Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry
Summary
Prohibited racial discrimination in the national defense industry and established the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). Issued under pressure from A. Philip Randolph's threatened March on Washington, it was the first presidential action on civil rights since Reconstruction.
Topics
Related Executive Orders
Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas
Franklin D. Roosevelt — February 19, 1942
Desegregation of the Armed Forces
Harry S. Truman — July 26, 1948
Desegregation of Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas
Dwight D. Eisenhower — September 23, 1957
Establishing the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity
John F. Kennedy — March 6, 1961
Equal Opportunity in Housing
John F. Kennedy — November 20, 1962
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