Harry S. Truman

EARLY LIFE 

Harry S. Truman was born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri. 

Harry spent most of his youth on his family's 550-acre (220 ha) farm near Independence, Missouri.

Harry S. Truman had no middle name. His parents gave him the middle initial S to honor his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. 

Harry didn't use a period after the initial. After he was elected president, the editors of the Chicago Style Manual informed Truman that omitting the period was improper grammar and a bad example for America's youth. From that moment on, the 33rd president signed his name Harry S. Truman.

Harry Truman was the last U.S. President to not have a college degree. However, he was a voracious reader and remained so all of his life.

Truman's birthplace and childhood home in Lamar, Missouri. By Kbh3rd 

PRE PRESIDENTIAL CAREER 

Harry Truman dreamed of attending West Point and becoming a career Army officer, but although he passed the written test, he was so near-sighted, he failed the eye exam and was denied entry. Undeterred from the desire to serve, in 1905 he memorized the eye chart and joined the Missouri National Guard in 1905.

Truman joined the United States Military in 1917 during World War I. and went to France, where he became a captain in the Field Artillery.

Truman in uniform, ca. 1918

In 1919 Truman and his war buddy Eddie Jacobson opened a clothing store in Kansas City. The name of the shop was the Truman and Jacobson Haberdashery and it was located at l2th and Baltimore, Kansas City, Missouri. The store failed two years later.

Truman joined the Democratic Party and the political machine of Tom Pendergast. He was first elected to public office as judge of Jackson County Court in 1922, and then as Senator of Missouri in 1934.

As Senator of Missouri, Truman became a member of the Interstate Commerce Committee. He was also the vice-chairman of a subcommittee on railroad safety. 

He gained national prominence as chairman of the Truman Committee, formed in March 1941, which found waste and inefficiency in Federal Government wartime contracts.

When in 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for re-election he chose Truman as his Vice President. On April 12, 1945, shortly after his fourth inauguration, Roosevelt died. Truman became president. 

Roosevelt/Truman poster from 1944

PRESIDENCY 

When Franklin D. Roosevelt died, Eleanor Roosevelt informed Harry Truman that the president had passed away. He asked if there was anything he could do for her and she replied, "Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now."

Truman had become president during the last few months of World War II. While Nazi Germany surrendered less than a month after he became president, the Japanese kept fighting. The United States made the Potsdam Declaration, telling Japan to surrender or it would face "prompt and utter destruction," but Japan did not surrender. As a result, Truman ordered the first atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.  It was the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare

Harry Truman went from Senator, to Vice President, to President, to dropping the first atomic bomb in 29 weeks.

President Harry S. Truman in an official portrait

The Soviet Union, then led by Joseph Stalin, became an enemy in the Cold War. On March 12, 1947 President Harry S. Truman proclaimed the Truman Doctrine to help stem the spread of communism.

Truman was encouraged by his advisers to increase tensions with the Soviet Union while running for his second term as President in 1948 because it would help him win: "There is considerable political advantage to the administration in its battle with the Kremlin. … In times of crisis the American citizen tends to back up his President." To the detriment of everyone on our planet, Truman took this advice. 

The first televised White House address was given by President Harry S. Truman on October 5, 1947.

Truman ran for a second term as President against the heavily favored Governor of New York, Thomas Dewey, in 1948. On November 3, 1948 The Chicago Daily Tribune published the erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" in its early morning edition shortly after Truman officially upset Dewey in the presidential election.

Associated Press

On January 5, 1949, during his State of the Union address to Congress. Truman outlined his ambitious domestic reform proposals. "Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal," he stated.  This address was considered a significant moment in American history, both for the introduction of the Fair Deal program and for Truman's powerful assertion of the government's responsibility towards its citizens. His words remain a key part of his legacy and have been referenced and reinterpreted throughout the years.

Harry Truman was convinced that no one paid any attention to him when he was introduced at White House receptions as they were so overawed by his presence. He tested his theory out on one occasion by greeting all his guests with the phrase, "I killed my grandmother this morning." No one questioned his statement merely smiling and thanking him. One guest however was wise to his plan and replied, "She had it coming."

White House Police officer Leslie Coffelt was fatally shot while protecting President Truman in an assassination attempt. The armed attack took place on November 1, 1950, at Blair House, where the president was living during renovations at the White House.  Coffelt managed to kill his attacker with a headshot from 30 feet away before dying.

During the end of his term, Truman was very unpopular because thousands of Americans died in the Korean War and people were accusing many of Truman's employees of being communists. Also, allegations were raised of corruption in the Truman administration, linked to certain cabinet members and senior White House staff. All this helped account for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower's electoral victory in the 1952 presidential election. 

Harry Truman held both the highest (at 91%) and tied for the lowest (at 22%) approval ratings since Gallup started compiling them in 1937.

PRIVATE LIFE 

Truman married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace at Trinity Episcopal Church in Independence, Missouri on June 28, 1919. She had known her future husband since they were children attending the same school in Independence. 

Harry and Bess Truman on their wedding day,

On February 17, 1924, Bess had a baby girl and named her Mary Margaret Truman. Their only child, Margaret embarked on a career as a coloratura soprano and appeared in concerts with orchestras throughout the United States in the decade following World War II. 

In 1957 Margaret abandoned her singing career to pursue a career as a journalist and radio personality when she became the co-host with Mike Wallace of the radio program Weekday. She later became the successful author of 32 books, including biographies of both her parents and 23 mystery novels. 

On her first official appearance as First Lady, Bess Truman was trying to christen a hospital airplane with a bottle of champagne that would not smash. Finally, a mechanic cracked it open with a wrench and Mrs Truman was sprayed with bubbly. When the President teased her, she replied: "I'm sorry I didn't swing that bottle at you."

Bess Truman died on October 18, 1982, from congestive heart failure at the age of 97. She was and remains the longest-lived First Lady and Second Lady in United States history.

For his birthday in 1947, friends had a bowling alley installed in the White House.

Truman's favorite pastime was poker.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH 

When his eight years as President of the United States ended on January 20, 1953, private citizen Harry Truman took the train home to Independence, Missouri, mingling with other passengers along the way. He had no secret service protection. 

After Harry Truman returned to his home in Missouri his only income was his old army pension. It was no more than $112.56 per month or about $982 today. He refused to join any corporate boards or do commercial endorsements after his presidency, feeling that using his position for financial gain would diminish the integrity of the office. 

Truman was so poor after his presidency that Congress had to enact the Former Presidents Act to give him a pension. Herbert Hoover, the only other living ex-president, took the pension as well, despite his wealth, to avoid embarrassing Truman.

When President Harry S. Truman visited Disneyland in 1957, he refused to come aboard the popular Dumbo attraction. Truman, a Democrat, didn’t want to be seen riding in the symbol of the Republican Party.

Truman died on December 26, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri of multiple organ failure caused by pneumonia at the age of 88.

Source Theintercept