The committee was charged with examining the condition of
civil rights in the United States, producing a written report of their findings, and submitting recommendations on improving civil rights in the United States. In December 1947, the committee produced a 178-page report entitled
To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights. In the report, it proposed to establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission, Joint Congressional Committee on Civil Rights, and a Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice; to develop federal protection from
lynching; a permanent fair employment practice commission; to abolish
poll taxes; and urged other measures. Furthermore, the report raised the distinct possibility that the
UN Charter from 1945 could also be used as a source of law to fight persistent racial discrimination in the US. On July 26, 1948, President Truman advanced the recommendations of the report by signing Executive Order 9980 and
Executive Order 9981. Executive Order 9980 ordered the
desegregation of the federal work force and Executive Order 9981 ordered the desegregation of the
armed services. He also sent a special message to
Congress on February 2, 1948, to implement the recommendations of the President's Committee on Civil Rights. The President's Committee on Civil Rights report also paved way for African-American diplomats to break into previously white-dominated positions. Under President Truman,
Edward R. Dudley would become the first African American given an ambassadorship, in part due to the findings of race-relations from the committee. However, these moves were largely done due to a harming of foreign relations due to the United States' race problem. Even with the committee's findings, President Truman had trouble acting on his own research, due to domestic backlash. ==Membership==