World War and the Growth of Global Power 277trol by federal troops, and only after 700 people were wounded and 35 killed,
including 17 African American “looters” shot by Detroit police.
As it was during World War I, the military became a focus for black activ-
ism. Except for the Coast Guard, every branch of the armed services exer-
cised a routine policy of racial discrimination. Part of Executive Order 8802
called for the full participation of “all persons regardless of color, race, creed,
or national origin” in all government departments including the military. The
Marine Corps, however, took a year to recruit its first blacks and, in August
1942 the first 13 arrived, recruited to serve as cooks, bakers, and barbers. By
1943, Black Marines labored directly behind the front lines, unloading muni-
tions and other supplies on Pacific beaches in support of Allied landings. In
the Navy, they were segregated by occupation, most working in the food ser-
vices, or as stevedores [dockworkers] like their fellow Marines.
Throughout the conflict, the U.S. War Department maintained that soldiers
of different races were best separated. Army Chief of Staff General George C.
Marshall explained that “the War Department cannot ignore the social rela-
tionships between negroes and whites which have been established by the
American people through custom and habit.” Moreover, he argued that
“experiments within the Army in the solution of social problems are fraught
with danger to efficiency, discipline, and morale.” He was not about to permit
the attempted “settlement of vexing racial problems...to complicate the tre-
mendous task of the War Department and thereby jeopardize discipline and
morale.”
Early in the war, the NAACP proposed that the Army might improve
morale through the establishment of a unit open to all races. Walter White,
head of the NAACP, had suggested to Marshall that he create an integrated
all-volunteer Army division. Volunteers, theoretically, would be men possess-
ing little prejudice. If the Army adopted his suggestion, White believed such
a unit made up of Americans “irrespective of race, creed, color, or national
origin” would “set a new and successful pattern of democracy.” Despite sup-
port for the plan from a few members of the War Department, Marshall
rejected the idea. The General was convinced that any such plan threatened
the entire war effort. The U.S. military thus remained segregated throughout
the war and would not begin to integrate until July 1948, when President
Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which stated, “It is hereby declared to
be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and