On This Day In Alabama History: Tallulah Bankhead Backed Truman

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

Actress Tallulah Bankhead on Oct. 21, 1948, introduced President Harry S. Truman, the Democratic candidate who vowed to integrate the U.S. military if he were elected to a full term. In introducing Truman on radio, Bankhead noted he was “the partisan of our troubled millions,” referring to African-American citizens. After Truman won, he invited Bankhead to sit with his family during the inauguration. During the parade after Truman was sworn in, Bankhead loudly booed as the South Carolina float passed by carrying segregationist Gov. Strom Thurmond. She later wrote an article for Ebony magazine about “The World’s Greatest Musician” Louis Armstrong, comparing him to Shakespeare. She wrote another article in 1960 for Ebony in which she said racial equality was long overdue in America, not just in the South.

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