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Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884–December 26, 1972) was the thirty-fourth (1945) Vice President and the thirty-third (1945-1953) President of the United States, succeeding to the office upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt.
Truman's presidency was very eventful, seeing the end of World War II, the beginning of the Cold War, the formation of the United Nations, and most of the Korean War. Truman was a folksy, unassuming president, and coined many famous phrases including "The buck stops here" and "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." He exceeded the low expectations many had at the beginning of his administration, and his reputation as a strong, capable leader has only grown with the passage of time.
Early life
Harry S. Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri to John Truman and Martha Young. When Truman was six years old, his parents moved the family to Independence, Missouri, and it was there that Truman would spend the bulk of his formative years. After graduating from high school in 1901, Truman worked at a series of clerical jobs before he decided to become a farmer in 1906, an occupation in which he remained for another ten years. (He was the last president not to earn a college degree.)
With the onset of American participation in World War I, Truman enlisted in the National Guard, was chosen to be an officer, and then commanded a regimental battery in France. Truman's Battery performed very well under fire in the Vosges Mountains. Truman later rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard and always remained proud of his military background. At the war's conclusion, Truman returned to Independence and married his long-time love interest, Bess Wallace. They would have one child, Margaret. Truman had befriended a man named Eddie Jacobson during his military service. After the war, the two opened a men's clothing store that went bankrupt. Truman worked for years to pay off the debts. He and Eddie Jacobson were friends for the rest of their lives.
Political career
In 1922 Truman was elected to local office with the help of the Kansas City Democratic machine, led by Boss Tom Pendergast, and, although he was defeated for re-election in 1924, he easily won in 1926 and then again in 1930. Truman performed his duties in this office diligently, and won personal acclaim for several popular public works projects. In 1934 the Pendergast machine selected him to run for Missouri's open Senate seat, and he ran as a New Dealer in support of President Roosevelt. Once elected, Truman supported the president on most issues and became a popular member of the Senate "club". He was even voted as one of the ten "best dressed" Senators!
Having always taken a keen interest in foreign affairs, Truman first gained national prominence in his second term when his preparedness committee made a scandal of military wastefulness by exposing fraud and mismanagement. His advocacy of common-sense cost-saving measures for the military gained him wide respect, and he emerged as a popular choice for the vice-presidential slot in 1944. Yet he was barely installed as vice president when FDR died on April 12, 1945, elevating him to the presidency.
Presidency
When Truman first took office, he was initially preoccupied with foreign policy: the Allied conference in Potsdam, the conclusion of the war in Europe, and then in August, with the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Truman was also one of the very few U.S. Presidents to serve nearly an entire term without a Vice President. It was only until Truman's second term, from 1949-1953, that he was joined by a Vice President on his election ticket.
Realizing that the interests of the Soviet Union were quickly becoming incompatible with the interests of the United States in the absence of a common enemy, Truman's administration articulated an increasingly hard line against the Soviets. Nonetheless, as a Wilsonian internationalist Truman strongly supported the creation of the United Nations, and he sent a distinguished American delegation to the UN's first General Assembly that included former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Although some people were distrustful of his expertise on foreign matters, Truman was able to win broad support for the Marshall Plan, and then for the Truman Doctrine which sought to contain Soviet power in Europe. Truman also issued the executive order integrating the U.S. Armed Services racially following World War II.
As he readied for the approaching 1948 election, Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the New Deal tradition, advocating universal health insurance, modest civil rights legislation, and the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act in a broad legislative program that he called the "Fair Deal". While it was widely expected that Truman would lose, he campaigned furiously and managed to pull off one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history by defeating Thomas E. Dewey and earning a term in the White House in his own right.
