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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
|}}

'''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.
{{TOClimit|limit=3}}

==Personal life==
Truman was born on [[May 8]] [[1884]] in [[Lamar, Missouri|Lamar]], [[Missouri]], the second child of John Anderson Truman (1851-1914) and Martha Ellen Young Truman (1852-1947). His parents chose the name Harry after his mother's brother, Harrison Young (1846-1916), Harry's uncle.<ref>McCullough, p. 24, 37</ref> His parents chose "S" as his middle name, in attempt to please both of Harry's grandfathers, Anderson Shippe Truman and Solomon Young; the initial didn't actually stand for anything, as was a common practice among [[Scots-Irish]].<ref>McCullough, p. 37</ref><ref name="TL-MI-S">{{cite web |url =http://www.trumanlibrary.org/speriod.htm |title =Use of the Period After the "S" in Harry S. Truman's Name |accessdate = 2007-08-14 |publisher =Harry S. Truman's Library and Museum}}</ref> A brother, John Vivian (1886–1965), soon followed, along with sister Mary Jane Truman (1889–1978).

John Truman was a farmer and livestock dealer. The family lived in Lamar until Harry was ten months old. They then moved to a farm near [[Harrisonville, Missouri|Harrisonville]], then to [[Belton, Missouri|Belton]], and in 1887 to his grandparents' 600 acre (240 ha) farm in [[Grandview, Missouri|Grandview]].<ref name="birthplace">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/kids/birthpla.htm |title = Birthplace of Harry S. Truman |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-08-01}}</ref> When Truman was six, his parents moved the family to [[Independence, Missouri|Independence]], so he could attend the [[Presbyterian]] Church Sunday School. Truman did not attend a traditional school until he was eight.

As a young boy, Truman had three main interests: music, reading, and history, all encouraged by his mother. He was very close to his mother for as long as she lived, and as president solicited political as well as personal advice from her.<ref name="Oshinsky"> {{cite book |last= Oshinsky|first= David M.|editor= Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer|title= The American Presidency |chapter= Harry Truman|year= 2004|publisher= Houghton Mifflin|location= Boston, MA |language= |isbn= 0-618-38273-9 |pages= 365–380}}</ref> He got up at five every morning to practice the [[piano]], and went to a local music teacher twice a week until he was fifteen.<ref>McCullough, p. 38</ref> Truman also read a great deal of popular history. He was a page at the [[1900 Democratic National Convention]] at [[Convention Hall]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]].<ref name="ferrellbook"> {{cite book |last= Ferrell|first= Robert Hugh |authorlink=Robert H. Ferrell |title= Harry S. Truman: A Life |year= 1996 |publisher= University of Missouri Press|location= Columbia|language= |isbn= 0826210503|pages= 87}}</ref>

After graduating from Independence High School (now [[William Chrisman High School]]) in 1901, Truman worked as a timekeeper on the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe Railroad]], sleeping in "[[hobo]] camps" near the rail lines;<ref name="whistlestop">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/trumanfile/drugstorearticle1.htm |title = Drugstore Clerk at 14 His First Job |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> he then worked at a series of clerical jobs. He returned to the Grandview farm in 1906 and stayed there until 1917 when he went into military service.

The physically demanding work he put in on the Grandview farm was a formative experience. During this period he courted [[Bess Truman|Bess Wallace]] and even proposed to her in 1911. She turned him down, and Truman said he wanted to make more money than a farmer before he proposed again. He did propose again in 1918, after coming back as a Captain from World War I, and she accepted.

Truman was the only president who served after 1896 not to earn a college degree: poor eyesight prevented him from applying to [[United States Military Academy|West Point]], his childhood dream, and financial constraints prevented him from securing a degree elsewhere.<ref name="Oshinsky" /> He did, however, study for two years toward a law degree at the Kansas City Law School (now the [[University of Missouri-Kansas City]] School of Law) in the early 1920s.

===World War I===
[[Image:HST Uniform.PNG|right|thumb|Truman in uniform ca. 1918]]
Truman enlisted in the [[United States National Guard|Missouri National Guard]] in 1905, and served in it until 1911. With the onset of American participation in World War I, he rejoined the Guard. At his physical in 1905, his eyesight had been an unacceptable [[Visual acuity#Visual acuity expression|20/50]] in the right eye and 20/400 in the left. Reportedly he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart.<ref name="eyechart"> {{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/anniversaries/nationalguard.htm |title = Harry Truman joins Battery B of the Missouri National Guard |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

Before going to France, he was sent to [[Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma|Camp Doniphan]], adjacent to [[Fort Sill]], near [[Lawton, Oklahoma]] for training. He ran the camp canteen with a Jewish friend, Sergeant [[Edward Jacobson]], who had experience in a Kansas City clothing store as a clerk. At Ft. Sill he also met Lieutenant James M. Pendergast, the nephew of [[Tom Pendergast|Thomas Joseph (T.J.) Pendergast]], a Kansas City politician. Both men would have profound influences on later events in Truman's life.<ref name=Truman-129th>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/ww1/129chronology.shtml Chronological Record of the 129th Field Artillery 1917-1919] - the Truman Library</ref><ref>McCullough, p. 105-110.</ref><ref>Gilwee, William J. [http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/truman.htm Capt. Harry Truman Artilleryman and Future President] - at the Doughboy Center</ref><ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/markst.htm Oral History Interview with Ted Marks] - at the Truman Library</ref>

Truman was chosen to be an officer, and then [[Artillery battery|battery]] commander in an artillery regiment in France. His unit was Battery D, 129th [[Field Artillery]], 60th Brigade, [[35th Infantry Division (United States)|35th Infantry Division]], known for its discipline problems.<ref name="WWIhist">{{cite web |last = Hanlon|first = Michael E. |year = 2000 |url = http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/truman.htm |title =Capt. Harry Truman, Artilleryman and Future President |work = Doughboy Center: The Story of the American Expeditionary Forces |publisher = Worldwar1.com Magazine |accessdate = 2007-07-19}}</ref> During a sudden attack by the [[German Empire|Germans]] in the [[Vosges Mountains]], the battery started to disperse; Truman ordered them back into position using profanities that he had "learned while working on the Santa Fe railroad."<ref name="WWIhist"/> Shocked by the outburst, his men reassembled and followed him to safety. Under Captain Truman's command in France, the battery did not lose a single man.<ref name="WWIhist"/> The war was a transformative experience that brought out Truman's leadership qualities; he later rose to the rank of Colonel in the National Guard, and his war record made possible his later political career in Missouri.<ref name="WWIhist"/>

===Marriage and early business career===
[[Image:TrumanWedding.PNG|thumb|left|The Trumans' wedding day, [[June 28]] [[1919]]]]
At the war's conclusion, Truman returned to Independence and married his longtime love interest, Bess Wallace, on [[June 28]] [[1919]]. The couple had one child, [[Mary Margaret Truman|Mary Margaret]] (born [[February 17]] [[1924]] - [[January 29]], [[2008]]).

A month before the wedding, banking on their success at Fort Sill and overseas, Truman and Jacobson opened a [[haberdashery]] of the same name at 104 West 12th Street in downtown Kansas City. After a few successful years, the store went bankrupt during the [[Post-WWI recession|recession of 1921]], which greatly affected the farm economy.<ref name="Oshinsky" /> Truman blamed the fall in farm prices on the policies of the Republicans; he worked to pay off the debts until 1934, just as he was going into the U.S. Senate, when banker [[William T. Kemper]] retrieved the note during the sale of a bankrupt bank and allowed Truman to pay it off for $1,000. (At the same time Kemper made a $1,000 contribution to Truman's campaign.)

Former comrades in arms and former business partners, Jacobson and Truman remained close friends for life. Decades later, Jacobson's advice to Truman on [[Zionism]] would play a critical role in the US government's decision to recognize [[Israel]].<ref>Ferrell, p. 87</ref>

==Politics==
===Jackson County judge===
In 1922, with the help of the Kansas City [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[political machine|machine]] led by [[political boss|boss]] [[Tom Pendergast]], Truman was elected as a judge of the County Court of the eastern district of [[Jackson County, Missouri|Jackson County]]<ref name="Oshinsky" />—an administrative, not judicial, position similar to county commissioners elsewhere.

In 1922, Truman gave a friend $10 for an initiation fee for the [[Ku Klux Klan]] but later asked to get his money back; he was never initiated, never attended a meeting, and never claimed membership.<ref name="margaretbook">{{wikiref |id=Truman-1973 |text=Truman 1973, p. 429}}</ref><ref name="hambybook">{{cite book |last= Hamby |first= Alonzo L. |title= Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman|year= 1995|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= New York|language= |isbn= 0195045467}}</ref> Though Truman at times expressed anger towards Jews in his diaries, his business partner and close friend [[Edward Jacobson]] was Jewish.<ref name="diary1947">{{cite web |year =[[July 21]] [[1947]] |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/diary/page21.htm|title =Harry S. Truman 1947 Diary |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-08-01}}</ref><ref name="foxman">{{cite web |last =Foxman |first =Abraham H. |year =[[July 18]] [[2003]] |url = http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/oped_truman.asp|title =Harry Truman, My Flawed Hero |publisher = Anti-Defamation League |accessdate = 2007-08-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author =Dana, Rebecca |coauthors =Carlson, Peter |title =Harry Truman's Forgotten Diary |url =http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A40678-2003Jul10&notFound=true |publisher =The Washington Post|date = [[July 11]] [[2003]] |accessdate =2007-08-16}}</ref> Truman's attitudes toward [[Black people|blacks]] were typical of white Missourians of his era, and were expressed in his casual use of terms like "[[nigger]]." Years later, another measure of his racial attitudes would come to the forefront: tales of the abuse, violence, and persecution suffered by many African American veterans upon their return from [[World War II]] infuriated Truman, and were a major factor in his decision to use [[Executive Order 9981]] to back [[American Civil Rights Movement (1896-1954)|civil rights initiatives]] and desegregate the armed forces.<ref name="deseg">{{cite web |year = 1948 |url =http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=84 |title =Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948) |publisher = Ourdocuments.gov |accessdate = 2007-07-19}}</ref>

He was not reelected in 1924 but in 1926 was elected the presiding judge for the court and reelected in 1930.

In 1930 Truman coordinated the "Ten Year Plan," which transformed Jackson County and the Kansas City skyline with new public works projects, including an extensive series of roads, construction of a new [[Wight and Wight]]-designed County Court building, and the dedication of a series of 12 [[Madonna of the Trail]] monuments honoring pioneer women. Much of the building was done with Pendergast Ready Mixed concrete.

In 1933 Truman was named Missouri's director for the Federal Re-Employment program (part of the [[Civil Works Administration]]) as payback to Pendergast for delivering the Kansas City vote to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the [[United States presidential election, 1932|1932 presidential election]]. The appointment confirmed Pendergast's control over federal [[patronage]] jobs in Missouri and marked the zenith of his power. It was also to create a relationship between Truman and [[Harry Hopkins]] and assure avid Truman support for the New Deal.<ref name="savagebook"> {{cite book |last= Savage |first= Sean J. |title= Roosevelt: The Party Leader, 1932–1945 |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=J7QlafgkrnUC&pg=PA64&dq=%22James+A.+Reed%22&sig=wNY2oVcmzCflFzgLNBv6OA99kV0#PPA65,M1 |accessdate= 2007-07-27 |year= 1991 |publisher= The University Press of Kentucky|location= Lexington|isbn= 0813117550 |pages= 65}}</ref>

===U.S. Senator===
====First term====
[[Image:Senator Harry Truman.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Senator Truman seeks re-election during this July 1940 speech in [[Sedalia, Missouri]].]]
Truman was Tom Pendergast's chosen candidate in the [[United States Senate elections, 1934|1934 U.S. Senate election]] for Missouri. During the Democratic [[primary election|primary]], Truman defeated [[John J. Cochran]] and Tuck Milligan, the brother of federal prosecutor [[Maurice M. Milligan]]. Truman then defeated the incumbent Republican, [[Roscoe C. Patterson]], by nearly 20 percent.

