Truman Grew Up on the Family Farm in Independence, Missouri, and Did Not Attend College.

Sworn in as the 33rd president after Franklin Delano Roosevelt'south sudden decease, Harry S. Truman presided over the end of WWII and dropped the diminutive bomb on Japan.

Who Was Harry South. Truman?

Harry Southward. Truman was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's vice president for merely 82 days before Roosevelt died and Truman became the 33rd president. In his first months in office, he dropped the atomic flop on Nippon, catastrophe World War Two. His policy of communist containment started the Cold War, and he initiated U.S. interest in the Korean War. Truman left part in 1953 and died in 1972.

Early Life

Truman was the beginning of three children built-in to John Anderson Truman, a farmer and mule trader, and his wife, Martha Ellen Truman. Truman was named in laurels of his maternal uncle, Harrison Young, merely his parents couldn't decide on a middle name. Later on more than a month, they settled on just using the letter "S" every bit a tribute to both his maternal gramps, Solomon Young, and his paternal grandfather, Anderson Shipp Truman.

Truman grew upwards on the family farm in Independence, Missouri, and did non attend college. He worked a variety of jobs subsequently high school, kickoff equally a timekeeper for a railroad construction company, and then as a clerk and a bookkeeper at two split banks in Kansas City. Later five years, he returned to farming and joined the National Guard.

Military Career

When World War I erupted, Truman volunteered for duty. Though he was 33 years-old—two years older than the age limit for the typhoon—and eligible for exemption as a farmer, he helped organize his National Guard regiment, which was ultimately called into service in the 129th Field Artillery. Truman was promoted to captain in France and assigned Battery D, which was known for being the almost unruly bombardment in the regiment. In spite of a more often than not shy and modest temperament, Truman captured the respect and adoration of his men and led them successfully through heavy fighting during the Meuse-Argonne campaign.

Early Involvement in Politics

After the war, Truman returned home and married his babyhood sweetheart, Elizabeth "Bess" Wallace in 1919, with whom he had i girl, Mary Margaret. That same yr, he made a foray into business concern when he and an acquaintance, Eddie Jacobson, set up a hat shop in Kansas City. But with America experiencing an economical decline in the early 1920s, the business organisation failed in 1922. With the endmost of the business, Truman owed $twenty,000 to creditors. He refused to accept bankruptcy and insisted on paying dorsum all the money he borrowed, which took more than 15 years.

About this time, he was approached by Democratic boss Thomas Pendergast, whose nephew James served with Truman during the war. Pendergast appointed Truman to a position every bit an overseer of highways, and after a year, chose him to run for one of 3 county-guess positions in Jackson County. He was elected judge, which was an administrative rather than a judicial position, but he was defeated when he ran for a 2d term. Truman ran once more in 1926 and was elected as a presiding judge, a position he held until he ran for senator.

Senator

Truman was elected to the United States Senate in 1934. In his get-go term, he served on the Senate Appropriations Commission, which was responsible for allocating tax money for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Bargain projects, and the Interstate Commerce Committee, which oversaw railroads, shipping, and interstate transport. Forth with Senator Burton Wheeler, Truman began investigating railroads, and in 1940, he initiated legislation that imposed tighter federal regulation on the railroads, which helped him establish his reputation as a human being of integrity.

By the time Truman was up for reelection in 1940, Thomas Pendergast had been convicted of taxation evasion and associated with voter fraud, and many predicted Truman'southward connection to Pendergast would outcome in a defeat. Truman didn't try to hide or distort his relationship with Pendergast, however, and his reputation equally a frank and ethical man helped him win re-election, albeit narrowly.

In his 2nd term, Truman chaired a special committee to investigate the National Defense Program to forestall war profiteering and wasteful spending in defence industries. He gained public support and recognition for his straightforward reports and practical recommendations, and he won the respect of his colleagues and the populace alike.

Vice Presidency

When Roosevelt had to choose a running mate for the 1944 presidential election, he deemed his acting vice president, Henry Wallace, unacceptable. Wallace was disliked by many of the senior Democrats in Washington, and since it was apparent that Roosevelt might not survive his quaternary term, the vice presidential pick was especially important. Truman's popularity, too equally his reputation as a fiscally responsible man and a defender of citizens' rights, made him an attractive option. Truman was initially reluctant to have, but once he received the nomination, he campaigned vigorously.

