Navy Reads: 'The Double V'

Review by Bill Doughty

Serving in WWII. Photo courtesy National Archives.

Black voters became a potent force that white politicians could not ignore in November of 1940. That's one insight in a book that explains how the military became integrated, especially in the wake of World War I and during and after World War II.

Author Rawn James writes: 

"Because millions of (African Americans) had migrated to Northern states where they could vote, they were now poised to play a possibly decisive role in the 1940 presidential and congressional elections. After the war erupted in Europe on September 1, 1939, few issues mattered more to millions of black voters in 1940 than abolishing segregation and race-based inequality in the armed forces."

"The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military" by Rawn James Jr. (Bloomsbury Press, 2013).

James's book is dedicated to his grandfather Cornelius James Sr, who served in a segregated U.S. Army during WWII so that his sons, including Rawn James Sr. (U.S. Navy, Ret.), "might serve in a better military and live in a fairer nation."

The fight for freedom and democracy abroad as well as at home became known as the "Double V" campaign – victory for civil rights and a struggle against the enemies of equality.

James shows how the Navy was an early leader in integration, often out of necessity, beginning with the Revolutionary War and shortly after in the War of 1812.

"The primary reason for the prevalence of African Americans at sea was that the work was unattractive to most white men. It was terribly arduous and dangerous to serve aboard square-rigged vessels powered by the wind. Sailors were required to go aloft to trim sails during heavy winds or seas. Food rations were at the subsistence level; disease and malnutrition were constant threats. Because conditions aboard sailing vessels were so abysmal, the navy and merchant marine captains did not have the luxury of turning away men deemed less desirable by employers on land. Alcoholics, petty criminals, and men who arrived on docks professing no history at all were among those who found themselves scaling ratlines and trading deferred pay for grog. African Americans, particularly former slaves like Crispus Attucks, found themselves welcomed aboard."

This insightful book touches on early American history, but concentrates mostly on events and consequences of the world wars that helped the United States live up to its original ideals.



In 1940, when the Red Cross put the call out for blood, blacks were restricted from donating. The irony was that Dr. Charles Drew, an African American, was the lead Red Cross scientist who developed methods to collect and store plasma.

Pivotal figures highlighted in this book include Corporal Freddie Stowers, Messman Doris "Dorie" Miller, Thurgood Marshall, Walter White, Philip Randolph, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal.

"Forrestal scheduled a meeting with King. He approached the venerated admiral respectfully but firmly. 'I don't think,' he began, 'that our Navy Negro personnel are getting a square break. I want to do something about it, but I can't do anything about it unless the officers are behind me. I want your help. What do you say?' Admiral King sat silently in his chair for a moment, staring out the window. Forrestal did not attempt to fill the ensuing silence. King finally turned his gaze back to the former banker. 'You know, we say we are a democracy,' King replied, 'and a democracy ought to have a democratic Navy.' The admiral pledged to support Forrestal's program 'all the way.'"

Discrimination during and after the war was intolerable to those who had served in the name of freedom:

"Like their civilian friends and family members back home, soldiers in the war viewed their battles against a white supremacist enemy abroad [not to mention imperial racism across the Pacific] as related in some unspoken but logical way with the struggle against white supremacy in America. A navy steward first class from Baltimore named Willie W. Booth, Jr., explained to a reporter aboard the USS Missouri, 'All of us, of course are hoping that our service to country will be rewarded by better chances to live in our various communities as first class citizens ... A chance to work where we show ability for the job, to continue our education in schools of choice, to have a vote in whatever community to which we return, [that] is what we've fought for and will continue to fight for when we go back home.' Booth and tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors like him believed that their service abroad was a vital contribution to black Americans' widening struggle for equality."

This book includes painful and poignant examples of the hatred and bigotry that impacted service members, including lynchings and beatings. Both were more common prior to Truman's order to integrate the armed forces, which was led by the Navy and the Air Force.

"In the months after V-J Day, as it continued to integrate, the navy confirmed its position as the most progressive military branch. Secretary James Forrestal was committed to integrating the service. In August 1945, America's 165,000 black sailors accounted for 5.5 percent of the navy's manpower. Sixty-four African Americans, fifty-eight men and six women, served as commissioned officers. The overwhelming majority of black sailors served in the Steward's Branch, but the 7,130 sailors in the regular service worked and lived with white sailors in submarines, on planes, and throughout the fleet."

When segregation still occurred in the U.S. armed forces, trolls in the Soviet Union (Russia) jumped on the opportunity to try to shame the United States:

"In the dawning cold war era, America's segregated military quickly had become a source of embarrassment. The United States was competing with the Soviet Union for allies among developing nations, many of which had majority nonwhite populations. Communist propagandists wrote derisively of an American military that purported to defend freedom while treating 10 percent of its men and women in uniform as second-class citizens. President Truman understood the foreign policy implications at stake."

