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Interview With Michael Gardener, Writer of New Truman Book

Aired June 26, 2003 - 15:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: A new book about Harry Truman focuses on the 33rd president's often overlooked role in the battle for American racial equality. The book is called "Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks". The author is Michael Gardner, he's with me here in Washington.
Michael Gardener, you are a lawyer here in Washington. You're not a historian. Why spend seven years of your life working on a book about Harry Truman?

MICHAEL GARDENER, LAWYER AND AUTHOR: Well, I was teaching a course at Georgetown University on the modern American president. And the more I researched on Truman, the more I could see this story that hadn't been told. And I was really quite intrigued why this man, from a rural racist Missouri background, who was only high-school educated, would, during his presidency, invest so much political capital in civil rights reform. And that prompted me to do more research and, to which, seven years later, the book.

WOODRUFF: And what was it that drove him? Here he is, the grandson of slave owners on both his mother and his father's side, somebody who grew up in Missouri at a time of deep segregation. What was motivating him?

GARDENER: I think it was three things -- he grew up, as you say, in Missouri where the Klan had enormous presence, in Jackson county. He new the treachery of the Klan.

He also served...

WOODRUFF: The Ku Klux Klan.

GARDENER: The Ku Klux Klan. He served in a segregated military in World War I, but saw the valor of servicemen.

And he also, even though he was only high-school educated, was a student of the constitution. And he revered it.

You flash forward to 1946 when 880,000 black veterans are returning home, and the Klan became reenergized. And he knew that that kind of treachery could not go on in America. So it was really midway through in 1946 he heard stories, from the NAACP, that made him go into high gear on the subject.

WOODRUFF: What -- how politically risky was it for him?

GARDENER: Very risky, very risky. He starts in '46 in December with a presidential -- multiracial presidential commission -- first ever. Then he goes through the next year, makes the first major address of a president on civil rights at the Lincoln -- before the NAACP.

Subsequently, February 2, 1948, election year, when he wants to be elected, he sends a 10-point comprehensive civil rights bill to the Congress -- first ever sent to the Congress -- and Gallup Poll the next month ran a poll, 82 percent of the American public opposed his civil rights program. In an election year. What politician would stay with it?

Nonetheless, he stays with it, as you know, integrates the military in July, and at the same time integrates the federal work force.

WOODRUFF: Now it's pointed out that all this took place at a time of great international turmoil, end of World War II, start of the cold war, the Soviet threat. Did any of that have an effect -- have something to do with his thinking? He was under enormous pressure.

GARDENER: He was, indeed. He was embarrassed that this country didn't have its racial house in order. And he was one of the promoters of the United Nations. How could you have black African diplomats not be able to go into restrooms when they traveled down from New York to Washington or have to sit at a curtained table on the train in humiliating situations?

So the international considerations were important. He wanted us to clean up our act from a global standpoint. But it was primarily a moral consideration for him. He knew this kind of racism was wrong, and he had the power, even though Congress wouldn't help him, through the executives orders that he issued, to do something about it.

WOODRUFF: Michael Gardner, the book is "Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks", and your daytime job, you're a communications lawyer here in Washington.

GARDENER: Yes, I am.

WOODRUFF: We thank you so much for coming by and talking to us in your role as historian.

GARDENER: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Good to see you. Do appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Book>


Aired June 26, 2003 - 15:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: A new book about Harry Truman focuses on the 33rd president's often overlooked role in the battle for American racial equality. The book is called "Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks". The author is Michael Gardner, he's with me here in Washington.
Michael Gardener, you are a lawyer here in Washington. You're not a historian. Why spend seven years of your life working on a book about Harry Truman?

MICHAEL GARDENER, LAWYER AND AUTHOR: Well, I was teaching a course at Georgetown University on the modern American president. And the more I researched on Truman, the more I could see this story that hadn't been told. And I was really quite intrigued why this man, from a rural racist Missouri background, who was only high-school educated, would, during his presidency, invest so much political capital in civil rights reform. And that prompted me to do more research and, to which, seven years later, the book.

WOODRUFF: And what was it that drove him? Here he is, the grandson of slave owners on both his mother and his father's side, somebody who grew up in Missouri at a time of deep segregation. What was motivating him?

GARDENER: I think it was three things -- he grew up, as you say, in Missouri where the Klan had enormous presence, in Jackson county. He new the treachery of the Klan.

He also served...

WOODRUFF: The Ku Klux Klan.

GARDENER: The Ku Klux Klan. He served in a segregated military in World War I, but saw the valor of servicemen.

And he also, even though he was only high-school educated, was a student of the constitution. And he revered it.

You flash forward to 1946 when 880,000 black veterans are returning home, and the Klan became reenergized. And he knew that that kind of treachery could not go on in America. So it was really midway through in 1946 he heard stories, from the NAACP, that made him go into high gear on the subject.

WOODRUFF: What -- how politically risky was it for him?

GARDENER: Very risky, very risky. He starts in '46 in December with a presidential -- multiracial presidential commission -- first ever. Then he goes through the next year, makes the first major address of a president on civil rights at the Lincoln -- before the NAACP.

Subsequently, February 2, 1948, election year, when he wants to be elected, he sends a 10-point comprehensive civil rights bill to the Congress -- first ever sent to the Congress -- and Gallup Poll the next month ran a poll, 82 percent of the American public opposed his civil rights program. In an election year. What politician would stay with it?

Nonetheless, he stays with it, as you know, integrates the military in July, and at the same time integrates the federal work force.

WOODRUFF: Now it's pointed out that all this took place at a time of great international turmoil, end of World War II, start of the cold war, the Soviet threat. Did any of that have an effect -- have something to do with his thinking? He was under enormous pressure.

GARDENER: He was, indeed. He was embarrassed that this country didn't have its racial house in order. And he was one of the promoters of the United Nations. How could you have black African diplomats not be able to go into restrooms when they traveled down from New York to Washington or have to sit at a curtained table on the train in humiliating situations?

So the international considerations were important. He wanted us to clean up our act from a global standpoint. But it was primarily a moral consideration for him. He knew this kind of racism was wrong, and he had the power, even though Congress wouldn't help him, through the executives orders that he issued, to do something about it.

WOODRUFF: Michael Gardner, the book is "Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks", and your daytime job, you're a communications lawyer here in Washington.

GARDENER: Yes, I am.

WOODRUFF: We thank you so much for coming by and talking to us in your role as historian.

GARDENER: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Good to see you. Do appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Book>