NUMBER OF BLACKS IN MILITARY DECLINES

During World War II, most black troops still served only as truck drivers and as stevedores. In the midst of the Battle of the Bulge, General Eisenhower was severely short of replacement troops for existing military units—all of which were totally white in composition. Consequently, he made the decision to allow African American soldiers to pick up a gun and join the white military units to fight in combat for the first time. This was the first step toward a desegregated United States military. On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which established equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin and it prohibited segregation of military units for those reasons. It was preceded by efforts and pressure from the civil rights movement led by Asa Philip Randolph. The Korean War was the first conflict in American history in which black soldiers were integrated into white military units. Both policies have been the subject of high-profile public controversy in the 1990s and 2000s, with advocates citing military necessity and the special requirements of combat conditions, and opponents denying military necessity and characterizing the policies as unjustified discrimination. African-American representation in high quality Army recruits has declined by 7.1 percent between 2000 and 2007. The number of blacks joining the military has plunged by more than one-third since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began. According to Pentagon data, there were nearly 51,500 new black recruits for active duty and reserves in 2001. That number fell to less than 32,000 in 2006, a 38 percent decline.