Who Was More Important for African American Civil Right, Eisenhower or Truman?

It can be argued that Presidents Truman and Eisenhower were relatively similar to one another on the issue of civil rights for African Americans. The main difference between them may have been brought about more by differences in their circumstances than by differences in their beliefs and attitudes.

Both of these presidents were generally in favour of African American civil rights and against discrimination and segregation. For this reason, both of them took important actions in support of civil rights. For example, President Truman appointed a federal committee on civil rights to investigate issues like the lynching of African Americans and to give suggestions as to how these issues might be resolved. Truman went much further than that in July of 1948 when he banned racial discrimination in the hiring of federal employees and when he ordered that the military should desegregate. Eisenhower also took important actions in favour of civil rights. Under his presidency, public facilities in Washington, D.C. were desegregated, as were veterans’ hospitals. Most famously, Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas (and nationalised the Arkansas National Guard) to protect the first African American students to attend Central High School in that city. All of these were important actions.

The main difference between the two men came in terms of their attitudes towards using law to end segregation and discrimination. So far as we know, Truman did not voice any doubts about the efficacy of using the law to end racial discrimination. By contrast, Eisenhower is known for his doubts on this issue. He believed, for example, that the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education was actually a setback for civil rights. He believed that it was impossible to force people to change by changing laws. However, this does not necessarily mean that Truman and Eisenhower actually held different beliefs. Unlike Truman, Eisenhower was in office at a time...