Biography
Harry S. Truman Biography
Harry Truman official portrait
Harry S. Truman was born on May 8th, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. He was the eldest of three children born to John Anderson Truman and his wife Martha Ellen. His family moved around the local area during Harry’s early years before settling in Kansas City in 1902.
Truman attended high school in Independence and graduated in 1901. His early jobs included working as a timekeeper for a railroad construction firm and then as a bank clerk in Kansas City. However, in 1906 he moved home to help his father on the family farm, which is where he remained for over ten years.
Like many other Presidents, Truman served in the military during his early life. Truman served for the Missouri National Guard between 1905 and 1911 and later ascended to the rank of Captain in the129th Field Artillery during World War I. He fought in France between 1917 and 1919 and joined the reserves after the war, eventually making Colonel.
In June 1919, Truman married childhood sweetheart Bess Wallace. Their only child, Mary Margaret was born in February 1924, but by then the Trumans’ financial situation was anything but stable. In 1922, the men’s store he owned with a friend suffered as a result of the post-war recession and Truman narrowly avoided bankruptcy.
Despite his debt, Truman had a respectable position in the community and was elected as a judge for Jackson County Court. This role began his political career. Although the role was more administrative than judicial, it enabled him to demonstrate skills that established his reputation as an efficient and fair politician.
Truman’s reputation secured his election to the Senate in 1934. During his first term, Truman played a key role in a number of legislative initiatives. However, it was not until his re-election in 1940 that Truman came into his own as an integral part of the United States government.
Truman became chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Programme. It soon became known simply as the Truman Committee. During World War II, Truman and his staff investigated corruption and ensured that defense contracts were fair and delivered quality goods.
In July 1944, Truman was nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt’s running mate in the presidential election. Following their successful campaign, Truman was sworn in as Vice-President on January 20th, 1945. Whether his limited experience in that role prepared him or not, he became the 33rd President of the United States in April the same year following Roosevelt’s sudden death.
The first two months of Truman’s presidency were spent following Roosevelt’s policies in an attempt to bring World War II to an end. In June 1945 he witnessed the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, the initiative that would hopefully bring peace to Europe. However, Truman soon began to depart from his predecessor’s policies and introduce his own initiatives.
Truman had seemingly never been close to Roosevelt, which was typified by the fact that he had no prior knowledge of the existence of an atomic bomb. When Japan refused to surrender following the close of the war in Europe, Truman was faced with the staggering decision whether to use the weapon. After consultation with his advisors, Truman became the only US President to use an atomic weapon on August 6th 1945, and again three days later. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed.
Although Truman may be best remembered for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his foreign policy initiatives were extensive. He attempted to regulate the power and influence of the Soviet Union and communism within Europe via the Truman Doctrine, which offered aid to European countries under Soviet threat. His resolution to fight communism was proven when he declared war on North Korea, a communist nation, in 1950 because they had invaded South Korea, a non-communist country.
Truman’s domestic policies were integral to America’s survival after the war. Drawing on elements of the New Deal, he managed to ensure the country did not fall into a recession. However, he did face opposition from Congress, which had a Republican majority, and thus many of his proposed social reforms never saw the light of day.
Truman was also an advocate for Civil Rights, laying the foundations for the fight against segregation. Although he failed to bring relevant legislation into law, he did desegregate the military and formed the Committee on Civil Rights, ostensibly giving African Americans a voice. In spite of his liberal nature, Truman won re-election in 1948, despite most of his critics predicting defeat.
At the end of his second term, Truman retired to his hometown of Independence. He spent his retirement as a man of leisure, choosing a life away from politics. He read extensively and lectured, as well as founding his own library.
Harry S. Truman died on December 26th, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was aged 88.