During the election day, four people were killed at the polls, prompting various investigations into Kansas City election practices.

Truman assumed office under a cloud as "the senator from Pendergast." He gave patronage decisions to Pendergast but always maintained he voted his conscience. Truman always defended the patronage by saying that by offering a little, he saved a lot.

In his first term as a U.S. Senator, Truman spoke out bluntly against corporate greed, and warned about the dangers of [[Wall Street]] speculators and other moneyed special interests attaining too much influence in national affairs.<ref>McCullough, p. 232</ref> He was, however, largely ignored by President Roosevelt, who appears not to have taken him seriously at this stage. Truman reportedly had difficulty getting White House secretaries to return his calls.<ref>McCullough, p. 230</ref>

The 1936 election of Pendergast-backed Governor [[Lloyd C. Stark]] revealed even bigger voter irregularities in Missouri than had been uncovered in 1934. Milligan prosecuted 278 defendants in vote fraud cases; he convicted 259. Stark turned on Pendergast, urged prosecution, and was able to wrest federal patronage from the Pendergast machine.<ref name="milligan">{{cite web |url = http://www.kcpolicememorial.com/history/pendergast_3.html|title = The Pendergast Machine |publisher = Kansas City Police Officers Memorial - History |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

Ultimately Milligan discovered that Pendergast had not paid federal taxes between 1927 and 1937 and had conducted a fraudulent insurance scam. In 1939, Pendergast pled guilty and received a $10,000 fine and a 15-month sentence at [[Leavenworth Federal Prison]]. No charges were filed against Truman.

====1940 election====
Truman's prospects for re-election to the Senate looked bleak. In [[United States Senate elections, 1940|1940]], both Stark and Maurice Milligan challenged him in the Democratic primary for the Senate. [[Robert E. Hannegan]], who controlled [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] Democratic politics, threw his support in the election behind Truman. (Hannegan would go on to broker the 1944 deal that put Truman on the vice presidential ticket for Roosevelt.) Truman campaigned tirelessly and combatively. In the end, Stark and Milligan split the anti-Pendergast vote in the Democratic primary, with Stark and Milligan having more combined votes than Truman.<ref name="milligan2">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/judge.htm|title = Harry S. Truman Papers: Papers as Presiding Judge of the Jackson County (Missouri) Court - Partial Biographical Sketch 1920–1950 |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

In September 1940, during the general election campaign, Truman was elected [[Grand Master (Masonic)|Grand Master]] of the Missouri [[Grand Lodge]] of [[Freemasonry]].<ref name="gmmason"> {{cite web |year = |url = http://www.pagrandlodge.org/mlam/presidents/truman.html|title = Harry S Truman (1884–1972) Masonic Record |work = The Masonic Presidents Tour|publisher = Masonic Library and Museum|accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> In November of that year, he defeated Kansas City State Senator [[Manvel H. Davis]] by over 40,000 votes and retained his Senate seat.<ref>McCullough, page 252</ref> Truman said later that the Masonic election assured his victory in the general election over State Senator Davis.<ref>{{cite journal |title =The Wonderful Wastebasket |journal =Time |volume = |issue = |pages =3 |date =[[March 24]] [[1952]] |url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816178-1,00.html|accessdate =2007-08-17}}</ref>

The successful 1940 Senate campaign is regarded by many biographers as a personal triumph and vindication for Truman and as a precursor to the much more celebrated 1948 drive for the White House, another contest where he was underestimated.<ref name="vindication">{{cite web |last = Haydock |first = Michael D.|year =2000 |url = http://www.historynet.com/culture/politics/3037581.html|title = American History: Harry Truman and the 1948 U.S. Presidential Election |publisher = ''American History Magazine'' via Historynet.com|accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref> It was the turning point of his political career.

====Defense policy statements====
On [[June 23]] [[1941]], the day after [[Nazi Germany]] [[Operation Barbarossa|attacked]] the [[Soviet Union]], Senator Truman declared: ''"If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word."''<ref name="gerrussia">''The New York Times'' [[June 24]] [[1941]]; qtd in "Anniversary Remembrance," ''Time'', [[July 2]] [[1951]]; reproduced as "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,815031,00.html Anniversary Remembrance]," time.com.</ref> Although the sentiment was in line with what many Americans felt at the time, it was regarded by later biographers as both inappropriate and cynical.<ref>McCullough, p. 262</ref><ref name="donovanbook"> {{cite book |last= Donovan|first= Robert J.|title= Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry Truman, 1945–1948 |year= 1996|publisher =University of Missouri Press |location= Columbia, MO |isbn= 0-8262-1066-X |pages=36}} ([http://press.umsystem.edu/spring1996/donovan.htm Publisher's description of the book], retrieved [[August 2]] [[2007]].)</ref> The remark was the first in a long series of prominently inopportune off-the-cuff statements by Truman to members of the national press corps.

====Truman Committee====
Truman gained fame and respect when his preparedness committee (popularly known as the "[[Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations#Truman Committee|Truman Committee]]") investigated the scandal of military wastefulness by exposing fraud and mismanagement. The Roosevelt administration had initially feared the Committee would hurt war morale, and [[United States Department of War|Under Secretary of War]] [[Robert P. Patterson]] wrote to the president declaring it was "in the public interest" to suspend the committee. Truman wrote a letter to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]] saying that the committee was "100 percent behind the administration" and that it had no intention of criticizing the military conduct of the war.<ref name="flemingbook"> {{cite book |last= Fleming|first= Thomas|title= The New Dealers' War: F.D.R. And the War within World War II |year= 2002|publisher =Basic Books |location= New York |isbn= 0465024653}}</ref> The committee was considered a success and is reported to have saved at least $15 billion. Truman's advocacy of common-sense cost-saving measures for the military attracted much attention. In 1943, his work as chairman earned Truman his first appearance on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. He would eventually appear on nine ''Time'' covers and be named the magazine's [[Person of the Year|Man of the Year]] for 1945 and 1948.<ref name="timecovers">{{cite web |url = http://www.time.com/time/searchresults?D=Harry+Truman&sid=10AD665DE10C&Ntt=Harry+Truman&Ntk=WithBodyDate&internalid=endeca_dimension&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=46+4294935559&Ns=p_date_sort%7c1&Nty=1|title = "Truman on Time Magazine Covers" |publisher = ''Time'' |accessdate = 2007-07-27}}</ref> After years as a marginal figure in the Senate, Truman was cast into the national spotlight after the success of the Truman Committee.<ref name="timecovers">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/lifetimes/senate.htm|title = Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times: Senator |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-08-09}}</ref>

==Vice Presidency==
Following months of uncertainty over the president's preference for a running mate, Truman was selected as Roosevelt's vice presidential candidate in [[United States presidential election, 1944|1944]] as the result of a deal worked out by Hannegan, who was Democratic National Chairman that year.

Although his public image remained that of a robust, engaged world leader, Roosevelt's physical condition was in fact rapidly deteriorating in mid-1944. A handful of key FDR advisers, including outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairman [[Frank C. Walker]], incoming Chairman Robert Hannegan, strategist [[Ed Flynn]], and lobbyist [[George E. Allen]] closed ranks in the summer of 1944 to "keep [[Henry A. Wallace|Henry Wallace]] off the ticket."<ref>McCullough, page 293.</ref> They considered Wallace, the incumbent vice president, too [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]], and had grave concerns about the possibility of his ascension to the presidency. Allen would later recall that each of these men "realized that the man nominated to run with Roosevelt would in all probability be the next President. . ."<ref>McCullough, page 295</ref>

After meeting personally with the party leaders, FDR agreed to replace Wallace as vice president; however, Roosevelt chose to leave the final selection of a running mate unresolved until the later stages of the Democratic National Convention in [[Chicago]]. [[James F. Byrnes]] of [[South Carolina]] was initially favored, but labor leaders opposed him.<ref> Ferrell, p. 167</ref> In addition, his status as a [[racial segregation|segregationist]] gave him problems with Northern liberals,<ref name="racerelations"> {{cite journal |last = Newman |first = Mark |year = 2004 |month = June |title = Civil Rights and Human Rights |journal = Reviews in American History |volume = 32 |issue = 2 |pages = 247–254}}</ref> and he was also considered vulnerable because of his conversion from [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]].<ref name="senate1">{{cite web |year = [[January 8]] [[1973]]|url = http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Harry_Truman.htm |title = Harry S. Truman, 34th Vice President (1945) |publisher = U.S. Senate|accessdate = 2007-08-03}}</ref><ref name="time1973">{{cite web |year = [[January 8]] [[1973]]|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,910502,00.html |title = A Little Touch of Harry |publisher = Time|accessdate = 2007-08-03}}</ref> The position was then offered to Governor [[Henry F. Schricker]] of [[Indiana]], who later declined.<ref name="schriker">{{cite web |url = http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/govportraits/schricker.html |title = Indiana Governor Henry Frederick Schricker (1883–1966) |publisher = Indiana Historical Bureau|accessdate = 2007-08-03}}</ref> Before the convention began, Roosevelt wrote a note saying he would accept either Truman or [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[William O. Douglas]]; state and city party leaders preferred Truman. Truman himself did not campaign directly or indirectly that summer for the number two spot on the ticket, and always maintained that he had not wanted the job of vice president.

Truman's candidacy was humorously dubbed the second "[[Missouri Compromise]]" at the [[1944 Democratic National Convention]] in Chicago, as his appeal to the party center contrasted with the liberal Wallace and the conservative Byrnes. The nomination was well received, and the Roosevelt-Truman team went on to score a 432–99 [[United States Electoral College|electoral-vote]] victory in the [[United States presidential election, 1944|1944 presidential election]], defeating Governor [[Thomas E. Dewey]] of [[New York]] and Governor [[John Bricker]] of [[Ohio]]. Truman was sworn in as vice president on [[January 20]] [[1945]], and served less than three months.

Truman's vice-presidency was relatively uneventful, and Roosevelt rarely contacted him, even to inform him of major decisions. Truman shocked many when he attended his disgraced patron Pendergast's funeral a few days after being sworn in. Truman was reportedly the only elected official who attended the funeral. Truman brushed aside the criticism, saying simply, "He was always my friend and I have always been his."<ref name="Oshinsky" />

On [[April 12]] [[1945]], Truman was urgently called to the White House, where [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] informed him that the president had died after suffering a massive [[stroke]]. Truman's first concern was for Mrs. Roosevelt. He asked if there was anything he could do for her, to which she replied, "Is there anything ''we'' can do for ''you''? For you are the one in trouble now."<ref name="eleanor">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/eleanor/|title = Eleanor and Harry: The Correspondence of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

==Presidency 1945–1953==
===First term (1945–1949)===
====Assuming office====
[[Image:HarryTruman.jpg|thumb|right|Presidential portrait of Truman painted by [[Greta Kempton]]]]

Truman had been vice president for only 82 days when President Roosevelt died. He had had very little meaningful communication with Roosevelt about world affairs or domestic politics after being sworn in as vice president, and was completely uninformed about major initiatives relating to the successful prosecution of the war—notably the top secret [[Manhattan Project]], which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb.

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Truman said to reporters:
:"Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."

A few days after his swearing in, he wrote to his wife, Bess: "It won't be long until I can sit back and study the whole picture and. . . there'll be no more to this job than there was to running Jackson County and not anymore worry."<ref name="Oshinsky" /> However, the simplicity he had predicted would prove elusive.

Upon assuming the presidency, Truman asked all the members of FDR's cabinet to remain in place, told them that he was open to their advice, and laid down a central principle of his administration: he would be the one making decisions, and they were to support him.<ref>McCullough, p. 348</ref> Just a few weeks after he assumed office, on his 61st birthday, the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] achieved [[Victory in Europe Day|victory]] in Europe.

