Harry S. Truman
Born May 8, 1884 — Died December 26, 1972
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States, who came to power suddenly upon Franklin Roosevelt's death and inherited the closing stages of World War II, the decision to use atomic weapons, the post-war reconstruction of Europe, and the opening confrontations of the Cold War. Underestimated throughout his career, Truman's presidency is now ranked among the most consequential in American history, marked by plain-spoken integrity, decisive action under almost unimaginable pressure, and a surprising progressive record on civil rights.
Missouri Origins and Rise to Politics
Born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri, Harry Truman grew up on a farm and in Independence, Missouri, working a variety of jobs in his youth — bank clerk, farmer, oil speculator — before serving with distinction as a field artillery officer in World War I, commanding Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery through hard fighting in France. His war record and leadership qualities opened political doors, and under the sponsorship of the Kansas City Pendergast political machine, he was elected to various local offices before winning a U.S. Senate seat in 1934.
In the Senate, Truman distinguished himself through the Truman Committee — the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program — which audited wartime military spending and saved the government an estimated $15 billion. His reputation for honest oversight of corruption made him a credible figure for the vice-presidential slot in 1944. When Franklin Roosevelt died in office on April 12, 1945, Truman had been vice president for only eighty-two days and had been kept almost entirely uninformed about major policy decisions, including the existence of the Manhattan Project.
The Atomic Bomb and the Cold War
Almost immediately upon taking office, Truman was informed briefed about the atomic bomb. His decision to authorize its use against Japan — first Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, then Nagasaki on August 9 — ended World War II in the Pacific and stands as one of the most debated decisions in history. Truman defended the decision throughout his life as the choice that ended a war that might otherwise have claimed hundreds of thousands more lives in a ground invasion of Japan; critics argue the bombings constituted a war crime against a civilian population. Japan surrendered on August 15.
The post-war period defined Truman's legacy no less than the war itself. He signed the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt war-devastated Western Europe and is credited with preventing Soviet-aligned communist movements from taking power in France and Italy. He established NATO, recognized Israel as an independent state in 1948, ordered the Berlin Airlift when the Soviets blockaded the city, and committed American forces to the Korean War. He also issued Executive Order 9981 in 1948, desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces — a landmark civil rights act accomplished before the civil rights movement forced the issue. Against nearly all predictions, he won election to a full term in 1948 over Thomas Dewey in one of the great upsets in American political history.
Did You Know?
Harry Truman's middle initial "S" does not stand for any name. It was a compromise chosen by his parents to honor both of his grandfathers — Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young — without fully committing to either name. Truman himself sometimes put a period after the S and sometimes did not.
Post-Presidency and Historical Reassessment
Truman left the White House in January 1953 with one of the lowest approval ratings of any departing president — around 32% — amid public exhaustion with the Korean War. Returning to Independence, Missouri, he and his wife Bess lived modestly, as there was no presidential pension at the time (he helped establish one). In the decades that followed, historians and the public substantially revised their view of his presidency upward, recognizing the magnitude and success of his foreign policy decisions and his domestic integrity. He died on December 26, 1972, aged eighty-eight. Biographies of Truman abound, with David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning Truman widely considered the definitive account.