president truman and the aacr movement

harry truman:

  • Key questions about Truman:​

    • How much did he do to advance AACR?​

    • Why did he do what he did?​

      • Domestic political positioning and the desire for votes?​

      • International politics?​

      • Belief that AACR needed to be advanced?​

  • Key contextual issues:​

  • The Cold War.​

  • McCarthyism.

the cold war:

  • us fear of communism - idea of ‘domino theory’

  • us as ‘bastion of liberty’

  • us arms expenditure etc pos/neg

  • key events in truman’s time:

    • soviet takeover in eastern europe

    • berlin blockade

    • china communist in 1949

    • korean war

mccarthyism:

  • the house committee on un-american activities

  • senator joseph p. mccarthy

  • fear n loathing of communism, both real and confected for political advantage

  • hunts for ‘reds under the bed’ - communists n alleged communists exposed or ‘exposed’

  • climate of hysteria

  • made anything even mildly ‘left wing’ very difficult; implications for AACR movement

truman era - key developments for AAs:

  • A mixture of hope and frustration?​

  • Hope?​

    • President seems committed to beginning to address AACR – implications for the rest of society.​

    • Progress in terms of campaigning movements.​

    • NAACP beginning to see federal legal process as the way to bring about progress. This could not be classed as ‘Un-American’.​

  • Frustration?​

    • Dixiecrats and southern intransigence.​

    • Many problems not susceptible of easy legal solution.​

    • Many other concerns (specifically Cold War) as taking the President’s energy and commitment.