====Atomic bomb use====
{{details|Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki}}
Truman was quickly briefed on the [[Manhattan Project]] and authorized use of atomic weapons against the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] in August 1945, after Japan rejected the [[Potsdam Declaration]]. The atomic bombings that followed were the first, and so far the only, instance of [[nuclear warfare]].

On the morning of [[August 6]] [[1945]], the [[B-29]] bomber ''[[Enola Gay]]'' dropped an atomic bomb on [[Hiroshima]].<ref name="airforce">{{cite journal |last= Carter |first=Kit |coauthors= Robert Mueller|title= The Army Air Forces in World War II |journal=Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C. |volume= 1973|issue=|pages=685}}</ref> Two days later, having heard nothing from the Japanese government, Truman let the U.S. military proceed with its plans to drop a second atomic bomb. On [[August 9]], [[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]] was also devastated.<ref name="atomicmanhatten">{{cite web |url = http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/med_chp10.shtml|title = The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |publisher = Atomicarchive.com |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> Truman received news of the bombing while aboard the heavy cruiser [[USS Augusta (CA-31)|USS ''Augusta'']] on his way back to the U.S. after the [[Potsdam Conference]]. The Japanese agreed to [[Surrender of Japan|surrender]] on [[August 14]].<ref>"The answer reached the President at five minutes past four that afternoon, Tuesday, August 14. Japan had surrendered." McCullough, p. 461.</ref>

At the Potsdam Conference, Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]] was aware of the U.S. government's possession of the atomic bomb.<ref name="atomictime">{{cite web |url = http://www.ask.ne.jp/~hankaku/english/np7y.html|title = Atomic Bomb Chronology: 1945–1946 |publisher = Tokyo Physicians for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons |accessdate = 2007-07-28}} "H. Truman told Y. Stalin about A-bomb experiment. Stalin was already informed by spy of Trinity but never revealed it."</ref><ref name="abombPotsdam">{{cite web |url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/truman/filmmore/it_3.html |title = Interview Transcripts: The Potsdam Conference|work = The American Experience|publisher = PBS|accessdate = 2007-07-26}} "Truman approached Stalin at the Potsdam conference and very carefully said to Stalin that he had this new weapon."</ref><ref name="ydecisions">{{cite book |last= Truman |first= Harry S. |title= Year of Decisions |year= 1955|publisher= Doubleday|location= Garden City, NY |isbn= 156852062X|pages= 416|quote =Stalin hoped we would make 'good use of it against the Japanese.'}}</ref> In the years since the bombings, however, questions about Truman's choice have become more pointed. Supporters of Truman's decision to use the bomb argue that it saved hundreds of thousands of lives that would have been lost in [[Operation Downfall|an invasion]] of mainland Japan. [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] spoke in support of this view when she said, in 1954, that Truman had "made the only decision he could," and that the bomb's use was necessary "to avoid tremendous sacrifice of American lives."<ref name="McNulty">{{cite web |url=http://news.research.ohiou.edu/perspectives/archives/9701t/bomb2.htm |title=The great atomic bomb debate |last=McNulty |first=Bryan |publisher=Ohio University |work=Perspectives |accessdate=2007-04-02}}</ref> Others, including historian [[Gar Alperovitz]], have argued that the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary and inherently immoral.<ref name="hironecessary">{{cite web |url = http://www.doug-long.com/debate.htm|title = "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Gar Alperovitz and the H-Net Debate" |work = Hiroshima: Was it Necessary?|publisher = Doug-long.com |accessdate = 2007-07-27}}</ref>

====Strikes and economic upheaval====
[[Image:Truman pass-the-buck.jpg|thumb|right|President Harry Truman with "[[The Buck Stops Here]]" sign on his desk]]
The end of World War II was followed in the United States by uneasy and contentious conversion back to a peacetime economy. The president was faced with a sudden renewal of labor-management conflicts that had lain dormant during the war years, severe shortages in housing and consumer products, and widespread dissatisfaction with [[inflation]], which at one point hit six percent in a single month.<ref name="Grubin">{{cite news |first= David|last= Grubin |title=The American Experience: Truman |url= http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/truman/|publisher= PBS|date= 1997|accessdate=2007-08-03}}</ref> In this polarized environment, there was a wave of destabilizing strikes in major industries, and Truman's response to them was generally seen as ineffective.<ref name="Grubin" /> In the spring of 1946, a national [[Rail transport in the United States|railway]] strike, unprecedented in the nation's history, brought virtually all passenger and freight lines to a standstill for over a month. When the railway workers turned down a proposed settlement, Truman announced that he would seize control of the railways and even threatened to draft striking workers into the armed forces.<ref name="Truman strike speech">{{cite web |url = http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5137/|title =
“Word Has Just Been Received”: Truman Speaks on the Railroad Strike: 1948–1952 |work = History Matters|publisher = George Mason University |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> While delivering a speech before [[United States Congress|Congress]] requesting authority for this plan, Truman received word that the strike had been settled on his terms.<ref name="Truman strike speech" /> He announced this development to Congress on the spot and received a tumultuous ovation that was replayed for weeks on newsreels. Although the resolution of the crippling railway strike made for stirring political theater, it actually cost Truman politically: his proposed solution was seen by many as high-handed; and labor voters, already wary of Truman's handling of workers' issues, were deeply alienated.<ref name="Grubin" />

====United Nations, Marshall Plan, and the Cold War====
As a [[Wilsonian]] internationalist, Truman strongly supported the creation of the United Nations, and included former [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] Eleanor Roosevelt on the delegation to the U.N.'s first [[UN General Assembly|General Assembly]] in order to meet the public desire for peace after the carnage of World War II. Faced with communist abandonment of commitments to democracy made at the Potsdam Conference, and with communist advances in [[Greece]] (leading to the [[Greek Civil War]]) and in [[Turkey]] that suggested a hunger for global domination, Truman and his foreign policy advisors concluded that the interests of the Soviet Union were quickly becoming incompatible with those of the United States. The Truman administration articulated an increasingly hard line against the Soviets.

Although he claimed no personal expertise on foreign matters, and although the opposition Republicans controlled Congress, Truman was able to win bipartisan support for both the [[Truman Doctrine]], which formalized a policy of [[containment]], and the [[Marshall Plan]], which aimed to help rebuild postwar Europe. To get Congress to spend the vast sums necessary to restart the moribund European economy, Truman used an ideological argument, arguing forcefully that communism flourishes in economically deprived areas. His goal was to "scare the hell out of Congress."<ref name="holstibook">{{cite book |last= Holsti|first= Ole |title= Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy |year= 1996 |publisher= The University of Michigan Press|location= Ann Arbor, MI|isbn= 978-0-472-06619-3|pages= 214}}</ref> As part of the U.S. [[Cold War]] strategy, Truman signed the [[National Security Act of 1947]] and reorganized military forces by merging the [[United States Department of War|Department of War]] and the [[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] into the National Military Establishment (later the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]) and creating the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]]. The act also created the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and the [[National Security Council]].

====Fair Deal====
After many years of Democratic majorities in Congress and two Democratic presidents, [[voter fatigue]] with the Democrats delivered a new Republican majority in the 1946 midterm elections, with the Republicans [[United States House elections, 1946|picking up 55 seats]] in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and [[United States Senate elections, 1946|several seats]] in the Senate. Although Truman cooperated closely with the Republican leaders on foreign policy, he fought them bitterly on domestic issues. He failed to prevent tax cuts or the removal of price controls. The power of the labor unions was significantly curtailed by the [[Taft-Hartley Act]], which was enacted by overriding Truman's veto.<ref name="timetaft">{{cite web |year =[[October 19]] [[1959]] |url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,869269,00.html |title ="Taft-Hartley: How It Works and How It Has Worked" |publisher =''Time'' |accessdate = 2007-07-19}}</ref>

As he readied for the approaching 1948 election, Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the [[New Deal]] tradition, advocating [[national health insurance]],<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/anniversaries/healthprogram.htm President Truman Addresses Congress on Proposed Health Program, Washington, D.C.], Harry S. Truman Library and Museum</ref> the repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, and an aggressive civil rights program. Taken together, it all constituted a broad legislative agenda that came to be called the "[[Fair Deal]]."

Truman's proposals made for potent campaign rhetoric but were not well received by Congress, even after [[United States House elections, 1948|Democratic gains]] in the 1948 election. Only one of the major Fair Deal bills, the [[Housing Act of 1949]], was ever enacted.<ref name="biningbook"> {{cite book |last= Binning|first=William C. |coauthors= Larry E. Esterly and Paul A. Sracic|title= Encyclopedia of American Parties, Campaigns, and Elections |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=fYs1RZ6NbFMC&dq=Encyclopedia+of+American+Parties,+Campaigns,+and+Elections&pg=PP1&ots=KwalyDeuvX&sig=K2i20jHSaIEZhDthM0EALzXMi6E&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DEncyclopedia%2Bof%2BAmerican%2BParties%252C%2BCampaigns%252C%2Band%2BElections%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26aq%3Dt%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title |accessdate= 2007-07-29 |year= 1999 |publisher= Greenwood|location= Westport, CT |isbn= 0813117550 |pages= 417}}</ref><ref name="timepossible">{{cite web |year =[[June 6]] [[1949]] |url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801882,00.html |title =The Art of the Possible |publisher ="Time" |accessdate = 2007-07-19}}</ref>

====Recognition of Israel====
{{details|Declaration of Independence (Israel)}}
Truman was a key figure in the establishment of the [[Jewish state]] in the [[Palestine Mandate]]. In shaping his policy toward Palestine, Truman experienced continuous pressures, especially from the Jewish community, virtually from the very moment he took office as president <ref>[[George Lenczowski]], (1990), '’American Presidents and the Middle East’’, p.27</ref>. Truman writes, “Top Jewish leaders in the United States were putting all sorts of pressure on me to commit American power and forces on behalf of the Jewish aspirations in Palestine<ref>Harry S Truman, ''Memoirs 2'', p153</ref>.” In 1946, an [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]] recommended the gradual establishment of two states in Palestine, with neither Jews nor [[Arab]]s dominating. However, there was little [[Zionist]] <ref>George Lenczowski, p.27</ref> support for the two-state proposal. [[United Kingdom|Britain’s]] [[British Empire|empire]] was in rapid decline, and under pressure to withdraw from Palestine quickly because of attacks on British forces by armed Zionist groups and Arab militias.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/King_David.html |title=The Bombing of the King David Hotel |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |accessdate=2007-04-02}}</ref>

At the urging of the British, a special U.N. committee, [[UNSCOP]], recommended the immediate partitioning of Palestine into two states, and with Truman's support, this initiative was approved by the General Assembly on November 29, 1947. According to Truman, “The facts were that not only were there pressure movements around the United Nations unlike anything that had been seen there before, but that the White House, too, was subjected to a constant barrage. I do not think I ever had as much pressure and propaganda aimed at the White House as I had in this instance. The persistence of a few of the extreme Zionist leaders - actuated by a political motive and engaging in political threats - disturbed and annoyed me.”<ref>in Lenczowski, p.28, cite, Harry S Truman, Memoirs 2, p158</ref> The president noted in a letter to [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], “I regret this situation very much because my sympathy has always been on their [Zionist] side.”<ref>Margaret Truman, ''Harry S. Truman'', p420.</ref>

The British announced on November 30, 1947 that they would leave Palestine by [[May 15]] [[1948]]. A [[1948 Palestine war|civil war]] broke out in Palestine and the [[Arab League]] Council nations began moving troops to Palestine's borders. The Zionist idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East was popular in the U.S., particularly among urban Jewish voters, one of Truman's key constituencies. Truman additionally viewed a viable Jewish state as the best way to resettle the some 250,000 Jewish [[Holocaust]] [[refugees]] living in [[Displaced persons camp|displaced person camps]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005462 |title=Displaced Persons |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |date=[[2007-10-25]] |accessdate=2008-02-04}}</ref>

