Biography & History

Introduction

The Presidential Committee on Civil Rights was appointed by President Harry S. Truman on December 5, 1946, to research the state of civil rights in the United States. The Committee published its findings in a report entitled "To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights" in December of 1947, after which it disbanded. John Sloan Dickey ' 29, the President of the College from 1945 to 1970, served as the Vice Chairman of the Committee; and Robert K. Carr '29, a Government professor at Dartmouth from 1937 to 1960, served as the Executive Secretary of the Committee and was the primary author of the report.