Truman is presented as a complicated and redeemed hero, a man who started life in an openly racist family and who advanced in politics as a moderate politician who succeeded over more progressive elected officials only to find himself vice president and suddenly president in the waning months of WWII. He was called upon to make difficult decisions, including opening the military and, soon after, American society to greater opportunity for all.

His order to establish a committee on civil rights springs is still relevant:

"Freedom From Fear is more fully realized in our country than in any other on the face of the earth. Yet all parts of our population are not equally free from fear. And from time to time, and in some places, this freedom has been gravely threatened. It was so after the last war, when organized groups fanned hatred and intolerance, until, at times, mob action struck fear into the hearts of men and women because of their racial origin or religious beliefs.

Today, Freedom From Fear, and the democratic institutions which sustain it, are again under attack. In some places, from time to time, the local enforcement of law and order has broken down, and individuals – sometimes ex-servicemen, even women – have been killed, maimed, or intimidated.

The preservation of civil liberties is a duty of every Government-state, Federal and local. Wherever the law enforcement measures and the authority of Federal, state, and local governments are inadequate to discharge this primary function of government, these measures and this authority should be strengthened and improved.

The Constitutional guarantees of individual liberties and of equal protection under the laws clearly place on the Federal Government the duty to act when state or local authorities abridge or fail to protect these Constitutional rights.

Yet in its discharge of the obligations placed on it by the Constitution, the Federal Government is hampered by inadequate civil rights statutes. The protection of our democratic institutions and the enjoyment by the people of their rights under the Constitution require that these weak and inadequate statutes should be expanded and improved. We must provide the Department of Justice with the tools to do the job.

I have, therefore, issued today an Executive Order creating the President's Committee on Civil Rights and I am asking this Committee to prepare for me a written report. The substance of this report will be recommendations with respect to the adoption or establishment by legislation or otherwise of more adequate and effective means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States."

Service members during the Korean War. (National Archives)

Truman's executive order to establish the committee was issued Dec. 5, 1946, three months and three days after V-J (Victory over Japan) day.  It established expectations for the decades to come.

From the National Archives: "Truman bolstered the civil rights division, appointed the first African American judge to the Federal bench, named several other African Americans to high-ranking administration positions, and most important, on July 26, 1948, he issued an executive order abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering full integration of all the services. Executive Order 9981 stated that 'there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.' ... By the end of the Korean conflict, almost all the military was integrated."

A Great President Gleams

Review by Bill Doughty

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)

Presidents Day is, of course, held in honor primarily of Washington and Lincoln, among our greatest presidents and commanders in chief. This holiday is also an opportunity to reflect on another great American who once occupied the office of the presidency: Harry S. Truman.

Truman is namesake of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

As with many other of our nation's great leaders like Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Teddy Roosevelt, and JFK, Truman was a dedicated reader of books. As we explore the life of HST, it's apparent that his famed "common sense," came from an uncommon love of learning and discovery.

President Truman reads a book on the "Truman balcony" of White House. First Lady Bess Truman is seated at far right, partly obscured. (Truman Library)

Truman is featured in a compelling book about the integration of the military, called "The Double V" by Rawn James, Jr.  (A review on Navy Reads is forthcoming and, once posted, will precede this blogpost.)

James tells us of Truman's love of the works of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, including "Gleam," which he and his friends chose as the title of their high school yearbook. "On the cover of the inaugural issue, framed by a student's artwork, were Tennyson's words":

Not of the sunlight, Not of the moonlight, Not of the starlight, O, young Mariner, Down to the haven, Call your companions, Launch your vessel, And crowd your canvas, And, ere it vanishes, Over the margin, After it, follow it, Follow the Gleam.

We can't help but read these words and think of the Navy, which – along with the other military services – Truman helped integrate. 

Tennyson also figures in the massive biography, "Truman" by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 1992).

McCullough reveals that HST kept a neatly folded copy of "Locksley Hall" in his wallet. 

This is the excerpt of that poem chosen by McCullough, foreshadowing the future of civil and military aviation as well as the United Nations, but remarkably written in 1835 and published several years later:

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,
With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Truman brought up Tennyson in his remarks at a dinner for members of Congress sponsored by the Civil Air Patrol, May 14, 1952. He read from "Locksley Hall," noting how he'd carried the poem with him for 30 years and pointing out how Tennyson seemed to predict modern aviation and even a nuclear age:

"Now, that was written in 1842 by Alfred Tennyson. That is a prophecy of the age in which we live now. And we are faced with a much greater age than the one that Tennyson dreamed about. If we will just keep our feet on the ground and our heads level, I am sure that this discovery of the way to break the atom will bring not only fantastic things for us to use, but it will be used for peaceful purposes – just as all the other destructive articles that have been invented have been used for that purpose."