The [[United States Department of State|State Department]], however, disagreed with the decision. Secretary of State [[George Marshall]] and most of the foreign service experts strongly opposed the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.<ref>McCullough, pp. 614–620</ref><ref name="cliffordbook"> {{cite book |last= Clifford |first= Clark |coauthors= Richard Holbrooke|title= Counsel to the President |year= 1991 |publisher= Random House|location= New York|language= |isbn= 0394569954}}</ref> Thus, when Truman agreed to meet with [[Chaim Weizmann]], at the request of [[Edward Jacobson]] he found himself overruling his own Secretary of State. In the end, Marshall did not publicly dispute the president's decision, as Truman feared he might. Secretary of Defense, [[James Forrestal]], was perhaps most vocal on the issue of Palestine and spoke repeatedly about the perils of arousing Arab hostility, which might result in denial of access to petroleum resources in the area <ref>George Lenczowski, p.25</ref> and about “the impact of this question on the security of the United States.”<ref>Walter Millis, ed. ''Forrestal Diaries'', p322</ref> Truman recognized the State of [[Israel]] on [[May 14]] [[1948]], eleven minutes after it declared itself a nation.<ref>Lenczowski, p.26</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/documents/index.php?documentdate=1948-05-14&documentid=48&studycollectionid=ROI&pagenumber=1 |title=Memo recognizing the state of Israel |last=Truman |first=Harry |publisher=Truman Presidential Museum & Library |date=[[1948-05-14]] |accessdate=2007-04-02}}</ref>

Lenczowski ([http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/GeorgeLenczowski.htm]) writes<ref>Lenczowski, p27</ref> “Whatever misgivings Truman might have had about the Zionist program, he eventually not only embraced it but added impetus to it by ordering the US delegation at the United Nations to vote for partition. It is not easy to give an evaluation of his motives in choosing this option. Initially, he was merely interested in relieving human misery by urging admission of displaced Jews to British-ruled Palestine. In that early stage, he appeared to be quite firm in rejecting “a political structure imposed on the Middle East that would result in conflict.”<ref>Truman, ''Memoirs 2'', p 140</ref> He was also aware, as we have seen, of the gains likely to accrue to the Soviets if Arabs were to be antagonized. Yet he ultimately chose a policy that did lead to conflict and opened the gates to Soviet penetration in the Arab world, as the examples of Nasser’s, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and other states showed. Was this policy based on his genuine conversion to the idea that the thus generated conflict in the Middle East was of secondary importance and that the Soviet factor could be safely disregarded? This alternative does not quite square with his determination to stop Soviet advances in the northern tier of Iran, Turkey, and Greece. Furthermore, as his arms embargo indicated, he did not identify US interest with Israel’s victory and never went on record claiming that Israel was America’s ally or strategic asset. This leaves us with the other possible alternative - that despite his resentment of the political pressures at home he chose to give them priority over other considerations. Certain observers who stood close to the decision-making process of that era were convinced that domestic politics constituted a major motivation in Truman’s behavior.<ref>Thus William E. Eddy, ''F.D.R Meets Ibn Saud'' New York: American Friends of the Middle East, 1954),p57; Evan M. Wilson, ''Decision on Palestine'', p58; Millis, ed. ''Forestall Diaries'', p322; Emmanuel Neumann, “Abba Hillel Silver, History Maker,” ''American Zionist'', February 5, 1953; and John S. Badeau, ''The Middle East Remembered'' (Washington, DC: Middle East Institute, 1983), p115</ref> In the often quoted statement addressed to four American envoys from the middle east who, at a meeting in the White House on November 10, 1945, warned him of adverse effects of a pro-Zionist policy, he declared: “I am sorry, gentlemen, but I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism: I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents.””<ref>Eddie, ''FDR Meets Ibn Saud'', p37. The four envoys were William A. Eddy, minister to Saudi Arabia; S. Pinkney Tuck, minister to Egypt; [[George Wadsworth (diplomat)| George Wadsworth]], minister to Syria and Lebanon; and Lowell C. Pinkerton, general counsel in Jerusalem</ref>

====Berlin Airlift====
{{details|Berlin Blockade}}
On [[June 24]] [[1948]], the Soviet Union blocked access to the three [[History of Berlin#The divided city|Western-held sectors]] of [[Berlin]]. The Allies had never negotiated a deal to guarantee supply of the sectors deep within the Soviet-occupied zone. The commander of the American occupation zone in Germany, General [[Lucius D. Clay]], proposed sending a large armored column driving peacefully, as a moral right, down the [[autobahn]] across the Soviet zone to [[West Berlin]], with instructions to defend itself if it were stopped or attacked. Truman, however, following the consensus in Washington, believed this would entail an unacceptable risk of war. He approved a plan to supply the blockaded city by air. On [[June 25]], the Allies initiated the [[Berlin Airlift]], a campaign that delivered food and other supplies, such as coal, using military airplanes on a massive scale. Nothing remotely like it had ever been attempted before. The airlift worked; ground access was again granted on [[May 11]] [[1949]]. The airlift continued for several months after that. The Berlin Airlift was one of Truman's great foreign policy successes as president; it significantly aided his election campaign in 1948.<ref name="airlift">{{cite web |last = Giangreco |first = D. M. |coauthors = Robert E. Griffin |year = 1988|url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/PAGE_11.HTM |title = The Airlift Begins: Airbridge to Berlin—The Berlin Crisis of 1948, its Origins and Aftermath |publisher = Truman Library |accessdate = 2007-08-04}}</ref>

====Defense cutbacks====
Truman, Congress, and [[the Pentagon]] followed a strategy of rapid demobilization after World War II, mothballing ships and sending the veterans home. The reasons for this strategy, which persisted through Truman's first term and well into his second, were largely financial. In order to fund domestic spending requirements, Truman had advocated a policy of defense program cuts for the U.S. armed forces at the end of the war. The Republican majority in Congress, anxious to enact numerous tax cuts, approved of Truman's plan to "hold the line" on defense spending.<ref name="lafeberbook"> {{cite book |last= LaFeber|first= Walter |title= America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–1980 |url= |accessdate= 2007-07-29 |edition= 7th|year= 1993 |publisher= McGraw-Hill|location= New York}}</ref> In addition, Truman's experience in the Senate left him with lingering suspicions that large sums were being wasted in the Pentagon.<ref> McCullough, p. 741.</ref> In 1949, Truman appointed [[Louis A. Johnson]] as Secretary of Defense. Impressed by U.S. advances in atomic bomb development, Truman and Johnson initially believed that the atomic bomb rendered conventional forces largely irrelevant to the modern battlefield. This assumption eventually had to be revisited, however, as the Soviet Union exploded its [[RDS-1|first atomic weapon]] in the same year.

Nevertheless, reductions continued, adversely affecting U.S. conventional defense readiness.<ref name="hessoral">{{cite web |last = Hess |first = Jerry N.|year =[[November 21]] [[1972]] |url = http://www.korean-war.com/miakia.html|title = Oral History Interviews with Karl R. Bendetsen: General Counsel, Department of the Army, 1949; Assistant Secretary of the Army, 1950–52; Under Secretary of the Army, 1952 |work = Oral Archives |publisher = Truman Presidential Library |accessdate = 2007-07-29}}</ref><ref name="Blair"> {{cite book |last= Blair|first= Clay |title= The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953 |year= 2003|publisher= Naval Institute Press |location= Annapolis, MD|language= |isbn= 1591140757}}</ref> Both Truman and Johnson had a particular antipathy to [[United States Navy|Navy]] and [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] budget requests.<ref name="Blair" /><ref name="Krulak"> {{cite book |last= Krulak|first= Victor H. (Lt. Gen.)|title= First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps |year= 1999|publisher= Naval Institute Press |location= Annapolis, MD|isbn= 1557504644}}</ref> Truman had a well-known dislike of the Marines dating back to his service in World War I, and famously said, "The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force, and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's."<ref name="Blair" /><ref name="Krulak" /> Indeed, Truman had proposed disbanding the Marine Corps entirely as part of the 1948 defense reorganization plan, a plan that was abandoned only after a letter-writing campaign and the intervention of influential congressmen who were Marine veterans.<ref name="Blair" /><ref name="Krulak" />

Under Truman defense budgets through Fiscal Year 1950, many Navy ships were mothballed, sold to other countries, or scrapped. The [[United States Army|U.S. Army]], faced with high turnover of experienced personnel, cut back on training exercises, and eased recruitment standards. Usable equipment was scrapped or sold off instead of stored, and even ammunition stockpiles were cut.<ref>Lane, Peter J., ''Steel for Bodies: Ammunition Readiness During the Korean War'', Master's Thesis: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (2003)</ref><ref name="Blair" /> The Marine Corps, its budgets slashed, was reduced to hoarding surplus inventories of World War II-era weapons and equipment.<ref name="Krulak" /><ref name="hessoral"/><ref name="Blair" /> It was only after the invasion of [[South Korea]] by the [[North Korean]]s in 1950 that Truman sent significantly larger defense requests to Congress—and initiated what might be considered the modern period of defense spending in the United States.

====Civil rights====
{{see|President's Committee on Civil Rights}}
A 1947 report by the Truman administration titled ''To Secure These Rights'' presented a detailed ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. In February 1948, the president submitted a civil rights agenda to Congress that proposed creating several federal offices devoted to issues such as [[voting rights]] and [[Employment discrimination|fair employment]] practices. This provoked a storm of criticism from Southern Democrats in the run up to the national nominating convention, but Truman refused to compromise, saying: "My forebears were [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]]. . . . But my very stomach turned over when I had learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of Army trucks in [[Mississippi]] and beaten."<ref name="margaretbook"/>

====1948 election====
[[Image:Deweytruman12.jpg|right|thumb|Truman was so widely expected to lose the 1948 election that the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' ran this incorrect headline. Truman is standing on the rear platform of the train car ''[[Ferdinand Magellan Railcar|Ferdinand Magellan]]'' at [[St. Louis Union Station]].]]

The [[United States presidential election, 1948|1948 presidential election]] is best remembered for Truman's stunning come-from-behind victory.<ref name="WHstudies">{{cite journal |coauthors= Ken Hechler and George M. Elsey|title= The greatest upset in American political history: Harry Truman and the 1948 election |journal= White House Studies |volume= 2006|issue=Winter}}</ref> In the spring of 1948, Truman's public approval rating stood at 36 percent,<ref name="burnesbook">{{cite book |last= Burnes|first= Brian|title= Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times |year= 2003|publisher= Kansas City Star Books|location= Kansas City, MO |isbn= 0974000930|pages= 137}}</ref> and the president was nearly universally regarded as incapable of winning the general election. The "New Deal" operatives within the party—including FDR's son [[James Roosevelt|James]]—tried to swing the Democratic nomination to General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], a wildly popular figure whose political views—and party affiliation—were totally unknown. Eisenhower emphatically refused to accept, and Truman outflanked opponents to his nomination.

