HARRY B. TRUMAN
When Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office only eightythree days into his fourth term in office, Harry S. Truman
was forced into making some of the most crucial decisions
in the nation’s history. It was his decision to drop the
atomic bomb on Japan to force an early surrender. Once
the war ended, there were many nations suffering from its Co,ñv Harry S. Th,man Library
ravages, and Truman’s administration created assistance relief programs like the Truman
Doctrine, the Point Four Program and the Marshall Plan. When South Korea was threatened
by Communist North Korea, Truman sent money and manpower, even though it meant risk
ing war with Russia. Because of this the South Korean government was saved, and the
United States proved to the world it would defend its friends. Like Roosevelt before him,
Harry S. Truman was loved by many for his straightforward honesty, but hated by some for
being less than diplomatic at times.
Truman was born in 1884 in Lamar, Missouri, the son of a livestock dealer. He grew up in In
dependence, and became a bank clerk. As an adult he became a farmer near Grandview,
Missouri. In 1917 he was called by the National Guard to serve in the artillery division of World
War II. After the war he married his childhood sweetheart, Bess Wallace, whom he had
known since he was 6 years old. The couple had one daughter Mary Margaret. He and a
friend opened a men’s clothing store in Kansas City that failed, but Truman spent fifteen
years paying off the debt rather than filing for bankruptcy.
With the help of Democratic Party boss Tom Pendergast, Truman won a seat as county ad
ministrator. He quickly developed a reputation for honesty. In 1934 he was elected to the
United States Senate. There he gained a reputation for his strong contribution to various
committees. In 1944 there was a heated contest between Truman and three others for the
Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Roosevelt himself settled the issue by choosing
Truman as his running mate. Only thirteen days after he assumed the office of President
following Roosevelt’s death, the United Nations met for the first time in San Francisco. That
was shortly followed by Germany’s surrender. Truman then went to Potsdam, Germany, to
meet with Joseph Stalin of Russia and Winston Churchill of Great Britain to issue an
ultimatum of Japan’s surrender. His decision to drop bombs on Japan was made in the in
terests of hastening Japan’s surrender and saving American lives. Truman then began for
mulating policies of his own which he called an “extension” of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Truman called his program the Fair Deal, which consisted of twenty-one points designed to
expand Social Security, full-employment measures, public housing, slum clearance, fair
employment practices, minority rights and scientific research, as well as health insurance
benefits and aid to education. In 1948, Truman was elected in his own right even though the
polls showed Thomas Dewey was supposed to win. He chose not to run in 1952 and retired to
his home in Independence, where he died in 1972.
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hARRY C. TRUMAN
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Presidential Trivia
1. Why was Truman’s middle name merely the initial S?
2. What name did Harry Truman jokingly use for both his wife and his daughter Margaret?
3. What were the two Japanese cities Truman ordered bombed to hasten Japan’s sur
render?
4. The name for Truman’s 21-point program he considered an extension of Roosevelt’s
New Deal
5. The city in Germany where Truman met with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin to
discuss post-war plans
6. He commanded the U.N. troops in Korea until he was “relieved” of his duty by Truman.
7. Truman won the election of 1948 over this Republican, whom the polls said was sure to
win.______________________________
8. A third-party candidate in the election of 1948 was Strom Thurmond, the candidate of
Southern Democrats called
who opposed civil rights.
9. This program, proposed by Truman’s Secretary of State, would assist war-torn nations
in Europe through economic aid by the United States._______________________________
10. The Democratic machine party boss in Kansas City, who helped get Truman’s political
career rolling
11. The organization joined by the United States under the Truman administration which
considered an “attack on any one of the member nations as an attack on all the nations”
12. When the White House fell into serious disrepair, the Truman’s moved out for a time
across the street to
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BARRY B. TRUMAN
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For Thinking and Discussing
1.
What was Harry S. Truman’s Fair Deal?
2.
How was Truman able to win the election of 1948 over Thomas Dewey, when the polls
indicated he was far behind just a few weeks before the election?
3.
Why did Truman relieve General Douglas MacArthur of his command of U.N. troops in
Korea?
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4.
Why do you think Truman ordered the atomic bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima,
killing thousands of innocent people—then a few days later having another bomb drop
ped on Nagasaki?
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