Dead Precedence

The above photo is of Harry Truman during World War I. 30 years later, Truman was president, due entirely to the fact that FDR seemed to have thought himself immortal. When Truman was thrust into the presidency, he became the most awful and awesome warlord the world had ever seen, ordering cities full of human beings to be annihilated with nuclear weapons.

But when that war was over, Truman did something else. He ordered the American military to end racial segregation in its ranks. Prior to this decision, which was made after World War II but at the height of the Cold War, blacks in the military were cooks. After this decision, they became generals.

Before Truman used the power of the presidency to force integration in the military, he commissioned a study. The (white) army was interviewed, and fully 80% of America's soldiers declared that they would not serve with black Americans. The army that had just crushed Japan and Hitler was polled, and their answer was "no niggers".

Truman's response (and Truman was definately a racist by modern standards) was "too bad". He ordered integration in the face of the prevailing sentiment.

In 1948, black men were integrated into the American military. 60 years later, a black man was elected Commander in Chief. And now that man is confronted with the issue of gays in the military.

Like in Truman's time vis a vis blacks, there was a study of the military's attitude towards integrating gays. Unlike the survey regarding blacks, the survey regarding gays met with far more tolerance from the soldiers polled. This time, the majority of soldiers said they had no problem serving with open homosexuals.

Sixty years ago, the majority of our soldiers declared themselves bigots, and our President told them to get over it. Today, the majority of our soldiers declare themselves tolerant, and our President still hesitates.

Our president would do well to consider where he would be today if his predecessor had not been willing to unapologetically spit in the face of bigots.