At the [[1948 Democratic National Convention]], Truman attempted to calm turbulent domestic political waters by placing a tepid civil rights plank in the party platform; the aim was to assuage the internal conflicts between the northern and southern wings of his party. Events overtook the president's efforts at compromise, however. A sharp address given by Mayor [[Hubert Humphrey]] of [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]]—as well as the local political interests of a number of urban bosses—convinced the Convention to adopt a stronger civil rights plank, which Truman approved wholeheartedly. All of [[Alabama]]'s delegates, and a portion of Mississippi's, walked out of the convention in protest.<ref>McCullough, p. 640.</ref> Unfazed, Truman delivered an aggressive acceptance speech attacking the 80th Congress and promising to win the election and "make these Republicans like it."<ref name="Truman accept speech">{{cite web |year = 1948|url = http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/links/truman_speech.html|title = Truman's Democratic Convention Acceptance Speech |work = Presidential Links|publisher = PBS|accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

Within two weeks, Truman issued [[Executive Order 9981]], racially [[Racial integration|integrating]] the U.S. Armed Services.<ref name="integrating-military">{{cite web |url = http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-12.htm |title = Chapter 12: The President Intervenes |work = Center of Military History |publisher = US Army |accessdate = 2007-07-27}}</ref><ref name="executive-order">{{cite web |year = 1948|url = http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/1948.html|title = Executive Order 9981, Establishing the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, Harry S Truman |publisher = Federal Register |accessdate = 2007-07-27}}</ref><ref name="deseg-details">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/deseg.htm|title = Desegregation of the Armed Forces |publisher = Truman Library|accessdate = 2007-07-27}}</ref> Truman took considerable political risk in backing civil rights, and many seasoned Democrats were concerned that the loss of [[Dixiecrat]] support might destroy the Democratic Party. The fear seemed well justified—[[Strom Thurmond]] declared his candidacy for the presidency and led a full-scale revolt of Southern "[[states' rights]]" proponents. This revolt on the right was matched by a revolt on the left, led by former Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]] on the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]] ticket. Immediately after its first post-FDR convention, the Democratic Party found itself disintegrating. Victory in November seemed a remote possibility indeed, with the party not simply split but divided three ways.

There followed a remarkable {{convert|21928|mi|km|sing=on}} presidential odyssey,<ref>McCullough, p. 654</ref> an unprecedented personal appeal to the nation. Truman and his staff crisscrossed the United States in the presidential train; his "[[Whistle stop train tour|whistlestop]]" tactic of giving brief speeches from the rear platform of the [[observation car]] ''[[Ferdinand Magellan Railcar|Ferdinand Magellan]]'' came to represent the entire campaign. His combative appearances, such as those at the town square of [[Harrisburg, Illinois]], captured the popular imagination and drew huge crowds. Six stops in [[Michigan]] drew a combined total of half a million people;<ref>McCullough, p. 657</ref> a full million turned out for a [[New York City]] ticker-tape parade.<ref>McCullough, p. 701</ref>

The large, mostly spontaneous gatherings at Truman's depot events were an important sign of a critical change in momentum in the campaign—but this shift went virtually unnoticed by the national press corps, which continued reporting Republican [[Thomas Dewey]]'s apparent impending victory as a certainty. One reason for the press's inaccurate projection was polls conducted primarily by telephone in a time when many people, including much of Truman's populist base, did not own a telephone.<ref name="currantakata">{{cite web |last = Curran|first = Jeanne|coauthors = Takata, Susan R.|year = 2002|url = http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/sampling01.htm|title = Getting a Sample Isn't Always Easy |work = Dear Habermas|publisher = California State University - Dominguez Hills |accessdate = 2007-07-28}} "(E)lection polls have found, that the use of telephone surveys doesn't include lots of people who don't have telephones. That can lead to disastrous results, as it did in the Dewey-Truman election in 1948."</ref> This skewed the data to indicate a stronger support base for Dewey than existed, resulting in an unintended and undetected projection error that may well have contributed to the perception of Truman's bleak chances. The three major polling organizations also stopped polling well before the [[November 2]] election date—Roper in September, and Crossley and Gallup in October—thus failing to measure the very period when Truman appears to have surged past Dewey.<ref name="bennettse">{{cite web |last = Bennett|first = Stephen Earl|url = http://www.publicopinionpros.com/from_field/2007/jan/bennett_printable.asp|title = Restoration of Confidence: Polling’s Comeback from 1948 |publisher = Public Opinion Pros |accessdate = 2007-07-28}} "Roper finished polling in September, Crossley’s last poll was October 18, and Gallup stopped polling after October 28."</ref><ref name="strout">{{cite web |last = Strout|first = Richard L.|url = http://www.publicopinionpros.com/from_field/2007/jan/bennett_printable.asp
|title = Oral History Interview with Richard L. Strout |publisher = Truman Presidential Library|accessdate = 2007-07-28}} "Roper quit polling on September the ninth."</ref>

In the end, Truman held his midwestern base of progressives, won most of the Southern states despite his civil rights plank, and squeaked through with narrow victories in a few critical "battleground" states, notably [[Ohio]], [[California]], and [[Illinois]]. The final tally showed that the president had secured 303 electoral votes, Dewey 189, and Thurmond only 39. Henry Wallace got none. The defining image of the campaign came after Election Day, when Truman held aloft the erroneous front page of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' with a huge headline proclaiming "[[Dewey Defeats Truman]]."<ref name="historybuff"> {{cite web |url = http://www.historybuff.com/library/reftruman.html|title = The Story Behind "Dewey Defeats Truman" |publisher = Historybuff.com |accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref>

Truman's no-holds-barred style of campaigning in the face of seemingly impossible odds became a campaign tactic that would be repeated by, and appealed to by, many presidential candidates in years to come, notably [[George H. W. Bush]] in [[United States presidential election, 1992|1992]], another trailing incumbent who fought constantly with Congress.

Truman did not have a vice president in his first term.<ref name="veep">{{cite web |url = http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment25/|title = U.S. Constitution: Twenty-Fifth Amendment |publisher = FindLaw |accessdate = 2007-07-28}} Until the ratification of the [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1967, there was no provision for filling a mid-term vacancy in the office of vice president.</ref> His running mate, and eventual vice president for the term that began [[January 20]] [[1949]], was [[Alben W. Barkley]].

===Second term (1949–1953)===
Truman's second term was grueling, in large measure because of foreign policy challenges connected directly or indirectly to his policy of containment. For instance, he quickly had to come to terms with the end of the American nuclear monopoly. With information provided by its espionage networks in the United States, the Soviet Union's [[Soviet atomic bomb project|atomic bomb project]] progressed much faster than had been expected and they exploded their first bomb on [[August 29]] [[1949]]. On [[January 7]] [[1953]], Truman announced the detonation of the first U.S. [[Teller-Ulam design|hydrogen bomb]].

====NATO====
Truman was a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ([[NATO]]), which established a formal peacetime military alliance with [[Canada]] and many of the democratic European nations that had not fallen under Soviet control following World War II. The importance of this treaty, which Truman successfully guided through the Senate in 1949, is hard to overstate. It checked Soviet expansion in Europe, and sent a clear message to communist leaders that the world's democracies were willing and able to build new security structures in support of democratic ideals. The United States, [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Italy]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Norway]], [[Denmark]], [[Portugal]], [[Iceland]], and Canada were the original treaty signatories; [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]] joined in 1952.

====People's Republic of China====
On [[December 21]] [[1949]], [[Chiang Kai-shek]] (Jiang Jieshi) and his [[National Revolutionary Army]] left [[mainland China]], fleeing to [[Taiwan]] in the face of successful attacks by [[Mao Zedong]]'s communist army during the [[Chinese Civil War]]. In June 1950, Truman ordered the U.S. Navy's [[United States Seventh Fleet|Seventh Fleet]] into the [[Taiwan Strait]] to prevent further conflict between the communist government at the China mainland and the [[Republic of China]] at Taiwan. Truman also called for Taiwan not to make any further attack on the mainland.<ref name="taiwanstatus">{{cite web |url = http://www.geocities.com/taiwanstatus/taiwanstatus|title = Taiwan Status: From Grotius to WTO|publisher = Geocities |accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref>

====Soviet espionage and McCarthyism====
Throughout his presidency, Truman had to deal with accusations that the federal government was harboring Soviet spies at the highest level. Testimony in Congress on this issue garnered national attention, and thousands of people were fired as security risks. An optimistic, patriotic man, Truman was dubious about reports of potential Communist or Soviet penetration of the U.S. government, and his oft-quoted response was to dismiss the allegations as a "red herring."<ref name="friedbook"> {{cite book |last= Fried|first= Richard M. ||title= Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective |url= http://books.google.com/books?q=Nightmare+in+Red:+The+McCarthy+Era+in+Perspective&ots=qyNfR3yKVK&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title |accessdate= 2007-07-30 |year= 1990 |publisher= Oxford University Press|location= New York|language= |isbn= 0195043618}}</ref>

In August 1948, [[Whittaker Chambers]], a former spy for the Soviets and a senior editor at [[Time]] magazine, testified before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) and presented a list of what he said were members of an underground communist network working within the United States government in the 1930s. One was [[Alger Hiss]], a senior State Department official. Hiss denied the accusations.<ref name="tanenhausbook"> {{cite book |last= Tanenhaus|first= Sam |title= Whittaker Chambers ||year= 1998 |publisher= Modern Library|location= New York|isbn= 0375751459}}</ref>

Chambers's revelations led to a crisis in American political culture, as Hiss was convicted of perjury. On [[February 9]] [[1950]], Republican Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] accused the State Department of having communists on the payroll, and specifically claimed that Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] knew of, and was protecting, 205 communists within the State Department.<ref name="trumanmccarthy">{{cite web |year = [[August 27]] [[1951]]|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815218-1,00.html|title = "McCarthyism" v. "Trumanism" |publisher = ''Time'' |accessdate = 2007-07-27}}</ref> At issue was whether Truman had discovered all the subversive agents that had entered the government during the Roosevelt years. Many on the right, such as McCarthy and Congressman [[Richard Nixon]], insisted that he had not.

By spotlighting this issue and attacking Truman's administration, McCarthy quickly established himself as a national figure, and his explosive allegations dominated the headlines. His claims were short on confirmable details, but they nevertheless transfixed a nation struggling to come to grips with frightening new realities: the Soviet Union's nuclear explosion, the loss of U.S. atom bomb secrets, the fall China to communism, and new revelations of Soviet intelligence penetration of other U.S. agencies, including the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]].<ref name="friedbook"/> Truman, a pragmatic man who had made allowances for the likes of Tom Pendergast and Stalin, quickly developed an unshakable loathing of Joseph McCarthy.<ref name="HSTtele">{{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/exhibit_documents/index.php?pagenumber=1&titleid=203&tldate=1950-02-11&collectionid=mccarthy&PageID=-1&groupid=3435
|title = Telegram, Joseph McCarthy to Harry S. Truman, February 11, 1950, with Truman's draft reply; McCarthy, Joseph; General File; PSF; Truman Papers |publisher = Truman Presidential Library |accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref> He counterattacked, saying that "Americanism" itself was under attack by elements "who are loudly proclaiming that they are its chief defenders. . . . They are trying to create fear and suspicion among us by the use of slander, unproved accusations and just plain lies. . . . They are trying to get us to believe that our Government is riddled with communism and corruption. . . . These slandermongers are trying to get us so hysterical that no one will stand up to them for fear of being called a communist. Now this is an old communist trick in reverse. . . . That is not fair play. That is not Americanism."<ref name="trumanmccarthy"/> Nevertheless Truman was never able to shake his image among the public of being unable to purge his government of subversive influences.<ref name="friedbook"/>

====Pakistan====
President Truman recognised the newly created state of Pakistan in 1947 and the United States was one of the first countries in the world to do so. President Truman personally invited Pakistan's first Prime Minister [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] and his wife Begum Ra'ana to the United States for talks. Liaquat Ali Khan accepted the invitation and arrived in Washington in May 1950. Liaquat toured the United States and gave various speeches to the US Senate. At the time of the visit Pakistan was non-aligned between the US-led Western Bloc and the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and it had recognised the Communist-led People's Republic of China, ignoring Washington's opposition to Peking. Despite the success of his US tour, Liaquat Ali's Government did not make any drastic change in its foreign policy of semi-non-alignment in the Cold War rivalry. In the UN Security Council, it did oppose North Korea's aggression against pro-American South Korea but refused to send Pakistani combat troops to join the UN force in the Korean Peninsula. This was mainly because Pakistan was recently recovering from its war with India over the disputed [[Kashmir]] in 1948.<ref> {{cite web |last=Aziz |first = Qutubuddin |title= Quaid-i-Millat's visit to the United States - The foundation of friendship and economic co-operation |publisher= Truman Library & Museum| url=http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/spedition/liaqat_ali_khan/page2.htm.html |accessdate= 2008-02-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title= Truman Library Photographs |publisher= Truman Library & Museum| url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/search.php?access=selectbyname&nameid=1222 |accessdate= 2008-02-08}}</ref>