Truman, who would one day have an aircraft carrier named after him said, in those remarks:

"We are making a great deal of progress in the science of aviation now. In fact, I think we are at the door of the greatest age in history in everything. If we can prevent a third world war-and I have been trying 7 years to prevent that third world war, and I hope we will be successful at it – the young people today, I think, will see a fantastic age, an age that our fathers and grandfathers dreamed about, but never thought would happen."

McCullough reveals Truman's love for Plutarch, Shakespeare and Mark Twain ("patron saint of literature"). He also read Dickens and Sir Walter Scott, and he immersed himself in history and biographies. McCullough describes the Truman home:

"At home in the small, simply furnished apartment on Connecticut, Truman's corner of the living room included a chintz-covered armchair, a reading lamp, his phonograph, and his record collection. In a small, free-standing bookshelf within arm's reach was a leatherbound set of Plutarch's 'Lives,' a two-volume 'Andrew Jackson' by Marquis James, all four volumes of Freeman's '(Robert E.) Lee,' the Bible, 'Stories of the Great Operas,' a biography of John Nance Garner, and 'Don Quixote.'"

Truman reads while on vacation in Florida, circa 1947.
Beside his chair is "The Lincoln Reader" by Carl Sandburg.

McCullough writes, "Margaret could not recall her father sitting down quietly at home without a book in his hand."

At more than 1,000 pages, McCullough's masterful biography provides a complete look at the 33rd president in our nation's history. (Truman considered himself the 32nd president, since Grover Cleveland had two nonconcurrent terms.)

We see Truman embrace the best of the values of his upbringing and shed the worst, including the racism of his place and time – growing up in Missouri of the early 20th century. We learn about his heroism as an Army captain in World War I. We experience his failure in business (but his repayment of his debts) and his success in politics and as an elected leader who advocated for a strong military while rooting out corruption and waste.

Truman died Dec. 26, 1972. "He was remembered in print and over the air waves, in the halls of Congress and in large parts of the world, as a figure of courage and principle." He "followed the Gleam."

McCullough concludes:

"That he would later be held accountable by some critics for the treacheries and overbearing influence of the CIA, as well as for the Vietnam War, was understandable but unjustified. He never intended the CIA to become what it did. His decisions concerning Vietnam by no means predetermined all that followed under later, very different presidents.His insistence that the war in Korea be kept in bounds, kept from becoming a nuclear nightmare, would figure more and more clearly as time passed as one of his outstanding achievements. And rarely had a president surrounded himself with such able, admirable men as Stimson, Byrnes, Marshall, Forrestal, Leahy, Acheson, Lovett, Eisenhower, Bradly, Clifford, Lilienthal, Harriman, Bohlen, and Kennan – as time would also confirm. It was as distinguished a group as ever served the country, and importantly, he had supported them as they supported him.Born in the Gilded age, the age of steam and gingerbread Gothic, Truman had lived to see a time of lost certainties and rocket trips to the moon. The arc of his life spanned more change in the world than in any prior period in history. A man of nineteenth-century background, he had had to face many of the most difficult decisions of the unimaginably different twentieth century. A son of rural, inland America, raised only a generation removed from the frontier and imbued with the old Jeffersonian ideal of a rural democracy, he had had to assume command of the most powerful industrial nation on earth at the very moment when that power, in combination with stunning advances in science and technology, had become an unparalleled force in the world. The responsibilities he bore were like those of no other president before him, and he more than met the test.Ambitious by nature, he was never torn by ambition, never tried to appear as something he was not. He stood for common sense, common decency. He spoke the common tongue. As much as any president since Lincoln, he brought to the highest office the language and values of the common American people. He held to the old guidelines: work hard, do your best, speak the truth, assume no airs, trust in God, have no fear. Yet he was not and had never been a simple, ordinary man. The homely attributes, the Missouri wit, the warmth of his friendship, the genuineness of Harry Truman, however appealing, were outweighed by the larger qualities that made him a figure of world stature, both a great and good man, and a great president.'Watch the President,' Admiral King had whispered to Lord Moran at Potsdam. 'This is all new to him, but he can take it. He is a more typical American than Roosevelt, and he will do a good job...'He was the kind of president the founding fathers had in mind for the country. He came directly from the people. He was America."

Truman personified the lines in Tennyson's "Locksley Hall" that the common sense of ordinary citizens and universal humanity – found in books – would ultimately "hold a fretful realm in awe."

