The Life and Presidency of Harry Truman
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1709
General Information
Source:
Creator:
NBC Today Show
N/A
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
05/08/1884
10/22/1992
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1992
00:04:45
Description
The director of the Harry S. Truman Library talks about the man of humble origins who rose to the
presidency at a crucial period in American history.
Keywords
President Harry S. Truman, Biography, Interview, National Guard, Independence, Missouri, World War I
, Bess Truman, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, World War II, United Nations, Atomic Bomb, VE-Day,
Minimum Wage, United States Armed Forces, Integration, Civil Rights, Democratic Party, Whistle Stop
Campaign, Presidential Campaigns, Voting, Politics, Presidency, Presidential Libraries
Citation
MLA
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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"The Life and Presidency of Harry Truman." NBC Today Show. NBCUniversal Media. 22 Oct. 1992.
NBC Learn. Web. 21 March 2015
APA
1992, October 22. The Life and Presidency of Harry Truman. [Television series episode]. NBC Today
Show. Retrieved from https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=1709
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"The Life and Presidency of Harry Truman" NBC Today Show, New York, NY: NBC Universal,
10/22/1992. Accessed Sat Mar 21 2015 from NBC Learn: https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k12/browse/?cuecard=1709
Transcript
The Life and Presidency of Harry Truman
Mr. BEN ZOBRIST:
I'm Ben Zobrist. I'm the director of the Truman Library. I've been here for 23 years.
If you were ask--to ask me, `Where did Harry Truman come from? Where did his values come from," you
know, obviously, I would say the farm. His mother said Harry Truman got all of his common sense on the
farm, and she very proudly noted that he plowed the straightest furrow in Jackson County.
At a very early age, he joined the National Guard. By his going overseas during World War I, he
encounters a real maturing process, and it is here that he realizes for the first time he can command men.
It is during this period that he meets Bess. And he falls in love with this gold-haired girl, and in 1919, they
are married. And if you look at this home, it was here, from this base in Independence, he was able to
move forward.
Here was a man whom individuals have said you may not have liked what he was saying, but you sure
understand what he was saying. When Harry
Truman became president with the death of President Roosevelt in April of 1945, I--I can truly
sympathize with Harry Truman when he said, `I feel like the moon and the stars and everything has fallen
in on me.'
President HARRY TRUMAN: (From file footage) With great humility, I call upon all Americans to help
me keep our nation united in defense of those ideals, which have been so eloquently proclaimed by
Franklin Roosevelt.
Mr. ZOBRIST: He arrived in the presidency at a very, very crucial period of American history, to say the
least.
Unidentified Man: For the first six months, Mr. Truman was a pretty busy man. He was faced with ending
a war in Europe, a war in the South Pacific. He was--had the job of getting us involved in the United
Nations, the development of the atom bomb.
Mr. ZOBRIST: Here is an American that people from all parts of the country can understand, empathize
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with. And here is a man that they respect because he is--he is stating his ideas very openly.
In the domestic area, I feel that the most significant enactment and decision that Harry Truman made was
the integration of the armed forces in 1948. This is really where the civil rights matter begins to take off.
Unidentified Girl: I admire Harry Truman because he was such a man of integrity. And actually, neither
Bush nor Clinton strikes me as much of a man of integrity.
Unidentified Man: I think he's the kind of politician that we're looking for nowadays.
President TRUMAN: (From file footage) I want to say to you that the next four years there will be a
Democrat in the White House, and you're looking at him.
Mr. ZOBRIST: Remember that he was the consummate politician. He enjoyed the rough and tumble of
politics.
President TRUMAN: (From file footage) Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make these
Republicans like it. Don't you forget that.
Mr. ZOBRIST: You look at photographs of--of Truman during the '48 campaign, and--and you can just
see in that smile, in the gleam in his eye--I mean, he was really enjoying this campaign. And he still
believed--himself--that he was going to win.
President TRUMAN: (From file footage) I'm not asking you just to vote for me. Vote for yourselves. Vote
for your farms. Vote for the standard of living that you want under a Democratic administration. Get out
there on Election Day, and vote for your future.
Mr. ZOBRIST: The American public really began to fall in love with Harry Truman, in terms of what he
was saying and the direct message that he was getting out to the voters.
President TRUMAN: (From file footage) The Democratic party and I have nothing to conceal. We are
proud of our record.
Mr. ZOBRIST: Here you have a man who made some very, very tough decisions--nonetheless, decisions
that had to be made. And I--I guess that we might say, fortunately for Harry Truman and his reputation,
the story has turned out right.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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