View source for Directory:Harry S. Truman

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{{otherpersons|Harry Truman}}
{{Infobox_President |name=Harry S. Truman
|image=Harry-truman.jpg
|order=33rd [[President of the United States]]
|term_start=[[April 12]] [[1945]]
|term_end=[[January 20]] [[1953]]
|vicepresident=''None'' (1945–1949),<br/>[[Alben W. Barkley]] (1949–1953)
|predecessor=[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
|successor=[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
|birth_date={{birth date|1884|5|8|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Lamar, Missouri]]
|death_date={{death date and age|1972|12|26|1884|5|8}}
|death_place=[[Kansas City, Missouri]]
|order2=34th [[Vice President of the United States]]
|term_start2=[[January 20]] [[1945]]
|term_end2=[[April 12]] [[1945]]
|president2=[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
|predecessor2=[[Henry A. Wallace]]
|successor2=[[Alben W. Barkley]]

|order3= [[List of United States Senators from Missouri|United States Senator]]<br/>from [[Missouri]]
|term_start3         = [[January 3]] [[1935]]
|term_end3           = [[January 17]] [[1945]]
|predecessor3        = [[Roscoe C. Patterson]]
|successor3          = [[Frank P. Briggs]]
|party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse=[[Bess Truman|Bess Wallace Truman]]
|occupation=[[Small business|Small]] [[Businessperson|businessman]] ([[haberdasher]]), [[farmer]]
|religion=[[Baptist]]
|signature=Harry S. Truman signature.png
|}}
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'''Harry S. Truman''' ([[May 8]] [[1884]] – [[December 26]] [[1972]]) was the thirty-third [[President of the United States]] (1945–1953). As [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]], he succeeded [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who died less than three months after he began his fourth term.

During [[World War I]] Truman served as an [[United States Army Field Artillery Corps|artillery]] officer. After the war he became part of the [[political machine]] of [[Tom Pendergast]] and was elected a county judge in [[Missouri]] and eventually a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]]. After he gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee, Truman replaced vice president [[Henry A. Wallace]] as Roosevelt's [[running mate]] in 1944. 

As president, Truman faced challenge after challenge in domestic affairs. The tumultuous reconversion of the [[economy of the United States]] was marked by severe shortages, numerous strikes, and the passage of the [[Taft-Hartley Act]] over his [[veto]]. He confounded all predictions to win re-election in [[United States presidential election, 1948|1948]], largely due to his famous [[Whistle stop train tour|Whistle Stop Tour]] of rural America. After his re-election he was able to pass only one of the proposals in his [[Fair Deal]] program. He used executive orders to begin [[desegregation]] of the [[Military of the United States|U.S. armed forces]] and to launch a system of loyalty checks to remove thousands of [[Communism|communist]] sympathizers from government office, even though he strongly opposed mandatory [[loyalty oath]]s for governmental employees, a stance that led to charges that his administration was soft on communism. Truman's presidency was also eventful in [[Foreign relations of the United States|foreign affairs]], with the end of [[World War II]] and his decision to use [[nuclear weapons]] against Japan, the founding of the [[United Nations]], the [[Marshall Plan]] to rebuild [[Europe]], the [[Truman Doctrine]] to contain communism, the beginning of the [[Cold War]], the creation of [[NATO]], and the [[Korean War]]. Corruption in Truman's administration reached the [[United States Cabinet|cabinet]] and senior [[White House]] staff. [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] made corruption a central issue in the [[United States presidential election, 1952|1952 campaign]].

Truman, whose demeanor was very different from that of the patrician Roosevelt, was a folksy, unassuming president. He popularized such phrases as "[[The buck stops here]]" and "If you can't stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen."<ref name="mcculloughbook">{{cite book |last= McCullough |first= David |authorlink= David McCullough |title= Truman |year= 1992 |publisher = Simon and Schuster|location= New York|isbn= 0-671-86920-5 |pages= 717}}</ref> He overcame the low expectations of many political observers who compared him unfavorably with his highly regarded predecessor. At one point in his second term, near the end of the Korean War, Truman's public opinion ratings reached the lowest of any United States president, but popular and scholarly assessments of his presidency became more positive after his retirement from politics and the publication of his memoirs. He died in 1972. Many U.S. scholars today [[Historical rankings of United States Presidents|rank him]] among the top ten presidents. Truman's legendary [[United States presidential election, 1948|upset victory in 1948]] over [[Thomas E. Dewey]] is routinely invoked by underdog presidential candidates.
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