Roosevelt and Truman were elected in November 1944, and Truman took the oath of office on Jan 20, 1945. He served as vice president just 82 days before Roosevelt died of a massive stroke, and he was sworn in every bit president on April 12, 1945.

With no prior experience in foreign policy, Truman was thrust into the role of commander in principal and charged with catastrophe a world war. In the starting time 6 months of his term, he announced the Germans' surrender, dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—ending World State of war Two—and signed the charter ratifying the United nations.

After the War

In spite of these early successes, Truman'southward diplomatic state of affairs was aggress with challenges. Although the Soviet Spousal relationship had been a powerful ally to the Us during the war, international relations deteriorated quickly when it became apparent that the Soviets intended to remain in command of Eastern European nations that were expected to exist reestablished according to their pre-Hitler governments. This, forth with the exclusion of the Soviets from the reconstruction of Asia, began the Cold War.

Re-Election

Republicans won both houses of Congress in 1946, which was seen as a judgment of Truman'south policies, and polls indicated that re-election was all simply incommunicable. So certain seemed the victory of New York Governor Thomas Dewey that the "Chicago Tribune" famously went to press with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" before many polling locations had released results. The concluding event was a win for Truman with 49.5 per centum of the vote, compared with Dewey's 45.1 per centum, and was one of the greatest upsets in the history of American elections.

Harry Truman holds up the newspaper encompass that falsely predicted his defeat.

Photograph: Getty Images

The Korean War

Truman announced his domestic policy initiative, the "Fair Bargain" program, in his 1949 State of the Union address. Building on Roosevelt'south "New Deal," it included universal health care, an increase in the minimum wage, more than funding for education and a guarantee of equal rights under the law for all citizens.

The program was a mixed success. In 1948, racial discrimination was banned in federal authorities hiring practices, the military was desegregated and the minimum wage had gone up. National health insurance was rejected, as was more money for education.

The Korean War broke out in June 1950, and Truman swiftly committed U.Southward. troops to the conflict. He believed that Democratic people's republic of korea'south invasion of Republic of korea was a claiming from the Soviets, and that, if left unchecked, it could escalate to another earth war and to further communist aggression. After a brief wave of public back up for his decision, criticism mounted.

Truman initially endorsed a rollback strategy and encouraged Full general Douglas MacArthur to breach the 38th parallel, bringing forces into North Korea to have over the government. But when Mainland china sent 300,000 troops to the aid of North Korea, Truman changed tactics. He reverted to the containment strategy, focusing on preserving the independence of South Korea rather than eliminating communism in the due north. MacArthur publicly disagreed. To Truman, this was insubordination and a challenge to his authority, and he dismissed MacArthur in April 1951. MacArthur was a popular general, and Truman's already-weak approval rating declined farther.

Steel Strike

Truman'due south challenges were not limited to international affairs. On the habitation front, he was struggling to manage a labor dispute between the United Steel Workers of America and the major steel mills. The union demanded a wage increase, but the mill owners refused to grant it unless the government allowed them to increase the prices of their consumer goods, which had been capped by the Wage Stabilization Board. Unable to broker an understanding and unwilling to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which was passed in spite of his veto in 1947 and would have allowed him to seek an injunction that prevented the spousal relationship from striking, Truman seized the steel mills in the proper noun of the government.

The steel companies responded by filing a suit confronting the government, and the case, Youngstown Canvas & Tube Company v. Sawyer (sometimes referred to as "The Steel Seizure Example") went earlier the Supreme Courtroom. The Court establish in favor of the steel mills and forced Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer to give the mills back to the owners. Truman's handling of this dispute further tarnished his reputation with the American people.

Mail service-Presidency and Death

In March 1952, Truman announced that he would not run for re-election. He gave his back up to Governor Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee, though Stevenson was distancing himself from the president because of his poor approving rating.

Afterwards retiring from the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, where he wrote his memoirs, oversaw the construction of his presidential library and took long walks. He died on December 26, 1972, and is cached next to Bess in the courtyard of the Truman Library.

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Source: https://www.biography.com/us-president/harry-s-truman