Clearly, Randolph's suggestion had
hit a sensitive nerve. A nation which had been skeptical about
permitting Afro-Americans in its armed forces was now becoming
extremely uneasy at the thought that Afro-Americans might not
want to serve. In the same year President Truman appointed a
commission to study race relations in the military. Its report,
Freedom to Serve, recommended that the Armed Forces open up all
jobs regardless of race, color, or creed. As a result, the military
began to move slowly in the direction of integration. However,
when the communists invaded South Korea, the issue quickly
came to a head. Unless integration was achieved, America
would have to fight communists and colored Asiatics with a
segregated army and would have to do it in the name of the
United Nations.
In 1950 General Matthew Ridgway began to accelerate integration
in the forces under his command. He did this partly as a matter
of philosophy and partly from necessity. The Army needed the
fullest and most efficient use of the few troops available in
order to stem the flow of a much larger communist force into
South Korea.
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