Inasmuch as racial integration was the social goal for a vast majority of Americans in 1960, this article made it clear that racial harmony in the U.S. Armed Forces was not simply the goal, it was the reality. Written by a journalist who visited as many as ten U.S. Military establishments throughout Europe and North Africa in order to see how President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 had effected American military culture. He was surprised to find that although Truman had banished Jim Crow from the armed services in 1948, the Defense Department had not seen fit to integrate the on-base housing and schools until 1954. Perhaps this is a good example of the differences between the Department of Defense and the actual military: the DoD is run by civilians and the military is run by generals and admirals who are attuned to obeying the orders of their commander-in-chief, whoever that may be.
The article is filled with pleasing anecdotes about how easily racial integration was manifested and how quickly the bonds between men of all hues were quickly established.
