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Harry S Truman
A Short Biography* Truman Becomes President Harry S. Truman was Vice President for two months when President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. He received no briefing on the atomic bomb or the impending problems with Russia. Suddenly these and many other wartime crisis became Truman's to solve when he became President. He told reporters, "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."1 In his June 12, 1945 letter to his wife Bess, Truman writes: "Just two months ago today, I was a reasonably happy and contented Vice President. But things have changed so much it hardly seems real. I sit here in this old house and work on foreign affairs, read reports, and work on speeches— all the while listening to the ghosts walk up and down the hallway and even right in here in the study. The floors pop and the drapes move back and forth— I can just imagine old Andy and Teddy having an argument with Franklin. Or James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce deciding which was the more useless to the country. And when Millard Fillmore and Chester Arthur join in for place and show, the din is almost unbearable. But I still get some work done."2 And Truman did his work superbly. How did this farm boy from Missouri become one of our greatest Presidents? Character Above All
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The 1948 Presidential Election
Ending World War II & Stopping Communism In his Diary of July 25, 1945, he ordered the atom bomb be used "so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children."6 In June 1945, Truman signed the United Nations charter in San Francisco, creating an international organization to preserve peace. The Truman Doctrine7 gave foreign aid to Greece & Turkey to prevent spread of communism. Truman's Secretary of State, General George Marshall initiated the Marshall Plan foreign aid to Western Europe. When Russia blockaded West Berlin in 1948, Truman created a massive airlift to supply Berliners until the Russians backed down. He also started NATO in 1949 to protect Western Europe. When North Korea attacked South Korea (6-25-1950), Truman ordered U.N. troops to repel the aggression. However, when MacArthur wanted to use the A-bomb on China to end the Korean War, Truman relieved the General of his duties.8 "Fighting Harry" was always fighting for peace. 1 Truman biography from White House Archive. 2 Dear Bess: Letters from the President (Truman Library exhibit) 3 "50th Anniversary of Truman's Presidency" by Robert H. Ferrell 4 "Character Above All: Truman Essay" by David McCullough 5 Truman Fact Sheet from the Internet Public Library 6 Truman Diary: July 25, 1945 7 Truman Doctrine (3-12-47): Speech to Joint Session of Congress 8 New York Times, April 11, 1951 |
Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884. He worked on his grandparents' farm in 1906 until he left
for France in 1917 for World War I. His mother once said, "It was on the farm that Harry got his common sense.
He didn't get it in town."3 In his essay "Character Above All", David McCullough who won the Pulitzer Prize in
1993 for his biography on Truman, tells how Truman was a bookworm because of his glasses. He never got into
a fight in his life and even called himself a sissy. It was in the Battle of Argonne (1919) that Truman discovered
his physical courage. Under heavy German artillery barrage, Captain Truman was thrown by his horse and was
nearly crushed when his horse fell on him. Seeing his troops running away, he got up, shouted and rallied his
troops back to battle.4
Nobody thought Truman would win. At the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, the Dixiecrats with their nominee
Strom Thurmond marched out. The Liberals tried to draft General Eisenhower. Truman was kept backstage waiting for
hours before he came out at 2 am to accept the nomination. He gave them hell, told them to soldier up and that they were
going to win. The Newsweek poll of 50 top political commentators who were asked to predict the election was Dewey 50,
Truman 0. On the night before the Election, Chicago Tribune published the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman". However,
when the votes were tallied5 Truman had 24,179, 345 votes, Dewey 21,991,291 and Thurmond 1,176,125. The Electoral
votes were Truman 303, Dewey 189, Thurmond 39. It was one of the greatest upsets in Presidential politics.
* Written for 3rd-5th grade students on using Internet resources in writing a biography
(Foothill College Children's Computer Activities Workshops, June 29 - August 7, 1998).
| © Peter Y. Chou, WisdomPortal.com P.O. Box 390707, Mountain View, CA 94039 email address: peter@wisdomportal.com |
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