Executive Order 8802

Prohibiting Employment Discrimination in the Defense Industry

Executive order

By: President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Date: June 25, 1941

Source: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "Executive Order 8802—Reaffirming Policy of Full Participation in the Defense Program by All Persons, Regardless of Race, Creed, Color, or National Origin, and Directing Certain Action in Furtherance of Said Policy." <http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeoc/35th/thelaw/eo-8802.html> (accessed May 31, 2006).

About the Author: Franklin Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the thirty-second president of the United States, serving from 1933–1945. Elected during the Great Depression, he led the United States until just prior to the conclusion of World War II.

INTRODUCTION

As the United States' entry into World War II began to appear inevitable, President Franklin Roosevelt faced a looming political crisis in the United States. With the American workplace still segregated by race, African Americans found themselves unable to secure many of the jobs in the rapidly expanding defense industry. Recognizing the pressure President Roosevelt faced to keep peace at home in the face of unrest abroad, civil rights activists crafted a plan to take advantage of the president's precarious position.

Philip Randolph, president of a large minority labor union, met with other activists to develop a strategy. The result was simple but ultimately effective: Randolph would ask President Roosevelt to address the problems of workplace equity in the defense industry. If there was no response, Randolph and his colleagues would organize a massive protest march in Washington, D.C. The threat of 250,000 African American protestors in the streets of the capital succeeded in bringing Roosevelt to the bargaining table, and after several rounds of discussion between Randolph and Roosevelt's representatives, a deal was reached.

On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, banning racial discrimination in any facility with federal defense contracts and directing government agencies to include non-discrimination clauses in all future contracts. The order also specified that any defense-related training programs administered by the federal government were to be conducted without regard to race. Finally, the act created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), which was responsible for investigating alleged violations and specifying penalties for firms found to be in violation.

PRIMARY SOURCE

Whereas it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups within its borders; and

Whereas there is evidence that available and needed workers have been barred from employment in industries engaged in defense production solely because of considerations of race, creed, color, or national origin, to the detriment of workers' morale and of national unity:

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, and as a prerequisite to the successful conduct of our national defense production effort, I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and I do hereby declare that it is the duty of employers and of labor organizations, in furtherance of said policy and of this order, to provide for the full and equitable participation of all workers in defense industries, without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

And it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. All departments and agencies of the Government of the United States concerned with vocational and training programs for defense production shall take special measures appropriate to assure that such programs are administered without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin;
2. All contracting agencies of the Government of the United States shall include in all defense contracts hereafter negotiated by them a provision obligating the contractor not to discriminate against any worker because of race, creed, color, or national origin;
3. There is established in the Office of Production Management a Committee on Fair Employment Practice, which shall consist of a chairman and four other members to be appointed by the President. The Chairman and members of the Committee shall serve as such without compensation but shall be entitled to actual and necessary transportation, subsistence and other expenses incidental to performance of their duties. The Committee shall receive and investigate complaints of discrimination in violation of the provisions of this order and shall take appropriate steps to redress grievances which it finds to be valid. The Committee shall also recommend to the several departments and agencies of the Government of the United States and to the President all measures which may be deemed by it necessary or proper to effectuate the provisions of this order.

SIGNIFICANCE

Executive Order 8802 was brief and to the point: defense contractors could no longer use race as a criterion for hiring and promotion, and those who did would face potential sanctions and loss of federal contracts. In response, the march on the capital was called off, and African American workers anticipated fuller employment options in the future.

Although the passage of Executive Order 8802 was expected to rapidly open the defense industry to minority applicants, the passage of the legislation had little immediate effect. Some contractors simply ignored the new rule, preferring to take their chances with the lightly staffed enforcement agency, the part-time staff of which was located entirely in Washington, D.C. Other firms responded by interviewing and hiring African Americans, but only for custodial positions and other menial jobs. In the short term, the new law had little impact.

Despite Roosevelt's initial reluctance to issue Executive Order 8802, he was unwilling for defense contractors to simply ignore it. In response to their foot-dragging, Roosevelt strengthened the FEPC in 1943 by significantly raising its enforcement budget and replacing its part-time Washington staff with a full-time force spread throughout the nation. The results remained mixed. By the end of World War II, African American employment in the defense industry had more than doubled, from three percent to eight percent; however, these numbers belied the fact that many of the new jobs were still entry-level and unskilled positions.

Because of its status as an executive order, Roosevelt's nondiscrimination policy had a limited lifespan, and after the end of World War II, the act's future was unclear. Congress and the Truman administration discussed how to proceed with the law, but no agreement was reached on extending the act or making it permanent. Without action, the FEPC expired in 1946.

President Truman would later propose a civil rights package that included a permanent FEPC; this plan, however, was blocked by conservatives in Congress. A permanent FEPC was approved by the House in 1950, but it was filibustered by southern senators and died. Despite these setbacks, workplace discrimination continued to diminish, albeit slowly. In 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, ordering the elimination of racial discrimination in the military; a companion order prescribed the same step for other federal employees. Six years later, in 1954, the last all-black military unit was disbanded.

When viewed alone, Executive Order 8802 had little immediate impact on discrimination in America. But when viewed as one of hundreds of laws that gradually dismantled a culture steeped in discrimination, the policy was a significant step in a long national journey from discrimination toward equality.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Homan, Lynn M. and Thomas Reilly. Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing, 2001.

Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Mayer, Kenneth. With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Periodicals

Newby, John L., II. "The Fight for the Right to Fight and the Forgotten Negro Protest Movement: The History of Executive Order 9981 and Its Effect upon Brown v. Board of Education and Beyond." Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights10 (2004): 83–110.

Percy, William Alexander. "Jim Crow and Uncle Sam: The Tuskegee Flying Units and the U.S. Army Air Forces in Europe during World War II." Journal of Military History 67 (2003): 773–810.

Web sites

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. "Fair Employment Practices Committee." <http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/fepc.htm> (accessed May 26, 2006).

PBS Online NewsHour. "Divisions in the Divisions." November 29, 1999 <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec99/race_military_11-29.html> (accessed May 31, 2006).

U.S. Army: Redstone Arsenal, AL. "History of Black Military Service." <http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/integrate/history.htm> (accessed May 27, 2006).