President Harry S. Truman’s grandson threw out the first pitch during the Washington Nationals game against the Colorado Rockies on July 26 in honor of the 75th anniversary of President Truman’s historic signing of Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the U.S. Armed Forces.
“My grandfather had a special place in his heart for baseball,” said Clifton Truman Daniel. “His throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Senators game six days after Japan’s formal surrender came to symbolize the world’s return to peace. My throwing out of a ceremonial first pitch on July 26, 2023, 75 years to the day after my grandfather signed the order desegregating the US Armed Services, will, I hope, in some small way, help recognize the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, black and white, who fought together to bring about that peace and continue to safeguard our nation today.”
On July 26, 1948, Truman changed the course of American history when he signed Executive Order 9981, which officially declared, “There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.”
Daniel said he often spent school vacations visiting his grandparents, but was never inclined to ask questions about his grandfather’s time as president.
“That said, he was outraged that black veterans of World War II, having risked life and limb in the service of their country, were coming home to be insulted, marginalized, beaten, and lynched,” Daniel said. “The turning point was the brutal blinding of Army Sgt. Isaac Woodard, which ultimately led to the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, the desegregation of the US Armed Forces, and the prohibition of race-based discrimination in hiring by the federal government.”
The first president to address a civil rights organization, Truman gave a speech to the NAACP on June 29, 1947, pledging his support to uphold the civil rights of all Americans.
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“It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our country’s efforts to guarantee freedom and equality to all our citizens,” Truman said. “All Americans enjoy these rights. And when I say ‘all’ Americans — I mean all Americans.”
An avid baseball fan, Truman went to the ballpark more than any other American president.
He also opened the first baseball game of the 1946 season with the first left-handed ceremonial presidential first pitch in Major League history. Nearly 20 years later in 1961, after the New York Yankees record-setting season, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, who both batted left-handed, each gave him an autographed bat.
"My grandmother, First Lady Bess Wallace Truman, was the baseball player,” said Daniel. “In childhood, her brothers pulled her into a game as a pinch hitter. She smacked a home run."
As part of continued recognition of the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the American Armd Forces, the Truman Civil Rights Symposium also kicked off on Wednesday. The three-day event organized by the Truman Library Institute — the nonprofit partner of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum — is sponsored by Boeing and CPKC.
The symposium features prominent military leaders, historians, journalists and elected officials who will honor the long history of Black veterans’ service and sacrifice and examine the legacy of Truman’s executive order that paved the way for the modern civil rights movement. The symposium is open to the public with free registration for in-person and livestream participation.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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