Harry
S. Truman
On
the 8th of May,1884, Truman was born in Lamar,
Missouri. He served in France during the First
World War as an artillery battery commander.
After the war, he returned to Kansas City
and married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace. In
1922 he took an interest in local Democratic
politics and was elected as the commissioner
of Jackson County. The powerful leader, Thomas
J. Pendergast supported Truman and so he was
elected as US Senate in 1934 where he voted
for the New Deal legislation. During The Second
World War, he became nationally famous as
the chairman of a Senate investigating committee
exposing waste in war effort.
In 1944, President Roosevelt chose Truman
as his running mate.
When
Roosevelt died on April 12 1945, Truman succeeded
him and was the new president. Although he
had not been prepared for the taking over
of a foreign policy, Truman had no problem
carrying out the war strategy. But, he did
not agree with what Joseph Stalin thought
the Soviet Union's post-war needs were.
In early 1947, Truman was developing a new
foreign policy. First the policy was called
the Truman Doctrine and was restricted for
economic aid to Greece and Turkey to help
their governments to resist Soviet control
and influence. Later it was called the "containment"
and was used to stop Communist growth anywhere
in the world.
The
Marshall Plan and the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation were the main aspects of control
and they also made the United States become
a part of world leadership as it had never
been before.
Truman's policy was changed because of the
response that came from the Soviet gaining
atomic weapons, the defeat by the Communist
forces of Nationalists in China and the invasion
of South Korea by Soviet supported North Korea.
In 1949, he pursued a liberal program called
The Fair Deal. This helped him win the 1949
election. There was also a lot of frustration
that followed in 1949 after the fall of China
to Communism and with the limited Korean War
in 1950-1953. This disrupted the coalition
that Truman had built up in 1948.
One of Truman's greatest abilities was to
communicate with Americans, however this also
turned out to be one of his bad assets. He
was unable of dealing with some of the responsibilities
of post-war presidency. He was very unpopular
and greatly disliked when he retired in 1953.
He was remembered because of how he contrasted
with previous presidents and his successors.
Harry S. Truman died in 1972.
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