Difference between revisions of "Harry Truman"
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Revision as of 03:38, September 8, 2007
| Harry S Truman | |
|---|---|
| 200px | |
| 33rd President of the United States | |
| Term of office 1945 - 1953 | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Vice Presidents | None (1945-1949) Alben Barkley (1949-1953) |
| Preceded by | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Succeeded by | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 34th Vice-President of the United States | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Henry A. Wallace |
| Succeeded by | Alben W. Barkley |
| Born | May 8, 1884 Lamar, MO |
| Died | December 26, 1972 Kansas City, MO |
| Spouse | Bess Wallace Truman |
| Religion | Baptist |
Harry S Truman was the 33rd President of the United States and it was on his decision that the first atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Early life
Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. He attended public school in Independence, Missouri, graduating from high school in 1901. Following a few brief jobs in the Kansas City area, he returned to help run the family farm in Grandview.
During World War I, Truman went to France as a captain of artillery. After returning home from the war, he married Elizabeth "Bess" Wallace and opened a men's clothing store in Kansas City with a wartime friend.
In 1922, Truman was elected a judge in the Jackson County court, where his duties were administrative rather than judicial. Although he earned a reputation for being honest and efficient in managing county affairs, he was defeated for reelection in 1924. However, he was subsequently elected presiding judge in 1926, and reelected in 1930.
Senate
Truman won election to the United States Senate in 1934, and during World War II gained national prominence for serving as chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program - referred to as the "Truman Committee".[1]
Selection for Vice-Presidency
President Roosevelt had been in ill-health since his return from the Teheran conference. At the 1944 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, DNC Chairman Bob Hannegan went for instructions to President Roosevelt's private railway car just before the July convention officially began. Roosevelt had decided to dump incumbent Vice-President Henry Wallace. Worried over dissension on the choice of a successor, Roosevelt told Hannegan: "Go on down there and nominate Truman before there's any more trouble. And clear everything with Sidney." [2] The President could not make the selection of Truman until Sidney Hillman [3], Director of the Political Action Committee for the Congress on Industrial Organizations (CIO) approved it. [4] When Harry Truman walked into the smoke-filled room [5] of DNC at headquarters at the Stevens Hotel in Chicago, Soviet spies John Abt, Lee Pressman, and Nathan Witt, were on hand." [6]
Presidency
Truman succeeded to the Presidency upon the death of FDR on April 12, 1945. Interestingly, Truman rarely met with Roosevelt during his tenure as Vice President [7].
He was elected President of the United States of America (USA) in the 1948 Presidential Election as a Democrat. During his term as President, he presided over the conclusion of World War II in both Europe and Japan. Truman's decision to use atomic weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced the unconditional Japanese surrender to conclude WWII. As a consequence, the United States canceled a planned invasion of the island nation which had been projected to cause 1,000,000 American and 10,000,000 Japanese casualties, and prevented the annexation of Japan's northern islands by the Soviet Union[8][9]. Prior to Japan's surrender, Nazi German troops and their Axis allies surrendered in Europe. Truman proclaimed his Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947 that was intended to thwart the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's designs of expansion in the Near East by committing American aid and troops to that region. Truman also committed troops to the Korean Peninsula in 1950 to halt a Communist invasion of South Korea. American troops were part of a coalition of member nations of the newly formed United Nations ("UN") in 1945. The USA had become a founding member of the newly established UN during Truman's presidency.
The bipartisan statutory Moynihan Secrecy Commission vested with extraordinary subpeaona powers to look into Cold War secrecy upon the demise of the Soviet Union wrote in its Final Report, "President Truman was almost willfully obtuse as regards American Communism." [10]
During Truman's last four budgets, expenditures on national security increased from $13 billion in 1950 to $50 billion in 1953. [11]
Truman retired from politics at the conclusion of his presidential term and died on December 26, 1972 in his Independence, Missouri home. His Presidential library is located in Independence.
China
Without committing U.S. combat troops and without supporting a coalition government, the Truman Doctrine saved Greece from Communism. Greece received weapons and financial support and, most importantly, operational advisers at the battalion level, who ensured that American aid was used effectively. George Marshall himself testified that such aid might have worked in China, but General David Barr's military mission to China was specifically instructed not to supply this kind of assistance. [12] General Albert C. Wedemeyer recommended this approach in his report on his 1947 fact-finding mission, but Marshall personally suppressed the report. [13] Chiang believed that the Truman Doctrine to contain the spread of International Communism directed from Moscow would be extended to China, and ordered an offensive as soon as word of the new policy reached him. [14] Truman however, made no effort to save China from Communism.
Middle Initial
There is no period after his middle initial, because it doesn't stand for anything. He was named with an "S" so that both his grandfathers could claim him as their namesake. [15]
Links
References
- ↑ http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hst-bio.htm
- ↑ "Clear everything with Sidney", Time magazine, Sep. 25, 1944.
- ↑ The Roosevelt Myth, John T. Flynn, Fox and Wilkes, 1948, Book 2, Ch. 8, The Shock Troops of the Third New Deal
- ↑ Roosevelt Myth, Book 3, Ch. 10, Politics, Disease and History, Flynn, 1948.
- ↑ Truman, Interview with David McCullough, C-Span Booknotes, July 19, 1992. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
- ↑ The Yalta Betrayal, Felix Wittmer, Claxton Printers, 1953, pg. 75.
- ↑ http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ht33.html
- ↑ http://www.afsc.org/newengland/pesp/DecisionToUseABomb.htm
- ↑ http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20050902-atom-bomb-hiroshima-nagasaki-enola.shtml
- ↑ Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. Senate Document 105-2. 103rd Congress. Washington, D.C. United States Government Printing Office. 1997. Chairman's Forward, pg. 10 pdf.
- ↑ Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, Carroll Quigley, Collier-Macmillan, 1966, pg. 936. ISBN 0-945001-10-X
- ↑ Military Situation in the Far East, Hearings before the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, 82nd Congress (Washington, 1951), p. 558.
- ↑ Tang Tsou, America's Failure in China, 1941-1945, Chicago 1964, pg. 457.
- ↑ Richard C. Thornton, China: A Political History, 1917-1980, Boulder CO 1982, pg. 208.
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Presidents, Harry S. Truman, by Jim Hargrove, Children's Press, 1987.
External links
- The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb, Truman Library.
- President Truman to Senator Richard B. Russell, August 9, 1945.
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