====Korean War====
{{details|Korean War}}
[[Image:Truman initiating Korean involvement.jpg|thumb|left|President Truman signing a proclamation declaring a national emergency that initiates U.S. involvement in the Korean War.]]
On [[June 25]] [[1950]], the North Korean People's Army under the command of [[Kim Il-sung]] invaded South Korea, precipitating the outbreak of the [[Korean War]]. Poorly trained and equipped, without tanks or air support, the South Korean Army was rapidly pushed backwards, quickly losing the capital, [[Seoul]].<ref name="applemanbook"> {{cite book |last= Appleman |first= Roy E. |title= South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (June–November 1950) |url= http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm |accessdate= 2007-07-27 |year= 1992 |publisher= Center of Military History, US Army|location= Washington, DC|isbn= 0-16-035958-9}}</ref>

Stunned, Truman called for a naval blockade of Korea, which went into effect; while the U.S. Navy no longer possessed sufficient surface ships with which to enforce such a measure, no ships tried to challenge it.<ref name="blockade">{{cite web |year = [[July 6]] [[1950]] |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week2/kw_78_1.jpg|title = Memorandum of Information for the Secretary - Blockade of Korea |publisher = Truman Presidential Library—Archives |accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref> Truman promptly urged the United Nations to intervene; it did, authorizing armed defense for the first time in its history. The Soviet Union, which was boycotting the United Nations at the time, was not present at the vote that approved the measure. However, Truman decided not to consult with Congress, an error that greatly weakened his position later in the conflict.<ref name="kepleybook"> {{cite book |last= Kepley|first= David R. |title= The Collapse of the Middle Way: Senate Republicans and the Bipartisan Foreign Policy, 1948–1952 |year= 1988 |publisher= Greenwood Press |location= Westport, CT|language= |isbn= 0313257841}}</ref>

In the first four weeks of the conflict, the American infantry forces hastily deployed to Korea proved too few and were under-equipped. The Eighth Army in [[Japan]] was forced to recondition World War II [[M4 Sherman|Sherman tanks]] from depots and monuments for use in Korea.<ref name="Blair" /><ref name="summersarticle"> {{cite web |last = Summers|first = Harry G.|year = 1996|url =http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/24thID.htm|title = The Korean War: A Fresh Perspective |publisher = Rt66.com |accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref> {{Quote box
|width=200px
|align=right
|quote="I fired him [MacArthur] because he wouldn't respect the [[Civilian control of the military|authority of the President]]. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb [[son of a bitch]], although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail."
|source=Harry S. Truman, quoted in ''Time'' magazine
|title=Giving Them More Hell
|publisher=''Time''
|date=3 Dec. 1973}}

Responding to criticism over readiness, Truman fired his Secretary of Defense, [[Louis A. Johnson]], replacing him with retired general [[George Marshall]]. Truman (with UN approval) decided on a roll-back policy—that is, conquest of North Korea.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Matray |first = James I. |year = 1979 |title = Truman's Plan for Victory: National Self-determination and the Thirty-eighth Parallel Decision in Korea |journal = Journal of American History |volume = 66 |issue = 2 |pages = 314–333}}</ref> UN forces led by General [[Douglas MacArthur]] led the counterattack, scoring a stunning surprise victory with an amphibious landing at the [[Battle of Inchon]] that nearly trapped the invaders. UN forces then marched north, toward the [[Yalu River]] boundary with China, with the goal of reuniting Korea under UN auspices.

China surprised the UN forces with a large-scale invasion in November. The UN forces were forced back to below the [[38th parallel north|38th parallel]], then recovered; by early 1951 the war became a fierce stalemate at about the 38th parallel where it had begun. UN and U.S. casualties were heavy. Truman rejected MacArthur's request to attack Chinese supply bases north of the Yalu, but MacArthur nevertheless promoted his plan to Republican House leader [[Joseph William Martin, Jr.|Joseph Martin]], who leaked it to the press. Truman was gravely concerned that further escalation of the war might draw the Soviet Union further into the conflict: it was already supplying weapons and providing warplanes (with Korean markings and Soviet fliers). On [[April 11]] [[1951]], Truman fired MacArthur from all his commands in Korea and Japan.

Relieving MacArthur of his command was among the least politically popular decisions in presidential history. Truman's approval ratings plummeted, and he faced calls for his [[impeachment]] from, among others, Senator [[Robert Taft]]. The ''Chicago Tribune'' called for immediate impeachment proceedings against Truman:

<blockquote>President Truman must be impeached and convicted. His hasty and vindictive removal of Gen. MacArthur is the culmination of series of acts which have shown that he is unfit, morally and mentally, for his high office. . . . The American nation has never been in greater danger. It is led by a fool who is surrounded by knaves. . . .<ref>{{cite journal |last = Strout |first = Lawrence N. |year = 1999 |title = Covering McCarthyism: How the Christian Science Monitor Handled Joseph R. McCarthy, 1950–1954 |journal = Journal of Political and Military Sociology |volume = 2001|issue = Summer |pages = 41}}</ref></blockquote>

Fierce criticism from virtually all quarters accused Truman of refusing to shoulder the blame for a war gone sour and blaming his generals instead. MacArthur returned to the United States to a hero's welcome, and, after an address before Congress, was even rumored as a candidate for the presidency.

The war remained a frustrating stalemate for two years, with over 30,000 Americans killed, until a peace agreement restored borders and ended the conflict.<ref name="korwarstats">{{cite web |url = http://www.korean-war.com/miakia.html|title = U.S. Military Korean War Statistics |publisher = Korean-war.com |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> In the interim, the difficulties in Korea and the popular outcry against Truman's sacking of MacArthur helped to make the president so unpopular that Democrats started turning to other candidates. In the [[New Hampshire primary]] on [[March 11]] [[1952]], Truman lost to [[Estes Kefauver]], who won the preference poll 19,800 to 15,927 and all eight delegates. Truman was forced to cancel his reelection campaign.<ref name="davidbook"> {{cite book |last= David |first= Paul T. |authorlink= |title=Presidential Nominating Politics in 1952 Vol. 1 |year= 1954|publisher= The Johns Hopkins Press|location= Baltimore, MD|pages= 33–40}}</ref> In February 1952, Truman's approval mark stood at 22 percent according to [[Gallup poll]]s, the all-time lowest approval mark for an active American president.<ref name="lowestrating">{{cite web |year = 2007|url = http://137.99.36.203/CFIDE/roper/presidential/webroot/presidential_rating.cfm
|title = Comparing Past Presidential Performance |work = Public Opinion Archives |publisher = Roper Center|accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

====Indochina====
{{details|First Indochina War}}
United States' involvement in [[Indochina]] widened during the Truman administration. On [[V-J Day]] 1945, [[Vietnam]]ese Communist leader [[Ho Chi Minh]] declared independence from France, but the U.S. announced its support of restoring [[French Indochina|French power]]. In 1950, Ho again declared Vietnamese independence, which was recognized by Communist China and the Soviet Union. He controlled some remote territory along the Chinese border, while France controlled the remainder. Truman's "containment policy" called for opposition to Communist expansion, and led the U.S. to continue to recognize French rule, support the French client government, and increase aid to Vietnam. However, a basic dispute emerged: the Americans wanted a strong and independent Vietnam, while the French cared little about containing China but instead wanted to suppress local nationalism and integrate Indochina into the [[French Union]].<ref name="duikerbook"> {{cite book |last= Duiker |first= William J. |title= U.S. Containment Policy and the Conflict in Indochina|year= 1994 |publisher = Stanford University Press|location= Stanford, CA}} (Untitled [http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/JCS/Fall95/jespersen.pdf review] (PDF) of this book by Christopher Jesperson, ''Journal of Conflict Studies,'' Fall 1995. Retrieved [[August 4]] [[2007]].)</ref>

====White House renovations====
[[Image:White-house-1950-interior-shell.jpg|thumb|right|View of the interior shell of the White House during reconstruction in 1950]]
In 1948 Truman ordered a controversial addition to the exterior of the [[White House]]: a second-floor balcony in the south portico that came to be known as the "Truman Balcony." The addition was unpopular.<ref name="balcony">{{cite web |year = |url = http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/renovation-1948.htm|title = Truman Reconstruction : 1948–1952 |publisher = White House Museum |accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

Not long afterwards, engineering experts concluded that the building, much of it over 130 years old, was in a dangerously dilapidated condition. That August, a section of floor collapsed and Truman's own bedroom and bathroom were closed as unsafe. No public announcement about the serious structural problems of the White House was made until after the 1948 election had been won, by which time Truman had been informed that his new balcony was the only part of the building that was sound. The Truman family moved into nearby [[Blair House]]; as the newer [[West Wing]], including the [[Oval Office]], remained open, Truman found himself walking to work across the street each morning and afternoon. In due course the decision was made to demolish and rebuild the whole interior of the main White House, as well as excavating new basement levels and underpinning the foundations. The famous exterior of the structure, however, was buttressed and retained while the renovations proceeded inside. The work lasted from December 1949 until March 1952.<ref>McCullough, 593, 652, 725, 875ff.</ref>

====Assassination attempt====
{{details|Truman assassination attempt}}
On [[November 1]] [[1950]], [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican]] nationalists [[Griselio Torresola]] and [[Oscar Collazo]] attempted to assassinate Truman at Blair House. On the street outside the residence, Torresola mortally wounded a White House policeman, [[Leslie Coffelt]], who shot Torresola dead before expiring himself. Collazo, as a co-conspirator in a felony that turned into a homicide, was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death in 1952. Truman later commuted his sentence to life in prison.

Acknowledging the importance of the question of Puerto Rican independence, Truman allowed for a plebiscite in Puerto Rico to determine the status of its relationship to the United States.

