1941 жылғы 8802-ші жарлық: Қорғаныс өнеркәсібіндегі кемсітушілікке қарсы күрес

1941 United States executive order by President Franklin Roosevelt

Executive Order 8802 was an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941. It prohibited ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry, including in companies, unions, and federal agencies. It also set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee. Executive Order 8802 was the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States. It represented the first executive civil rights directive since Reconstruction. The President's statement that accompanied the order cited the war effort, saying that "the democratic way of life within the nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups," and cited reports of discrimination:

There is evidence available that needed workers have been barred from industries engaged in defense production solely because of considerations of race, creed, color or national origin, to the detriment of workers' morale and of national unity. The order was issued in response to pressure from civil rights activists A. Philip Randolph, Walter White and others involved in the March on Washington Movement, who had planned a march on Washington, D. C., on July 1, 1941, to protest racial discrimination in industry and the military.

At the time that the order was issued, the US had yet to officially enter World War II, and it would not until after the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. However, the US had already involved itself in the war effort through other means, such as by supplying the Allied Powers through the Lend Lease Act. The US's role as a supplier, as well as the US's mounting preparations to officially enter the War, helped drive the US's economy out of the Great Depression. The economic benefits of the war, however, were disproportionately experienced by White Americans. Indeed, while the unemployment rate among White Americans plummeted from 18% to 13% in between April and October 1940, the unemployment rate for Black Americans remained stagnant at 22%. In an era where segregation was still legal (the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education deeming segregation unconstitutional would not be issued until 1954), Black workers were prohibited from working despite acute labor shortages. Indeed, less than half of defense industry companies included in a survey carried out by the US employment service (USES) stated that they would not want to hire Black workers. Employment disparities could not be fully explained by differences in job competencies between Black and White individuals. The president of North American Aviation stated that “it is against company policy to employ them as aircraft workers or mechanics regardless of their training.” Other members of the Roosevelt administration urged defense industry factories to stop discrimination against Black workers, but Randolph stated that he would only call off the march if an executive order was issued. They helped organize a meeting of the leaders of the MOWM with Roosevelt at the White House. The meeting held on June 18 (just two weeks prior to the planned march) quickly came to an impasse. In response to Randolph's demand for an executive order, Roosevelt replied:<blockquote>“Well Phil, you know I can’t do that. If I issue an executive order for you, then there'll be no end to other groups coming in here and asking me to issue executive orders for them too.”

The order established the President's Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) within the Office of Production Management, which was to centralize government contracting in the defense buildup before the United States entered World War II. The FEPC was to educate industry as to anti discrimination requirements, investigate alleged violations, and "take appropriate steps to redress grievances which it finds to be valid." The committee was also supposed to make recommendations to federal agencies and to the President on how Executive Order 8802 could be made most effective. However, the FEPC was limited by its small size and limited funding, as its initial staff consisted of 11 with a budget of $80,000. After the US entered the war, the FEPC was placed under the War Production Board, established under Executive Order 9040. In May 1943, Executive Order 9346 was issued, expanding the coverage of the FEPC to federal agencies carrying out regular government programs and returning it to independent status. Following the end of World War II, the committee was terminated by statute on July 17, 1945. While Executive Order 8802 addressed discrimination in defense industry hiring, the government did not end segregation in the armed forces until 1948, when President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981. Years later congressional passage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Executive Order 11246 in 1965 prohibited discrimination in employment and public facilities.

Many citizens of Italian or German ethnicity were negatively affected by World War II, which the Roosevelt administration feared could impede the war effort by lowering morale. Indeed, some government officials considered this ethnic discrimination as more pressing than that against Black Americans.

Mexican Americans faced discrimination in the workplace and public transportation, often being seen as no better than dogs. Executive Order 8802 outlawed discrimination in the defense industry based on “race, creed, color, or national origin”. Executive Order 8802, established the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). While it ensured African Americans could receive fair employment, it often failed to provide the same protections to Mexican Americans because of America's foreign policy in regard to Latin American nations. For example, the FEPC was supposed to hold public hearings to discuss accusations of discrimination, however it often canceled the hearings at the last minute when a case involving accusations by Mexican Americans was on the docket, fearing public knowledge of mass discrimination would compromise the Good Neighbor Policy. Moreover, though workplace discrimination took place in the Bracero Program as well, concerns were ignored for similar reasons. Second generation Mexican Americans had a reputation for being more vocal in addressing workplace grievances and were more receptive to unionization as a solution for widespread discrimination.