Executive Order 9982 Research Paper

The racial make-up of today’s America’s armed forces is so diverse; it would be easy for the newer generations to assume that the armed forces have always been diverse. However, black Americans were not always able to fight alongside white Americans. Despite the fact that black Americans have contributed in most, if not all, American battles, these forces were not integrated until Executive Order 9981, signed into law by President Truman in 1948. Executive Order 8802, signed by President Roosevelt, did prohibit racial discrimination in the national defense sector; nonetheless, this was signed in 1941, almost 21 years after the end of World War I. While not solely responsible for the course of events that lead to civil rights and more

General Pershing ordered the Fifteenth New York National Guard Regiment to fight for the French Army. In December of 1917, the Fifteenth arrived in France; in addition, the regiment was renamed to the 369th US Infantry in the 16th Division of the French Army. The French Army trained the 369th US Infantry in March of 1918 in their Foreign Legion program. The Foreign Legion program accepted nationals to fight and took command of the regiment, which is how the Hellfighters were able to fight under the French Army. The insult of fighting in the French Army is that it arguably implies that the United States Army decided that African American soldiers were not honorable enough to fight among white American combat troops. In addition, it also implies that the General Pershing thought that it was a win-win situation. If the African American regiment was unsuccessful, it would be under French command and would not affect white American troops, but if they were successful, the United States would still get the