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Harry S. Truman [b] (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to 1945 and briefly as the 34th vice president in 1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Truman, a Democrat from Missouri, ran for and won a full four-year term in the 1948 presidential election, in which he narrowly defeated Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey and Dixiecrat nominee Strom Thurmond.
- Harry S. Truman’s Early Years
- From County Judge to U.S. Vice President
- Franklin D. Roosevelt Dies in Office
- Harry S. Truman’s First Administration: 1945-1949
- Harry Truman’s Second Administration: 1949-1953
- Harry S. Truman’s Final Years
Harry S. Truman was born on May 8, 1884, in the farm community of Lamar, Missouri, to John Truman (1851-1914), a livestock trader, and Martha Young Truman (1852-1947). (Truman’s parents gave him the middle initial S to honor his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young, although the S didn’t stand for a specific name.) In 1890, the Tru...
In 1922, Harry Truman, with the backing of Kansas City political boss Thomas Pendergast (1873-1945), was elected district judge in Jackson County, Missouri, an administrative position that involved handling the county’s finances, public works projects and other affairs. In 1926, Truman won the election as the county’s presiding judge. Earning a rep...
In 1944, as Roosevelt sought an unprecedented fourth term as president, Truman was selected as his running mate, replacing Vice President Henry Wallace (1888-1965), a divisive figure in the Democratic Party. (Truman, a moderate Democrat, was jokingly referred to as the “second Missouri Compromise.”) In the general election, Roosevelt easily defeate...
Upon assuming the presidency, Harry Truman, who had met privately with Roosevelt only a few times before his death and had never been informed by the president about the construction of the atomic bomb, faced a series of monumental challenges and decisions. During Truman’s initial months in office, the war in Europe ended when the Allies accepted N...
Harry Truman was sworn in for his second term in January 1949; his inauguration was the first to be nationally televised. The president set forth an ambitious social reform agenda, known as the Fair Deal, which included national medical insurance, federal housing programs, a higher minimum wage, assistance for farmers, repeal of the Taft-Hartley la...
After Eisenhower’s inauguration in January 1953, Harry and Bess Truman traveled by train from Washington to their home in Independence. There, the former president penned his memoirs, met with visitors, continued his habit of brisk daily walks and raised funds for the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, which opened in Independence in 1957. After...
Jun 13, 2024 · Harry S. Truman (born May 8, 1884, Lamar, Missouri, U.S.—died December 26, 1972, Kansas City, Missouri) was the 33rd president of the United States (1945–53), who led his country through the final stages of World War II and through the early years of the Cold War, vigorously opposing Soviet expansionism in Europe and sending U.S ...
- Alfred Steinberg
- Harry S. Truman served as the 33rd president of the United States from April 12, 1945, to January 20, 1953.
- Vice President Harry S. Truman was sworn in as president of the United States on April 12, 1945, after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
- Harry S. Truman authorized the development of the hydrogen bomb in 1950 to maintain an arms lead over the Soviet Union. By the end of the decade, t...
- Harry S. Truman reportedly responded, “By God, I'm going to let them [North Korea] have it!” He did not ask Congress for a declaration of war and w...
During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S. Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet...
Feb 19, 2018 · Truman was a strong advocate for civil rights, and by executive order he desegregated the military and guaranteed fair employment in the civil service. As president, Truman was a genial host and kept a daily diary of his activities. The immense pressures of work were not lessened by Bess Truman’s frequent absences in Independence ...
Apr 3, 2014 · Harry S. Truman was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president for just 82 days before Roosevelt died and Truman became the 33rd president. In his first months in office, he dropped the atomic ...