The attack, which could easily have taken the president's life, drew new attention to security concerns surrounding his residence at Blair House. He had jumped up from his nap, and was watching the gunfight from his open bedroom window until a passerby shouted at him to take cover.<ref>McCullough</ref>

====Steel industry seizure attempt====
{{details|1952 steel strike}}
In response to a labor/management impasse arising from bitter disagreements over wage and price controls, Truman instructed his [[United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]], [[Charles W. Sawyer]], to take control of a number of the nation's steel mills in April of 1952. Truman cited his authority as Commander in Chief and the need to maintain an uninterrupted supply of steel for munitions to be used in the war in Korea. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] found Truman's actions unconstitutional, however, and reversed the order in a major [[separation of powers|separation-of-powers]] decision, ''[[Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer]]''. The 6–3 decision, which held that Truman's assertion of authority was too vague and was not rooted in any legislative action by Congress, was delivered by a Court composed entirely of Justices appointed by either Truman or Roosevelt. The high court's reversal of Truman's order was one of the notable defeats of his presidency.<ref name="higgsarticle"> {{cite web|last= Higgs|first= Robert |title= Truman's Attempt to Seize the Steel Industry |url= http://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1394 |accessdate= 2007-08-03 |work=The Freeman |year = [[March 1]] [[2004]] |publisher= The Independent Institute}}</ref>

===Scandals and controversies===
In 1950, the Senate, led by [[Estes Kefauver]], investigated numerous charges of corruption among senior administration officials, some of whom received [[fur coat]]s and [[refrigerator|deep freezers]] for favors. The [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) was involved. In 1950, 166 IRS employees either resigned or were fired,<ref name="indcounsel">{{cite journal |last= Smaltz|first=Donald C. |year= 1998|month=July |title= Independent Counsel: A View from Inside |journal= The Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 86, No. 6}}</ref> and many were facing indictments from the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] on a variety of tax-fixing and bribery charges, including the assistant attorney general in charge of the Tax Division. When Attorney General [[Howard McGrath]] fired the special prosecutor for being too zealous, Truman fired McGrath.<ref name="cyber cemeteries">{{cite web |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/oic/SMALTZ/speeches/gonzag.htm |title=Speech Delivered by Donald C. Smaltz |accessdate= 2007-08-03|last=Smaltz |first=Donald C.|year= [[January 29]] [[1996]]|publisher=University of North Texas Libraries}}</ref> Historians agree that Truman himself was innocent and unaware—with one exception. In 1945, Mrs. Truman received a new, expensive, hard-to-get deep freezer. The businessman who provided the gift was the president of a perfume company and, thanks to Truman's aide and confidante General [[Harry Vaughan]], received priority to fly to Europe days after the war ended, where he bought new perfumes. On the way back he "bumped" a wounded veteran from a flight that would have taken him back to the US. Disclosure of the episode in 1949 humiliated Truman. The president responded by vigorously defending Vaughan, an old friend with an office in the White House itself. Vaughan was eventually connected to multiple influence-peddling scandals.<ref>Donovan 1982, pp. 116–117</ref>

Charges that Soviet agents had infiltrated the government bedeviled the Truman administration and became a major campaign issue for Eisenhower in 1952.<ref name="time92456">{{cite web |year = 1956 |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867099-3,00.html |title = The Corruption Issue: A Pandora's Box, referencing 1952 campaign, article 9/24/56 |publisher = ''Time''|accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> In 1947, Truman set up loyalty boards to investigate espionage among federal employees.<ref name="oath">{{cite web |year = 1947 |url =http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst203/documents/loyal.html |title =Truman Loyalty Oath, 1947 |publisher = Matrix |accessdate = 2007-07-19}}</ref> Between 1947 and 1952, "about 20,000 government employees were investigated, some 2500 resigned 'voluntarily,' and 400 were fired."<ref name="boyerbook"> {{cite book |last= Boyer|first= Paul |title= By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age |year= 1994 |publisher= The University of North Carolina Press|location= Chapel Hill|isbn= 9780807844809|pages= 103}}</ref> He did, however, strongly oppose mandatory loyalty oaths for governmental employees, a stance that led to charges that his administration was soft on communism.<ref name="newmanbook"> {{cite book |last= Newman |first= Roger K. |authorlink= |title= Hugo Black: A Biography |accessdate= 2007-07-31|year= 1997 |publisher= Fordham University Press|location= New York |isbn= 0823217868|pages= 382|quote = HST's stated desire to "keep something worse from happening" by implementing his loyalty check program}}</ref>

In 1953, Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] and Attorney General [[Herbert Brownell, Jr.]] claimed that Truman had known [[Harry Dexter White]] was a Soviet spy when Truman appointed him to the [[International Monetary Fund]].<ref>{{cite news |title = The White Case Record |work = Time Magazine |date = [[November 30]] [[1953]] |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823119,00.html |accessdate = 2006-10-03}}</ref> <ref>{{cite book |last= Moynihan, et al.|first= Daniel Patrick |title= Chairman's Foreword, Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy |url= http://www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/index.html |accessdate= 2007-08-03 |year= 1997 |publisher= U.S. Congress, U.S. Government Printing Office |location= Washington, D.C.}}</ref>

===Administration and Cabinet===
All of the cabinet members when Truman became president in 1945 had been
previously serving under Franklin D. Roosevelt.
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=right
|clear=
|Name=Truman
|President=[[Harry S. Truman]]
|President start=1945
|President end=1953
|Vice President=none
|Vice President start=1945
|Vice President end=1949
|Vice President 2=[[Alben W. Barkley]]
|Vice President start 2=1949
|Vice President end 2=1953
|State=[[Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.]]
|State start=1945
|State end=1945
|State 2=[[James F. Byrnes]]
|State start 2=1945
|State end 2=1947
|State 3=[[George C. Marshall]]
|State start 3=1947
|State end 3=1949
|State 4=[[Dean G. Acheson]]
|State start 4=1949
|State end 4=1953
|War=[[Henry L. Stimson]]
|War start=1945
|War end=1945
|War 2=[[Robert P. Patterson]]
|War start 2=1945
|War end 2=1947
|War 3=[[Kenneth C. Royall]]
|War start 3=1947
|War end 3=1947
|Treasury=[[Henry Morgenthau, Jr.]]
|Treasury start=1945
|Treasury end=1945
|Treasury 2=[[Fred M. Vinson]]
|Treasury start 2=1945
|Treasury end 2=1946
|Treasury 3=[[John W. Snyder]]
|Treasury start 3=1946
|Treasury end 3=1953
|Defense=[[James V. Forrestal]]
|Defense start=1947
|Defense end=1949
|Defense 2=[[Louis A. Johnson]]
|Defense start 2=1949
|Defense end 2=1950
|Defense 3=[[George C. Marshall]]
|Defense start 3=1950
|Defense end 3=1951
|Defense 4=[[Robert A. Lovett]]
|Defense start 4=1951
|Defense end 4=1953
|Justice=[[Francis Biddle]]
|Justice start=1945
|Justice end=
|Justice 2=[[Tom C. Clark]]
|Justice start 2=1945
|Justice end 2=1949
|Justice 3=[[J. Howard McGrath]]
|Justice start 3=1949
|Justice end 3=1952
|Justice 4=[[James P. McGranery]]
|Justice start 4=1952
|Justice end 4=1953
|Post=[[Frank C. Walker]]
|Post start=1945
|Post end=
|Post 2=[[Robert E. Hannegan]]
|Post start 2=1945
|Post end 2=1947
|Post 3=[[Jesse M. Donaldson]]
|Post start 3=1947
|Post end 3=1953
|Navy=[[James V. Forrestal]]
|Navy start=1945
|Navy end=1947
|Interior=[[Harold L. Ickes]]
|Interior start=1945
|Interior end=1946
|Interior 2=[[Julius A. Krug]]
|Interior start 2=1946
|Interior end 2=1949
|Interior 3=[[Oscar L. Chapman]]
|Interior start 3=1949
|Interior end 3=1953
|Agriculture=[[Claude R. Wickard]]
|Agriculture start=1945
|Agriculture end=
|Agriculture 2=[[Clinton P. Anderson]]
|Agriculture start 2=1945
|Agriculture end 2=1948
|Agriculture 3=[[Charles F. Brannan]]
|Agriculture start 3=1948
|Agriculture end 3=1953
|Commerce=[[Henry A. Wallace]]
|Commerce start=1945
|Commerce end=1946
|Commerce 2=[[W. Averell Harriman]]
|Commerce start 2=1946
|Commerce end 2=1948
|Commerce 3=[[Charles W. Sawyer]]
|Commerce start 3=1948
|Commerce end 3=1953
|Labor=[[Frances Perkins]]
|Labor start=1945
|Labor end=
|Labor 2=[[Lewis B. Schwellenbach]]
|Labor start 2=1945
|Labor end 2=1948
|Labor 3=[[Maurice J. Tobin]]
|Labor start 3=1948
|Labor end 3=1953
}}

===Supreme Court appointments===
Truman appointed the following Justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:

*[[Harold Hitz Burton]]—1945
*[[Fred M. Vinson]] ([[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]])—1946
*[[Tom C. Clark]]—1949
*[[Sherman Minton]]—1949

===1952 election===
{{details|United States presidential election, 1952}}
In 1951, the U.S. ratified the [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22nd Amendment]], making a president ineligible to be elected for a third time, or to be elected for a second time after having served more than two years of the previous president's term. The latter clause would have applied to Truman in 1952, but he was still eligible to run for a third term since a [[grandfather clause]] in the amendment explicitly excluded the current president from this provision.

At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary, no candidate had won Truman's backing. His first choice, Chief Justice [[Fred M. Vinson]], had declined to run; Illinois Governor [[Adlai Stevenson]] had also turned Truman down; Vice President Barkley was considered too old; and Truman distrusted and disliked Senator [[Estes Kefauver]], whom he privately called "Cowfever."<ref>McCullough p. 887</ref><ref name="ambrosebook"> {{cite book |last= Ambrose|first= Stephen E. |authorlink= Stephen Ambrose|title= Eisenhower: 1890–1952 |url= |accessdate= 2007-08-03|year= 1983|publisher= Simon & Schuster|location= New York |isbn= 0671440691|pages= 515|quote = Journalist Arthur Krock was told by a third party that in 1951 Truman privately offered the top spot on the Democratic ticket to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], but Eisenhower, who turned out to be a Republican, supposedly declined. Truman and Eisenhower both denied the story}}</ref>

Truman's name was on the New Hampshire primary ballot, but Kefauver won. On [[March 29]] Truman announced his decision not to run for re-election.<ref>McCullough, pp. 887–893.</ref> Stevenson, having reconsidered his presidential ambitions, received Truman's backing and won the Democratic nomination. Dwight D. Eisenhower, now a partisan Republican and the nominee of his party, campaigned against what he denounced as Truman's failures regarding "Korea, Communism and Corruption" and the "mess in Washington,"<ref name="time91552">{{cite web |year = 1952 |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816934-1,00.html |title = The Way West, article 9/15/52 |publisher = ''Time''|accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref> and promised to "go to Korea."<ref name="hurwoodbook">{{cite book |last= Hurwood|first= Burnhardt J.|coauthors= Frank Gosfield |title= Korea: Land of the 38th Parallel |url= http://www.bookbase.com/search;jsessionid=9D7150910EE9F9A087C77897586EA9DB?dealer_login=gunvilles&bookId=032761&method=POST |accessdate= 2007-08-01|year= 1969|publisher= Parents Magazine Press|location= New York |pages= 123}}</ref> Eisenhower defeated Stevenson decisively in the [[United States presidential election, 1952|general election]], ending 20 years of Democratic rule.

==Post-presidency==
===Truman Library, ''Memoirs,'' and life as a private citizen===
Truman returned to Independence, Missouri to live at the Wallace home he and Bess had shared for years with her mother. His predecessor, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], had organized his own [[presidential library]], but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar still remained to be enacted. Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library, which he then donated to the federal government to maintain and operate—a practice adopted by all of his successors.

Once out of office, Truman quickly decided that he did not wish to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the nation's highest office. He also turned down numerous offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unremunerative, he had no personal savings. As a result, he faced financial challenges. Once Truman left the White House, his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month. Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself had ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government would receive similar support. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents.

[[Image:Lyndon Johnson signing Medicare bill, with Harry Truman, 30 July, 1965.jpg|thumb|right|Truman (seated right) and his wife Bess (behind him) attend the signing of the [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] Bill on [[July 30]] [[1965]], by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]].]]
He took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and then set about establishing another precedent for future former chief executives: a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office. [[Ulysses S. Grant]] had overcome similar financial issues with his own memoirs, but the book had been published posthumously, and he had declined to write about life in the White House in any detail. For the memoirs Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and had to pay two-thirds of that in tax; he calculated he got $37,000 after he paid his assistants.<ref>Ferrell, p. 387.</ref>

Truman's memoirs were a commercial and critical success;<ref name="manofspirit">{{cite web |year =[[August 13]] [[1956]] |url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,865421,00.html |title =The Man of Spirit |publisher =''Time'' |accessdate = 2007-07-29}}</ref><ref name="nevins">McCullough p. 949; quoting Allan Nevins writing for ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' 11/6/55, called ''Year of Decisions'' a "volume of distinction"</ref> they were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956 by Doubleday (Garden City, N.Y) and Hodder & Stoughton (London): ''Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions'' and ''Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope''.

