Person:Harry Truman (1)

m. 28 Dec 1881
  1. Harry Truman1884 - 1972
m. 28 Jun 1919
Facts and Events
Name Harry Truman
Gender Male
Birth[1][2] 8 May 1884 Lamar, Barton, Missouri, United States
Marriage 28 Jun 1919 Independence, Jackson, Missouri, United Statesto Elizabeth Virginia "Bess" Wallace
Death[1][3] 26 Dec 1972 Independence, Clay, Missouri, United States
Reference Number? Q11613?

Harry Truman was a U.S. Senator from Missouri before being elected Vice President to Franklin Roosevelt when he ran for a fourth term. Roosevelt died less than three months into his term, and Truman became the 33rd President.

Public Career

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was an American politician who served as the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin Roosevelt and as a United States Senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945. Having assumed the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of communism. He proposed numerous liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the Conservative Coalition which dominated the Congress.

Truman grew up in Independence, Missouri, and during the First World War fought in France as a captain in the Field Artillery. Returning home, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri, and was elected as a judge of Jackson County in 1922. Truman was elected to the United States Senate from Missouri in 1934. In 1940–1944 he gained national prominence as chairman of the Truman Committee, which was aimed at reducing waste and inefficiency in wartime contracts. Only after assuming the presidency was he informed about the atomic bomb. Truman authorized the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Truman's administration engaged in an internationalist foreign policy by working closely with British Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Truman staunchly denounced isolationism. He energized the New Deal coalition during the 1948 presidential election and won a surprise victory against Republican Thomas E. Dewey that secured his own presidential term.

Truman presided over the onset of the Cold War in 1947. He oversaw the Berlin Airlift and Marshall Plan in 1948. With the involvement of the US in the Korean War of 1950–1953, South Korea succesfully defended against the invasion of North Korea. Domestically, his administration successfully guided the economy through the postwar economic challenges such as strikes and inflation. In 1948, he proposed Congress pass comprehensive civil rights legislation. Congress refused, so in 1948 Truman issued Executive Order 9980 and Executive Order 9981 which ended racial discrimination in federal civilian and military affairs.

Corruption in the Truman administration became a central campaign issue in the 1952 presidential election. He was eligible for reelection in 1952, but with weak polls he decided not to run. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower attacked Truman's record and won easily. Truman went into a retirement marked by the founding of his presidential library and the publication of his memoirs. It was long thought that his retirement years were financially difficult for Truman, resulting in Congress establishing a pension for former presidents, but evidence eventually emerged that he amassed considerable wealth, some of it while still president. When he left office, Truman's administration was heavily criticized, though critical reassessment of his presidency has improved his reputation among historians and the general population.


References
  1. 1.0 1.1 White House Presidential Biographies
    Harry Truman.
  2. Missouri, United States. Missouri Birth Records, 1851-1910.

    Harry S. Truman ("name recorded 9/5/1942") b. 5 May 1884 Lamar. Parents John Anderson Truman and Mattie Ellen Young.

  3. "TRUMAN, 33D PRESIDENT IS DEAD; SERVED IN TIME OF FIRST A-BOMB, MARSHALL PLAN, NATO AND KOREA", in The New York Times. (New York, New York)
    p. 1 [1].

    "KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec 26 -- Harry S. Truman, the 33d President of the United States, died this morning. He was 88 years old. ..."

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Harry S. Truman. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.