Shortly after Truman's inauguration, he presented his Fair Deal program to Congress, but it was not well received and only one of its major bills was enacted. A few months later the nation's attention was focused solidly on foreign policy once again with the "fall of China" to Mao Zedong's communists. The incident would prove to be catastrophic for the administration, because it signaled the end of the Democrats' ability to manage the early Cold War in the eyes of the American public. Within a year of Nationalist China's collapse, Alger Hiss had been exposed as a former communist, North Korea had invaded South Korea, and Senator Joseph McCarthy had publicly accused the State Department of being riddled with communists. The Hiss case damaged the Truman White House and Senator McCarthy initially commanded broad public support, but events at home took a backseat to the war in Korea where the vain and brilliant Douglas MacArthur had won the imagination of the American people. Following the Chinese intervention into the Korean War in early November, 1950, MacArthur advocated extending the war into mainland China. When Truman disagreed with him, MacArthur publicly aired his views and the president retaliated by relieving him from command. It was a deeply unpopular action that seriously wounded Truman's credibility with the American people. His unpopularity grew even more pronounced as the military situation in Korea became increasingly stalemated. Realizing that his electoral chances were slim, Truman decided not to run again, and the Democratic leadership was taken up by Adlai Stevenson. On January 7, 1953 Truman announced the development of the hydrogen bomb.
Unlike other presidents, Truman did not live in the White House for much of his period in office. Structural analysis of the building early in his term had shown the White House to be in immediate danger of collapse, partly due to problems with the walls and foundation that dated back to the burning of the building by the British in the early nineteenth century. The President was moved immediately to Blair House nearby, which became his White House, while the White House was systematically dismantled to the foundations and rebuilt, using concrete and steel, with the interior re-inserted over the new floors and walls. A new balcony was inserted on the curved portico, now known as the Truman Balcony. However, while staying at the Blair House, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate Truman on November 1, 1950. He also spent time on Little Torch Key an island in the Florida Keys.
Cabinet
Supreme Court appointments
Truman appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- Harold Hitz Burton - 1945
- Fred M. Vinson - Chief Justice - 1946
- Tom Campbell Clark - 1949
- Sherman Minton - 1949
Major legislation signed
Post-presidency
Despite initially having to live with his mother-in-law, Former President Harry S. Truman made the most of his post-presidential years. His predecessor, FDR, had organized his own presidential library but legislation to provide this option for future presidents had yet to be established. Truman decided that he did not want to be on any corporate payroll and that taking advantage of such an option would just diminish the integrity of the nation's highest office. Former members of Congress and the federal courts had a federal retirement and Truman was the president that ensured that the members of the other branch of government received the same privileges. He also worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library that he would then donate to the government to maintain. Truman was very active making speeches and writing his memoirs after he left Washington and returned home to Independence, Missouri. A bad fall in the bathroom in 1964, however, severely limited his physical capabilities and he could no longer continue his daily presence at his presidential library. He lived until 1972. As Vietnam and, later, Watergate, wrenched at the heart of the nation, Truman's reputation steadily rose and even the musical pop group Chicago wrote a song about the nation's former president.
Truman's middle initial
Truman did not have a middle name, but only a middle initial. It was a common practice in southern states, including Missouri, to use initials rather than names. Truman said the initial was a compromise between the names of his grandfathers, Anderson Shippe Truman and Solomon Young. He once joked that the S was a name, not an initial, and it should not have a period, but all official documents, and his presidential library all use the name with a period. The Harry S. Truman Library states publicly that it has numerous examples of the signature written at various times throughout Truman's lifetime where his use of a period after the "S" is very obvious.
Related articles
- U.S. presidential election, 1944
- U.S. presidential election, 1948
- History of the United States (1945-1964)
- Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri
- USS Harry S. Truman (An USN aircraft carrier named after President Truman)
- Truman State University
External links
- Inaugural Address.
- How Truman spelled his name.
- Peter M. Carrozzo on Michael R. Gardner, Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks.
- Harry Truman's Forgotten Diary (washingtonpost.com).
- An analysis of Harry Truman's personality.
- Harry Truman's cabinet.
- Harry Truman profile, NNDB.
References
Much of this article (as of this writing on January 25, 2003) was copied from the National Parks Service: Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, material from which is in the public ___domain. The original authors of the article cite the following references:
- American National Biography. Vol. 21. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, 857-863.
- Black, Allida M. Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996, 51-85.
- Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History. 2nd ed. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1996, 443-458.
- Lash, Joseph. Eleanor: The Years Alone. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1972, 23, 36-37, 142-145, 210, 214, 296.
| Preceded by: Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
President of the United States 1945–1953 |
Succeeded by: Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by: Henry A. Wallace |
Vice President of the United States 1945 |
Succeeded by: Alben Barkley |
| Preceded by: Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
Democratic Party Presidential candidate 1948 (won) |
Followed by: Adlai Stevenson |
- For the volcano victim, see Harry Truman (volcano victim)