Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
284839505
label
White House Press Release, Informal Remarks of President Harry S. Truman
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
284839505
contentType
document
title
White House Press Release, Informal Remarks of President Harry S. Truman
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Release Files (Truman Administration)
White House Press Releases
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
284839505
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
15
logicalDate
1947-01-15
month
1
year
1947
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
5454fc913c672b8a
ocrText
23
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 15, 1947
Informal Remarks of the President to the Members of the
President's Committee on Civil Rights:
You have a vitally important job. We are none of us
entirely familiar with just how far the Federal Government under
the Constitution has a right to go in these civil rights matters.
I want our Bill of Rights implemented in fact. We
have been trying to do this for 150 years. We are making progress,
but we are not making progress fast enough. This country could
very easily be faced with a situation similar to the one with
with it was faced in 1922. That date was impressed on my mind
because in 1922 I was running for my first elective office --
County Judge of Jackson County - and there was an organization
in that county that met on hills and burned crosses and worked
behind sheets. There is a tendency in this country for that
situation to develop again, unless we do something tangible to
prevent it.
I don't want to see any race discrimination. I don't
want to see any religious bigotry break out in this country as
it did then.
You people can, I think, make a real contribution here,
with the assistance of the Attorney General and the Office of the
President, that will get us tangible results. Our work has got
to start at the grass roots, and in starting at the grass roots,
it has got to start in the hearts of the people themselves.
I appreciate highly your willingness to spend your time
on a matter of this kind. You may get more brickbats than bouquets.
Your willingness to undertake the job shows that your hearts are in
the right place.
I know you will go to work in earnest and I hope that
you will bring me something tangible by which we can accomplish
the purposes which we have been trying to accomplish for 150 years,
ever since the adoption of the Constitution.
MR. WILSON: We will do our utmost, Mr. President. We
all realize the complexities of the job that you are giving us, but
we will do our best to work something out and hope it will be helpful.
THE PRESIDENT: I am sure it will be. I have been very
much alarmed at certain happenings around the country that go to show
there is a latent spirit in some of us that isn't what it ought to
be. It has been difficult in some places to enforce even local laws.
I want the Attorney General to know just exactly how far he can go
legally from the Federal Government's standpoint. I am a believer
in the sovereignty of the individual and of the local governments.
I don't think the Federal Government ought to be in a position
to exercise dictatorial powers locally; but there are certain
rights under the Constitution of the United States which I think the
Federal Government has a right to protect.
It's a big job. Go to it!
3