civil rights movement of the 1960s and to counteract a national policy of segregation and inequality, the Department of Defense (DoD) mandated race relations training in 1971. An inter-service task force examined the causes and possible cures of these racial disorders within the military. The task force, chaired by Air Force Major General Lucius Theus, resulted in Department of Defense Directive 1322.11. This directive established the Race Relations Education Board and in 1971, created the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI), this organization is now known as the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.

You can read resources produced by DRRI in Air University Library’s Diversity & Inclusion Digital Collections.

During the congressional hearings for the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (the first African American to represent New York in Congress) argued that the Nurses’ Corps should be a permanent service and that amendments should be added to the Act that stated the military should be fully desegregated and against discrimination. He pointed to the fact there was the only one black nurse serving the 19,337 black servicemen in the Navy as a discriminatory and ineffective utilization of military personnel. He recommended adding verbiage to the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act that would protect African American women from discrimination and segregation on the account of race, color, religion, or national origin.

When objections were raised against adding such measures to the Act, he responded to say, “I must differ with you, because I feel that anytime we do not give any element of our democracy the opportunity to serve to the fullest in every phase of this democracy, then we are not doing our duty, and I do not see where an objection such as yours is valid.”

To read Congressman Powell’s testimony at the Subcommittee hearings on S.1641, to establish the Women's Army Corps in the Regular Army, click here.