In an Army with proud traditions and adherence to proven practices, culture change can be difficult, even when it is the commander in chief pushing the reform. Army leadership’s slow but ultimate acceptance of President Harry Truman’s 1948 order to desegregate the military set the stage and pattern for other culture changes, including the continuing integration of women into the ranks and recent acceptance of openly serving gays.Desegregation took years to accomplish, but by the fall of 1953, 95 percent of black soldiers were serving in integrated units. The last all-black military unit was abolished on September 30, 1954. This happened after years of back-and-forth proposals in which top Army leaders resisted change.Kenneth Royall, a retired Army general who was the last U.S. Secretary of War and the first Secretary of the Army, was among those who resisted. “The Army is not an instrument for social evolution,” he said in March 1949 testimony before the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces.“It is not the Army’s job either to favor or to impede the social doctrines, no matter how progressive they may be. It is not for us to lead or to lag behind the civilian procession except to the extent that the national defense is affected,” Royall testified. “A total abandonment of—or a substantial and sudden change in—the Army’s partial segregation policy would, in my opinion, adversely affect enlistments and reenlistments not only in the South but in many other parts of the country, probably making peacetime selective service necessary. And a change in our policy would adversely affect the morale of many Southern soldiers and other soldiers now serving.”Those concerns didn’t stop Truman. His post-World War II decision to end segregation came after distinguished military service by many all-black units and after a precedent-setting move during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 in which black soldiers were allowed to volunteer to join all-white units in combat.In a civil rights message to Congress, in which he opposed lynching, proposed voting rights and employment reforms, and asked lawmakers to help pass sweeping legislation, Truman said, “During the recent war and in the years since its close we have made much progress toward equality of opportunity in our armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” He said he had “instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination eliminated as rapidly as possible.”In 1945, the Board for Utilization of Negro Manpower was appointed, headed by then-Lt. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr. The Gillem Board, as it was called, was tasked with recommending new Army policy for the best use of black soldiers. In its April 1946 report, the panel recommended integrating all-black platoons into all-white battalions, allowing black soldiers into specialty and technical schools, and capping the number of black soldiers at 10 percent, proportional with the ratio of blacks in the U.S. population. The final report said the Army’s policy should be to “eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race.”In January 1948, Truman decided to end segregation in the military and federal civilian service by executive order instead of legislation, and he told the military to start making preparations to “have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible,” according to a timeline of events prepared by the Truman Library. On July 26, 1948, Truman signed Executive Order 9981, declaring “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” Truman also urged speed. “This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale,” the order said.Kenneth Royall, a retired Army general who was the last U.S. Secretary of War and the first Secretary of the Army, was among those who resisted. “The Army is not an instrument for social evolution,” he said in March 1949 testimony before the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces.“It is not the Army’s job either to favor or to impede the social doctrines, no matter how progressive they may be. It is not for us to lead or to lag behind the civilian procession except to the extent that the national defense is affected,” Royall testified. “A total abandonment of—or a substantial and sudden change in—the Army’s partial segregation policy would, in my opinion, adversely affect enlistments and reenlistments not only in the South but in many other parts of the country, probably making peacetime selective service necessary. And a change in our policy would adversely affect the morale of many Southern soldiers and other soldiers now serving.”Those concerns didn’t stop Truman. His post-World War II decision to end segregation came after distinguished military service by many all-black units and after a precedent-setting move during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 in which black soldiers were allowed to volunteer to join all-white units in combat.In a civil rights message to Congress, in which he opposed lynching, proposed voting rights and employment reforms, and asked lawmakers to help pass sweeping legislation, Truman said, “During the recent war and in the years since its close we have made much progress toward equality of opportunity in our armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” He said he had “instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination eliminated as rapidly as possible.”In 1945, the Board for Utilization of Negro Manpower was appointed, headed by then-Lt. