A dark navy notice prints an excerpt of Executive Order 8802, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on 25 June 1941, which declares a policy of no discrimination in defense-industry and government employment "because of race, creed, color, or national origin." The imprint is dated 1942. NAID 514231.
What the notice prints
The Great Seal sits at the top of a dark sheet. Below it are the order's number and title, one long excerpt framed by ellipses, the President's signature, and the date. A small asterisk marks the text as an excerpt.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 8802
FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE IN DEFENSE INDUSTRIES
...... I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and I do hereby declare that it is the duty of employers and of labor organizations, in furtherance of said policy and of this order, to provide for the full and equitable participation of all workers in defense industries, without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin ......*
[signature:] Franklin D Roosevelt
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE WHITE HOUSE
June 25, 1941
*Excerpt from Executive Order 8802
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1942 O 461873
Dates and issuer
The order is dated 25 June 1941. The notice that reproduces it was printed by the Government Printing Office with a 1942 imprint, so the sheet on the wall is a year younger than the words on it. The catalog dates the object 1941. The National Archives holds it in Record Group 44 as 44-PA-743. FRAME lists the purpose as warning or informing and tags transfer, faintly: the seal and signature give the text its weight.
How to read it
This is a notice more than an argument, and what it says deserves credit in plain words. A President put in writing that workers in defense industries and in government were not to be shut out because of race, creed, color, or national origin. The duty is placed on employers and on unions alike. That is the principle of equal treatment under law, applied to the people building the country's arms, and it was right.
Two limits are visible in the text itself. It is an executive order, not a statute passed by Congress. And it reaches defense industries and government, not employment in general. Those limits are not criticisms of the principle. They mark how far one signature could carry it.
Read it next to Executive Order 9066 of 1942, which let a military commander exclude "any or all persons" from designated areas, and the posted instructions to persons of Japanese ancestry that followed. The notice on this page forbids discrimination by national origin in defense work. The exclusion that followed sorted Americans by ancestry. Both are part of the record, and only one of them honored the Constitution. See also internment propaganda. The Roosevelt administration essay covers Executive Order 9066 and the exclusion in full, inside the same twelve years.
Sources
- FRAME object record, Executive Order 8802: Fair employment practice in defense industries. The President of the United States; U.S. Government Printing Office.
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, NAID 514231 (44-PA-743), retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