Truman was quoted in 1957 as saying to then-House Majority Leader [[John William McCormack|John McCormack]], "Had it not been for the fact that I was able to sell some property that my brother, sister, and I inherited from our mother, I would practically be on relief, but with the sale of that property I am not financially embarrassed."<ref>McCullough, p. 963</ref>

In 1958, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president, and it is likely that Truman's financial status played a role in the law's enactment. The one other living former president at the time, [[Herbert Hoover]], also took the pension, even though he did not need the money; reportedly, he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman.<ref name="martinbook"> {{cite book |last= Martin|first= Joseph William |authorlink= |title= My First Fifty Years in Politics as Told to Robert J. Donovan |year= 1960|publisher= McGraw-Hill|location= New York |pages= 249}}</ref> Hoover may have been remembering an old favor: Shortly after becoming President, Truman had invited Hoover to the White House for an informal chat about conditions in Europe. This was Hoover's first visit to the White House since leaving office, as the Roosevelt administration had shunned Hoover.<ref>McCullough, pp. 389-90</ref>

===Later life and death===
In 1956, Truman took a trip to Europe with his wife, and was a sensation. In Britain he received an honorary degree in Civic Law from [[Oxford University]], an event that moved him to tears. He met with his friend [[Winston Churchill]] for the last time, and on returning to the U.S., he gave his full support to Adlai Stevenson's second bid for the White House, although he had initially favored Democratic Governor [[W. Averell Harriman]] of New York for the nomination.

Upon turning 80, Truman was feted in Washington and asked to address the United States Senate, as part of a new rule that allowed former presidents to be granted "privilege of the floor." Truman was so emotionally overcome by the honor and by his reception that he was barely able to deliver his speech.<ref>McCullough, p. 983</ref> He also campaigned for senatorial candidates. A bad fall in the bathroom of his home in late 1964 severely limited his physical capabilities, and he was unable to maintain his daily presence at his presidential library.

In 1965, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] signed the [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] bill at the [[Truman Library]] and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor his fight for government health care as president.

On [[December 5]] [[1972]], he was admitted to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]]'s Research Hospital and Medical Center with lung congestion from [[pneumonia]]. He subsequently developed multiple organ failure and died at 7:50 a.m. on [[December 26]]. Bess Truman died nearly ten years later, on [[October 18]] [[1982]].<ref name="death"> {{cite web |url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/bwt-bio.htm|title = Biographical sketch of Mrs. Harry S. Truman |publisher = Truman Presidential Library |accessdate = 2007-07-28}}</ref> He and Bess are buried at the [[Truman Library]].

==Legacy==
When he left office in 1953, Truman was one of the most unpopular chief executives in history. His job approval rating of 22 percent in the Gallup Poll as of February 1952 was actually lower than [[Richard Nixon]]'s was in August 1974 at 24 percent, the month that Nixon finally resigned. Public feeling toward Truman grew steadily warmer with the passing years, however, and the period shortly after his death consolidated a partial rehabilitation among both historians and members of the general public. Since leaving office, Truman has fared well in [[Historical rankings of United States Presidents|polls ranking the presidents]]. He has never been listed lower than ninth, and most recently was seventh in a ''Wall Street Journal'' poll in 2005. He has also had his critics. After a review of information available to Truman on the presence of espionage activities in the U.S. government, Democratic Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] concluded that Truman was "almost willfully obtuse" concerning the danger of American communism.<ref name="moynihan"> {{cite web |url=http://fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/foreword.html |publisher = Moynihan Library | title = CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD| accessdate= 2008-02-08}} </ref>

Truman died during a time when the nation was consumed with crises in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] and [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]], and his death brought a new wave of attention to his political career.<ref name="morehell">{{cite web |year =[[December 3]] [[1973]] |url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908217,00.html |title =Giving Them More Hell |publisher =''Time'' |accessdate = 2007-07-29}}</ref> In the early and mid-1970s, Truman captured the popular imagination much as he had in 1948, this time emerging as a kind of political folk hero, a president who was thought to exemplify an integrity and accountability many observers felt was lacking in the Nixon White House. [[James Whitmore]] was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Academy Award]] for his portrayal of Truman in the one-man show ''[[Give 'em Hell, Harry!]]'', [[Ed Flanders]] won an [[Emmy Award]] for playing Truman in ''Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking,'' and the pop band [[Chicago (band)|Chicago]] recorded a nostalgic song, "[[Harry Truman (song)|Harry Truman]]" (1975).

Due to Truman's critical role in the US government's decision to recognize Israel, the Israeli rural town ''Kfar Truman'', founded in 1949, was named after him.

The [[Truman Scholarship]], a federal program that sought to honor U.S. college students who exemplified dedication to public service and leadership in public policy, was created in 1975.<ref name="scholarship">{{cite web |url = http://www.truman.gov/about/about_list.htm?cat_id=552 |title = Our History: A Living Memorial|publisher = Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation|accessdate = 2007-07-26}}</ref>

The [[USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)|USS ''Harry S. Truman'']] was named on [[September 7]] [[1996]]. The ship, sometimes known as the 'HST', was authorized as ''USS United States'', but her name was changed before the keel laying.

The official mascot of the [[University of Missouri–Columbia|University of Missouri's]] athletic teams, the "[[Missouri Tigers]]," is named [[Truman the Tiger]]. The school of [[political science]] at the university is also named the "Truman School of Political Science." To mark its transformation from a regional state [[Teachers College|teachers' college]] to a selective [[liberal arts university]] and to honor the only Missourian to become president, Northeast Missouri State University became [[Truman State University]] on [[July 1]] [[1996]]. A member institution of the [[City Colleges of Chicago]], [[Harry S Truman College]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]] is named in honor of the president for his dedication to public colleges and universities. The headquarters for the State Department, built in the 1930s but never officially named, was dedicated as the [[Harry S Truman Building]] in 2000.

Thom Daniel, grandson of the Truman's accepted a star on the Missouri Walk of Fame in 2006 to honor his late grandfather. John Truman, Truman's nephew, would accept a star for Bess Truman in 2007. The Walk of Fame is in Marshfield, Missouri, a city Truman visited in 1948.

===Historic sites===
*[[Harry S. Truman National Historic Site]] includes the Wallace House at 219 Delaware in Independence and the family farmhouse at [[Grandview, Missouri]] (Truman sold most of the farm for Kansas City suburban development including the Truman Corners Shopping Center).
*[http://www.mostateparks.com/trumansite.htm Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site] is the house where Truman was born and spent 11 months in [[Lamar, Missouri]].
*[[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]]—The [[Presidential Library]] in Independence
*[[Harry S. Truman Little White House]]—Truman's winter getaway at [[Key West, Florida]]

==Truman's middle initial==
[[Image:Harry S. Truman signature.png|right|HST's signature]]
Truman did not have a [[middle name]], only a middle initial. In his autobiography, Truman stated, "I was named for . . . Harrison Young. I was given the diminutive Harry and, so that I could have two initials in my given name, the letter S was added. My Grandfather Truman's name was Anderson Shippe Truman and my Grandfather Young's name was Solomon Young, so I received the S for both of them." Anderson's name was also spelled Shipp. He once joked that the S was a name, not an initial, and it should not have a period, but official documents and his presidential library all use a period.<ref name="TL-MI-S" /> Furthermore, the [[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum|Harry S. Truman Library]] has numerous examples of the signature written at various times throughout Truman's lifetime where his own use of a period after the S is conspicuous. The [[Associated Press]] Stylebook has called for a period after the S since the early 1960s, when Truman indicated he had no preference.<ref name="stylebook"> {{cite book |last= Goldstein|first= Norm |title= Associated Press Stylebook 2003 |year= 2003|publisher= Perseus Books|location= Cambridge, MA |isbn= 046500489X|pages= 256}}</ref> However, the use of a period after his middle initial is not universal, and the official White House biography does not use it.<ref>{{cite web |url =http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ht33.html |title =Biography of Harry S Truman |accessdate =2007-08-16 |publisher =The White House}}</ref>

Truman's bare initial caused an unusual slip when he first became president and had to take the [[President of the United States oath of office|oath of office]]. At a meeting in the Cabinet Room, [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Harlan Fiske Stone|Harlan Stone]] began reading the oath by saying "I, Harry Shipp Truman, . . ." Truman responded: "I, Harry S. Truman, . . ."<ref>McCullough, p. 347</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{main|Bibliography of Harry S. Truman}}

*{{cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Barton J. (ed.) |title=The Truman Administration: A Documentary History |year=1966 |publisher =HarperCollins |isbn =0-060-90120-9 |edition=First edition}}
*{{cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Barton J. (ed.) |title=Politics and Policies of the Truman Administration |year=1970 |publisher=Franklin Watts |isbn=0-531-06328-3 |edition = Second edition}}
*{{cite book |authorlink=Robert H. Ferrell |last=Ferrell |first=Robert H. (ed.) |title=Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess Truman, 1910–1959 |year=1983 |publisher=Appleton, Crofts Century |isbn=0-390-18229-X}}
*{{cite book |last=Ferrell |first=Robert H. (ed.) |title=Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman |year=1980 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-826-21119-4}}
*{{cite book |last=Merrill |first=Dennis (ed.) |title=Documentary History of the Truman Presidency |year=1969 |isbn=1-556-55580-6}} (35 volumes)
*{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Merle |title=Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman |year=1974 |publisher =Putnam Publishing Group |isbn =0-399-11261-8}}
*{{cite book |last=Neal |first=Steve |coauthors=Remini, Robert V. (eds.) |title=Miracle of '48: Harry Truman's Major Campaign Speeches & Selected Whistle-Stops |year=2003}}
*{{cite book |last=Truman |first=Margaret |authorlink =Margaret Truman |title=Harry S. Truman |year=1973 |publisher=William Morrow and Co}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}


==External links==
{{sisterlinks|Harry S. Truman}}

*{{cite web |url =http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/truman |title =President Harry S. Truman |accessdate =2007-08-14 |format = |work =American President: An Online Reference Resource |publisher =Miller Center of Public Affairs}}
*{{cite web |url =http://millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/presidentialrecordings/pages/tapes_hst |title =Truman Tapes |accessdate =2007-08-14 |format = |work =Presidential Recording Project |publisher =Miller Center of Public Affairs}}
*[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu The American Presidency Project at UCSB: The Most Comprehensive Resource on the Web]
*[http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=635 'The American Presidency: Transformation and Change - Harry Truman'], lecture by Professor Vernon Bogdanor at [[Gresham College]], 29th January 2008 [available for free audio, video and text download]
*[http://www.keirsey.com/handler.aspx?s=keirsey&f=fourtemps&tab=2&c=truman An analysis of Harry Truman's personality]
*[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/cabinet/cabinet.htm Harry Truman's cabinet]
*[http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g33.htm Medical and health history of Harry Truman]
*[http://www.c-span.org/presidentiallibraries/president.aspx?ID=33 C-SPAN's Presidential Libraries: Harry S. Truman]

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{{Persondata
|NAME= Truman, Harry S.
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=thirty-third [[President of the United States]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= [[May 8]] [[1884]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Lamar, Missouri]]
|DATE OF DEATH=[[December 26]] [[1972]]
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Kansas City, Missouri]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truman, Harry S.}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:American anti-communists]]
[[Category:American memoirists]]
[[Category:American military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Americans with Huguenot ancestry]]
[[Category:Baptists from the United States]]
[[Category:Cold War leaders]]
[[Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1948]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Harry S. Truman|*]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1945–1964)]]
[[Category:Missouri writers]]
[[Category:Pendergast era]]
[[Category:People from Independence, Missouri]]
[[Category:People from Kansas City]]
[[Category:People of the Korean War]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Time magazine Persons of the Year]]
[[Category:United States Senators from Missouri]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:William Chrisman High School alumni]]
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