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr. The Gillem Board, as it was called, was tasked with recommending new Army policy for the best use of black soldiers. In its April 1946 report, the panel recommended integrating all-black platoons into all-white battalions, allowing black soldiers into specialty and technical schools, and capping the number of black soldiers at 10 percent, proportional with the ratio of blacks in the U.S. population. The final report said the Army’s policy should be to “eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race.”In January 1948, Truman decided to end segregation in the military and federal civilian service by executive order instead of legislation, and he told the military to start making preparations to “have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible,” according to a timeline of events prepared by the Truman Library. On July 26, 1948, Truman signed Executive Order 9981, declaring “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” Truman also urged speed. “This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale,” the order said.To help make the change happen, he created the seven-member advisory panel, the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces, to work with the services on making the change. It was known as the Fahy Committee for its chairman, former Solicitor General and future federal Judge Charles Fahy.This is the panel before which Royall testified that he believed the majority of soldiers would find it “most difficult” to serve under black officers or NCOs. “A change in our policy would adversely affect the morale of many Southern soldiers and other soldiers now serving,” Royall said. Royall’s reluctance to desegregate the Army drew criticism from those pushing for change. The Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training singled out Royall for accepting discrimination and continuing segregation as a military necessity. Royall retired in April 1949. Six months later, the Army began moving in the direction of the Fahy Committee’s recommendations.While Royall’s career may have ended because of his views about desegregation, another reluctant warrior in the military civil rights movement did better. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Omar N. Bradley also told the Fahy Committee that he did not support full racial integration of the Army. Bradley ended up becoming the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was promoted to General of the Army, a five-star position.“I personally have no prejudice in this matter, and my only concern is that nothing be done which might adversely affect our ability to carry out our mission,” Bradley said. “I would assume that your committee is not only interested in the welfare of our Negro minority but that you are primarily concerned with the need for full utilization of the skills, talents and competence of all our men in order that the Army might be an efficient and representative protector of our nation.”Bradley said he supported “steps” toward integration “as fast as our social customs will permit” but added, “we still have a great divergence in customs in different parts of the country.”Endorsing expanded opportunities for training and promotion but keeping units segregated, Bradley said this would have “several advantages” for the black soldiers. “In the first place, he is competing with men who have, in general, had the same opportunities as to education and development of leadership,” Bradley said. It also would “reduce the number and amount of changes from civil life to military life.”Bradley warned that some people would not want to serve in an integrated Army. “We all realize that the donning of a uniform does not change a man’s personality, his aptitude or his prejudices,” he said. “Complete integration might very seriously affect voluntary enlistments, both Negro and white,” he said, and it “might seriously affect morale and thus affect battle efficiency.”After months of discussion, the Fahy Committee rejected the Army’s effort to maintain racially segregated units. On January 16, 1950, the Army issued with the approval of its new secretary, Gordon Gray, Special Regulation No. 600-629-1, titled Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Army, but it still took several years to make the required changes, a plan the committee accepted.By June 1950, basic training began to be integrated and black soldiers started getting assignments to units in Korea to fill vacancies resulting from combat casualties in white-only units. By early 1951, all basic training was integrated. In December 1951, the Army ordered integration of all of its units, although it took years to accomplish. In October 1953, the Army announced 95 percent of its black soldiers were serving in integrated units, with a few detachments still segregated.There was only one black Army general, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., when Truman’s desegregation campaign began. Davis, promoted to brigadier general in 1940, retired in July 1948 in a ceremony attended by Truman. Davis was followed by a lot of other firsts. Lt. Della H. Raney was the first black nurse, commissioned as a lieutenant in 1942. In 1972, Mildred C. Kelly became the first black sergeant major. In 1979, Brig. Gen. Hazel Johnson-Brown became the first black female officer and the first black Army Nurse Corps chief. In 1980, Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, currently the U.S. Army Pacific commanding general, was the first black cadet at the U.S. Military Academy to be named cadet brigade commander, the top ranking cadet. He also graduated first in his class. In 1982, Gen. Roscoe Robinson Jr., a 1951 West Point graduate, became the first black Army four-star general. In 2001, Gen. Colin L. Powell became the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Truman’s push to integrate the Army had dramatic results over time. Today, blacks make up about 14 percent of the Army officer corps and 22 percent of the enlisted force. The Army has the highest ratio of minority officers to minority enlisted members of all of the services.