Facts
Harry S. Truman Facts
- President No.: 33rd
- When did Harry S. Truman serve? 1945-1953
- What was Harry S. Truman’s party? Democrat
- Where was Harry S. Truman from? Missouri
- Who was Harry S. Truman’s wife? Bess Truman
- When was Harry S. Truman born? May 8, 1884
- When did Harry S. Truman die? December 26th, 1972
- Which college did Harry S. Truman attend? Kansas City Law School
- What was Harry S. Truman’s Jobs Before President? Soldier, bank clerk, farmer, Vice President
- What was Harry S. Truman’s height? 5 feet, 9 inches
- What was the population when Harry S. Truman was president? 151,325,798
- What hobbies did Harry S. Truman have? Piano, swimming, wrestling
- What transportation did Harry S. Truman use? Airplane, Car
- How did Harry S. Truman communicate? Telephone, letters
Books
Books
Videos
Biography of Harry S. Truman
Harry Truman Speech on General Douglas MacArthur
Speeches
Quotes
Harry S. Truman Quotes
When they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.
13th April, 1945. To reporters the day after his accession to the presidency.
When Kansas and Colorado have a quarrel over the water in the Arkansas River they don’t call out the National Guard in each state and go to war over it. They bring a suit in the Supreme Court of the United States and abide by the decision. There isn’t a reason in the world why we cannot do that internationally.
April, 1945. Speech in Kansas City.
Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima … The force from which the sun draws it powers has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.
6th August, 1945. Announcement of the first use of an Atomic bomb in warfare.
The release of atomic energy constitutes a new force too revolutionary to consider in the framework of old ideas.
3rd October, 1945. Message to Congress on atomic energy.
Means of destruction hitherto unknown, against which there can be no adequate military defense, and in the employment of which no single nation can in fact have a monopoly.
15th November, 1945. Declaration on Atomic Energy along with Prime Minister Clement Attlee of the UK and Prime Minister W. K. Mackenzie King of Canada.
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
A saying.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
12th March, 1947. Address to Congress Joint Session.
All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.
14th November, 1947. Letter to his sister.
The Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government of the de facto authority of the new state of Israel.
14th May, 1948. Statement.
Every segment of our population and every individual has a right to expect from our Government a fair deal.
4th January, 1949. State of the Union Address.
I have just read your lousy review [of a concert by Truman’s daughter, Margaret] buried in the back pages. You sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an eight-ulcer man on a four-ulcer job, and all four ulcers working. I have never met you, but if I do you’ll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below.
6th December, 1950. Letter to Paul Hume.
Now they accuse me of going up and down the Nation on a whistlestop train, and the slogans that they hurl at me most of the time are ‘‘Give ’em hell, Harry.’’ That reputation I did not earn. All I do is to tell them [the Republicans] the truth, and that hurts a lot worse than giving them hell.
4th October, 1952. Address to Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
15th December, 1952. Address at Washington D.C. National Archives.
I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want, and then advise them to do it.
27th May, 1955. TV interview with Edward R. Murrow (CBS).
Once a decision was made, I did not worry about it afterward.
1955. Memoirs. Vol. 2, Ch. 1.
The Marshall Plan will go down in history as one of America’s greatest contributions to the peace of the world.
1955. Memoirs. Vol. 2, Ch. 8.
To me, party platforms are contracts with the people.
1955. Memoirs. Vol. 2, Ch. 13.
If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.
1955. Memoirs. Vol. 2, Ch. 19.
There is a right kind and wrong kind of victory, just as there are wars for the right thing and wars that are wrong from every standpoint. … The kind of victory MacArthur had in mind – victory by the bombing of Chinese cities, victory by expanding the conflict to all of China – would have been the wrong kind of victory.
1955. Memoirs. Vol. 2, Ch. 8.
I never give them [the public] hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell.
3rd April 1956, ‘Look’.
A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who’s been dead 10 or 15 years.
12th April 1958, ‘New York World Telegram and Sun’
It’s a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.
13th April 1958, ‘Observer’.
Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
28th April 1959, Columbia University Lecture.
The buck stops here.
A sign on Truman’s desk while he was President. Source: Alfred Steinberg, The Man from Missouri [1962]
I didn’t fire him [General MacArthur] 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.
Quoted by Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman [1974]. Ch. 23.
The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.
Quoted by Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman [1974]. Ch. 23.
Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix.
Quoted by Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman [1974]. Ch. 35.
I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the President. That’s the answer to that. 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.
Quoted by Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman. On Douglas MacArthur.
There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
Quoted inWilliam Hillman, Mr. President (1952)
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