TRUMAN, HARRY S.
Like his most admired presidential hero, Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921), Harry Truman (1884–1972) spent two terms in the White House, and became far better known for his handling of war situations than for his progressive and protective post-war domestic policy
efforts. Truman became the thirty-third president of the United States quite suddenly, on April 12, 1945, when President Franklin Roosevelt (1933–1945) died; Truman was thrust from vice president to president during the last days of World War II (1939–1945), at one of the most critical moments in U.S. history.
Born in 1884., Harry S. Truman (the "S" does not stand for any name) was six years old, the eldest of three children, born to John and Ellen Truman, when the entire family moved from the family farm to Independence, Missouri. Truman grew up in Independence, read books a great deal, and at age 18, joined the Baptist church. He worked at a variety of odd jobs until 1918. After that, he went into the Missouri National Guard, became a lieutenant, and eventually went to France to fight in World War I (1914–1918), rising to the rank of colonel. Before and after World War I, Truman had gained much experience as a small businessman; he worked hard and believed in U.S. capitalism, but lightning never struck. Frustrated by his failures in business, Truman decided to enter politics in an effort to reduce much of the business corruption he saw around him.
He joined the Democratic Party, was elected county judge in Missouri, and won a reputation for scrupulous honesty, and straightforward talk. In 1934 he was elected to the United States Senate, and immediately began working on issues for the public good and those involving business corruption. The enactment of the Transportation Act of 1940 was a Truman program that greatly regulated railroad financing thereby reducing corrupt business practices and saving U.S. tax dollars.
Continuing in the spirit of watching for corruption in business, Truman involved himself as a senator by creating The Truman Committee in 1940, to oversee waste and corruption in defense spending. Corrupt business practices had a foothold in war-production efforts during World War II (1939–1945); Truman's efforts at uncovering waste and illegal business led to savings of $15 billion in tax dollars.
Truman's political career continued to rise, and he found himself serving as vice president under President Franklin Roosevelt. When Roosevelt died suddenly, Truman was thrust into the position of leader of the nation. World War II was ongoing, and there were many matters to challenge the new president (1945–1953). Thirteen days after Truman took office as president, the first United Nations conference met in San Francisco to plan for the post-war recovery. Days later, on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered, and the war in Europe was over. The next day was Truman's sixty-first birthday. The United States was, however, still fighting a war with Japan, and preparing to deal with the communist Soviet Union and its dictator Joseph Stalin (1928–1953).
To end World War II completely, Truman made the profoundly controversial decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan—one on Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, and the next on the city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. These events were stunning for the world, but more so for Truman, who had only learned of the atomic bomb's existence after becoming president months before. Truman's introduction into the U.S. presidency was likely the most dramatic and complex of any president.
Truman was a lifelong Democrat, and always a champion of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies begun in the 1930s. As part of the post-war transition from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy, Truman sought to reconstruct the post-war United States in order to complete the New Deal. In September 1945, after barely five months as president, Truman requested that Congress create national health insurance for all U.S. citizens, and a permanent Federal Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to protect minority rights. Congress should also initiate an influx of money for scientific research and develop a large public power project on a variety of large U.S. rivers to provide clean and inexpensive electricity to U.S. residents with dam-generated power. The Republican Party, which controlled the Congress in 1946, blocked and stopped almost all of these measures. The Republicans believed that all of these plans would be bad for U.S. business and free enterprise.
Despite opposition from Republicans in Congress, Truman made consistent efforts to create a "Fair Deal" for the working post-World War II generation, and especially for veterans just back from the war. He fought to create civil rights legislation; repeal the Taft-Hartley Act which hindered union activities; create a new farm program stressing higher farmer incomes and lower consumer prices; provide federal aid to education; begin a federal housing program; and institute increases in the social security program. Conservative Democrats joined with Republicans to defeat most of Truman's domestic proposals.
Truman's legacy is largely that of a war president. He served the nation during World War II, the Korean War (1950–1953), and the Cold War with the Soviet Union. His progressive ideas of a "Fair Deal" were left for other generations of politicians to deal with.
Truman died of severe lung congestion on December 26, 1972, twenty years after leaving the White House.
FURTHER READING
Feinberg, Barbara S. Harry S. Truman. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1994.
Fleming, Thomas. Harry S. Truman, President. New York: Walker and Co. Library, 1993.
Hamby, Alonzo. Beyond the New Deal: Harry S. Truman and American Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973.
McCoy, Donald. The Presidency of Harry S. Truman. Kansas City, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1984.
McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
