Executive Order 8802 (1941)

Origins of Executive Order 8802

In 1941, A. Philip Randolph was the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and a black civil rights leader. Randolph also remembered that blacks had been mobilized during World War I only to return to a nation characterized by segregation and discrimination. Randolph and other black leaders such as Bayard Rustin organized the March on Washington movement, threatening to bring 100,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial to protest discrimination.

In June 1941 Randolph met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and presented an extensive list of demands, including a fair employment practices committee and greater opportunities for blacks to participate in the industries mobilizing for World War II. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition included blacks eligible to vote in the large cities of the north who had switch their traditional Republican allegiance. However, Roosevelt also depended on the votes of the Democratic-solid south, and segregationist Democrats often held the balance of power and key leadership positions in the House and Senate, making broad-scale action risky. The continued efforts by Randolph and other black leaders created an increasingly significant problem for Roosevelt. Faced with the threat of a march on Washington exhibiting the racial inequality in the American south and throughout the nation while mobilizing for a war to protect democracy, Roosevelt responded by issuing Executive Order 8802.

Executive Order 8802 was written primarily by young attorney and administration official Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., who later would serve in prominent positions with the advocacy group Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). Rauh was given the assignment quickly and composed an executive order for Roosevelt's signature. Even though congressional action on civil rights was not possible at this point, the executive power of the presidency could be utilized to combat discrimination.

Combating discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, and national origin in wartime employment was the primary objective of Executive Order 8802. The reasoning behind combating discrimination was cloaked in the language of wartime mobilization. All groups in the United States must mobilize to defend democracy according to Executive Order 8802. The U.S. government's departments and agencies as well as organizations receiving government contracts were to comply with the order by ending discriminatory practices.

The primary result of Executive Order 8802 was the creation of the President's Committee on Fair Employment Practices, known as the FEPC, that was to be headquartered within the Office of Production Management. A chairman and four other members were to be appointed by the president and they would investigate complaints and make recommendations regarding combating discrimination. The FEPC worked as the first federal antidiscrimination agency to investigate complaints on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. The FEPC was in many ways the precursor the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal civil rights agency that remains in place today. The FEPC held hearings and investigated individual complaints throughout the nation. Lobbying by blacks was the impetus for the creation of the agency but the broad-based charge of Executive Order 8802 allowed any group being discriminated against on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin to file a complaint. Jews in the northeast, Mexican Americans in the southwest, and others discriminated against on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin had their complaints investigated. While the FEPC was constrained by a lack of enforcement authority and limited resources, it did have some tangible accomplishments in enhancing employment opportunities.

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