President Harry S. Truman eats lunch with members of the crew of the USS Augusta (CA 31) July 12, 1945. Seated with him are: Albert Rice, Seaman First Class, Independence, Missouri and Elmo Buck, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class, Marceline, Missouri. (United States Navy and Harry S. Truman Library & Museum)

Hōkūle‘a Visits Pearl Harbor

People aboard Battleship Missouri Memorial help welcome voyaging canoe Hōkūle‘a in Pearl Harbor Feb. 10. (Photo by Kaimana Pine, courtesy PVS)

Voyaging Canoe Makes Historic First Visit

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Troutman, Navy Public Affairs Support Element Detachment Hawaii

The traditional Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, Hōkūle‘a, sailed into the waters of Pearl Harbor and visited the Puʻuloa region for the first time in the canoe’s 42-year history, Feb. 10.

The Hōkūle‘a crew was welcomed at Rainbow Bay Marina by the Puʻuloa community and US Navy who will host the canoe during a week-long visit to the region.

Rear Adm. Brian Fort, commander, Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, spoke at the welcoming ceremony of the Hōkūle‘a’ crew’s values, and how they reflect those of the U.S. Navy and the Hawaiian community at Pearl Harbor.

“Today is truly a historic day here at Pu’uloa,” said Fort. “I am a firm believer that the values that unite us are much greater than the distractions that divide us, and here today, we are truly inspired by the brave and humble navigators and voyagers of Hōkūle‘a, and by the values they cherish and represent.”

Rear Adm. Brian Fort, commander, Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, speaks with Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Master Navigator of the traditional Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, Hōkūle‘a. The week-long engagement to follow will include school visits, public dockside tours and a crew talk story event. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeff Troutman)

The Hōkūle‘a crew’s week-long engagement with the local community will include school visits, public dockside tours and a crew speaking event. As part of the Mahalo, Hawaiʻi Sail, the purpose of Hōkūleʻa’s visit is to bring the canoe to more of Hawaiʻi’s children, honor Pearl Harbor’s ancient culture and history, and to learn about the efforts to restore the area’s cultural sites, including the nearby Loko Paʻaiau Fishpond.

“This is an emotional day for me, because this is the very first time this historic vessel has ever sailed upon the waters of Pearl Harbor,” said Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Master Navigator of Hōkūle‘a. “To feel this sense of community and to know that the efforts of this crew are being celebrated in this moment, it is my hope that today is a chance for us to all take one more step towards coming together as one.”

Hōkūle‘a renders honors at USS Nevada Memorial at Hospital Point. (Photo by MC1 Troutman)

Upon entering the waters of Pearl Harbor, the Hōkūle‘a crew paid their respect as the vessel sailed past significant cultural and historical sites including Halealoha Halemau (Fort Kamehameha Reburial Platform), USS Nevada, Arizona Memorial, Battleship Missouri, Ford Island, USS Utah, and Loko Paʻaiau Fishpond, before piering at Rainbow Bay Marina. The crew will conclude their week-long visit by working with the restoration team at Loko Paʻaiau Fishpond on February 17.

The Loko Paʻaiau fishpond is located at McGrew Point Navy housing and is one of only three fishponds out of an original 22 in the Pu’uloa area which are still relatively intact. In September 2014, the Navy invited members of the local Hawaiian civic clubs and ʻAiea community members to begin work on restoring the historic fishpond.

“We want to celebrate this place and the movement taking place by the Puʻuloa community and the Navy to restore the Native Hawaiian history, sites and cultural identity of Pearl Harbor,” said Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. “We hope Hōkūleʻa’s visit will open the doors for our young people to learn about the extraordinary history and culture of this very special, sacred place.”

More than 1,000 school children are scheduled to visit Hōkūleʻa and participate in educational activities during the canoe's stop at Puʻuloa.

For more information about the Hōkūleʻa and her crew, please visit: http://www.hokulea.com/.

For a series of Navy Reads reviews and other posts over the years about Hōkūleʻa click here.

Schedule of events at Rainbow Bay Marina this week, provided by Polynesian Voyaging Society:

Public Open House Tours of Hōkūleʻa to Feb. 17

Rainbow Bay Marina (next to Restaurant 604, adjacent to National Park Service's Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.

• Sunday Feb. 11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and

Monday thru Friday, Feb. 12 to 16, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Hōkūleʻa Crew Talk Story (Sponsored by Kamehameha Schools ʻEwa Region) at Rainbow Bay Marina Pavilion Thursday, Feb. 15, 5 to 7 p.m.

Meet crew and community members who will discuss the significance of Hōkūleʻa’s visit to the Puʻuloa region.

Saturday Feb 17, 7:00 a.m., Hōkūleʻa departs Rainbow Bay Marina

Hōkūle‘a renders honors as it passes by the USS Arizona Memorial (Photo by MC1 Jeff Troutman)