On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, establishing “that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” 

In so doing, Truman explicitly called upon the spirit of the Founding. In a democratic nation for which the equality of man counted among the highest principles, to privilege one class arbitrarily over another could not be justified — certainly not in an institution whose character and fate were so entwined with that of the regime at large. This sentiment, of course, was born of long-standing national beliefs but brought to maturity by the course of history — namely, by the American experience in the Second World War. Black Americans had served ably and honorably throughout the conflict, and many had come home to less than a hero’s welcome. Integration — the old ethos of equal opportunity — was driven in large part by a sense of justice.

Yet the war had produced pragmatic lessons, too. The battle for Europe was waged on a scale and scope the likes of which the young American nation had not yet encountered. (Even our own bloody civil war, while presenting a graver political threat, amounted to a far less substantial military challenge compared against world war.) What’s more, the great powers of Europe were exhausted by war’s end, and with the rise of a serious rival in the East, it was more urgent than ever for America’s fighting forces to serve their singular purpose: to defeat the enemies of the United States in combat. Separate units, policies, and procedures for black soldiers had proved inefficient and ineffective, and the practice of segregation had stoked tensions both within American ranks and between America and her allies. The racial policy of the armed forces had proven an obstacle to the mission, and so it was cast aside. The effectiveness of the U.S. military was paramount, and the stakes were now too high. For a brief post-war period, the commitment to merit even led the Army to omit “Race” altogether as a category in personnel files.