Harry S. Truman - 33rd President of the United States- born May 8, 1884 in Lamar (Missouri), died December 26, 1972 in Kansas City (Missouri). President of the United States from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953.

At one time, Harry S. Truman was an extremely unpopular president. In December 1951, only 23% of Americans assessed his activities positively. Even Richard Nixon, at the lowest point of the Watergate scandal with 24%, had a higher figure. When the president left office in 1953, only 31% of the population agreed with his rule, while 56% rejected him. In contrast to these numbers is the assessment of Truman by historians and the public after his death. A 1982 poll of historians ranked him eighth on the list of American presidents. In a Gallup poll in 1980, he even ranked 3rd behind John Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. An unloved, unpopular president was thus elevated in death to become an American folk hero. If there is a lot of research on Truman's presidency, then the years of his assumption of the presidency in Washington, when he was a senator in Missouri, are much less researched.

Harry Truman was born into the family of a small farmer. In 1890, his father John Anderson Trueman settled in Independence (Missouri), where Harry graduated from school. He did not get the chance to attend college because his father lost everything in the grain market and was forced to sell his house in Independence and move to Kansas City, where he found work in an elevator. Truman, together with his brother, decided to choose the activity of a bank employee. From 1906 to 1907, he worked on his grandmother's farm with his father and brother. When his father died in 1914, Truman took over the company and was clearly successful. Unlike other farmers in the region, Truman introduced crop rotation and began raising cattle. Together with his partner, he simultaneously invested in zinc and lead mines in Oklahoma and participated in oil wells, which, however, turned out to be poor. At this time, his interest in politics awoke. He welcomed the election of Woodrow Wilson as President of the United States, joined the National Guard and fought during the World War under the command of General Pershing on the front in France. In April 1919, he left the army with the rank of captain, married Elizabeth Wallace Fehrman, his youthful love from Independence, who always kept a background and later took almost no part in public life in Washington, but who was always informed by Truman about important political decisions. Together with his partner, Truman opened a men's dress shop in his homeland. Economic recession 1921 - 1922 led to the closure of the store. This left $25,000 in debt, which Truman had to pay off over the next decade.

After the collapse of the business enterprise, Truman took the opportunity to be elected as a management official. Truman was a terribly bad speaker, but he also had many advantages: he was a supporter of the Democrats, the most powerful party in the South, he was known in the constituency and he was supported by his former colleagues in the regiment. His main activities as "presiding judge" in Jackson County included responsibility for the maintenance of county roads, sewage disposal, and the management of a home for the elderly and assisted living citizens, in close cooperation with (and perhaps in dependence on) The local Democratic leadership, led by Tom Pendergest, succeeded in creating modern county government. Thus, Truman came into close contact with the patronage system of the American parties of that time. In 1934, Truman managed to become a senator in the 1934 elections.

At the age of 50, Truman came to Washington as a Missouri state senator. He had no experience in federal politics, but as the "chief judge" of a large district, he had seen what the federal government could do for a needy population during the Depression. The first meeting with President Roosevelt was successful, and Truman turned out to be a staunch supporter of the New Deal. He threw himself into his work and was lucky to be appointed to one of the committees. For example, he helped formulate the Air Traffic Control Act, made a name for himself in prosecuting illegal practices among railroad managers, and, with Virginia's Burt Wheeler, drafted the Transportation Act of 1940. After his narrow re-election in 1940, he chaired an emergency committee to study the federal government's weapons program. Thanks to these activities, which acquired great importance after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Truman nevertheless achieved national fame, which opened the way for him to the post of vice president in 1944. The Truman Committee, as it soon became known, monitored American military activities, provided constructive, non-sensational criticism, and was soon accepted by various political groups and institutions. The Chairman was outspoken on foreign policy issues and advocated American participation in international organizations after the end of the war, which was not at all a given in a partially isolationist country.

The main reason for Truman's rise to the vice presidency was that the Democratic party leadership strongly opposed the re-election of Vice President Henry Wallace, who was seen as a left-wing dreamer with no influence in the Senate. Truman's vice presidency, after the Democratic victory with a relatively small advantage in November 1944, passed without sensations. He did not take part in military conferences and was not informed about the Manhattan Project, the creation of the atomic bomb.

When Truman assumed the presidency after Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945, he was faced with a dramatic situation. The war in Europe was coming to an end. Soviet-American relations at the last conference deteriorated significantly. Conflicts began over the development of Eastern Europe and over the system of loan or lease transfer, which Truman ended a few days before the German surrender. On the other hand, Truman continued the most important political and economic projects of the Roosevelt administration: the creation and construction of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Truman was interested in good relations with Stalin and at the same time, like Roosevelt, had problems with the policies of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He spoke positively about his first meeting with Stalin at the Potsdam Conference in his diary. After the election of Clement Attlee, whom he considered a weak man, as British Prime Minister, Truman began to appreciate his predecessor, while his positive view of Stalin quickly waned. He was angry about the Soviet-Polish agreement regarding the Oder-Neisse line. He considered the communist system to be a police state, which was no better than Hitler's Germany or Mussolini's Italy. While he was aboard the cruiser Augusta on his way back to the United States, he received word on August 6 that the first atomic bomb had exploded in Hiroshima. Truman informed Stalin as early as July 24 about the new weapon, without clearly saying that it was an atomic bomb. It was clear to him that by this the war against Japan would be significantly shortened, perhaps ending before the Russians carried out their announcement to move against Japan. In his Potsdam diary, the President wrote: “We have developed the most terrible weapon in the history of mankind... These weapons will be used against Japan... so that military installations, soldiers and sailors will be the targets, not women and children. Even if the Japanese are wild - merciless, cruel and fanatical, then we, as leaders of the world for the common good, cannot drop this terrible bomb on either the old or the new capital.”

Subsequently, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was often criticized. Perhaps it would have been better to warn the Japanese, do a test reset, or at least leave more time between the two uses. But these arguments do not take into account that there were only two atomic warheads available, the tests could have failed, and the bomb was created to be used. Perhaps Truman, as the quote suggests, was greatly impressed by the Japanese conduct of the war: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack, the Japanese carried out death marches on prisoners in the Philippines, and there were numerous reports of the torture of prisoners of war during the war . Truman himself believed that he should not regret the decision, since it, in his opinion, saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and Japanese who would have been killed in the invasion. However, he constantly studied this topic. When General MacArthur demanded expansion of the Korean War in 1951, Truman refused to give permission. His thoughts constantly circled around the use of the atomic bomb, especially when China entered the war on the side of North Korea. But, as during the Berlin Blockade of 1948, when Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall approved a preemptive strike, he rejected it for moral and strategic-diplomatic reasons. Truman saw the atomic bomb primarily as a political weapon, which in the future could only be used in direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union if the existence of the United States was at issue.

At the end of the World War, it was discovered that the alliance of the victors could not be preserved. True, there were free elections in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, but not in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Together with the French occupation power, Soviet administration in Germany was not subordinate to the central economic administration in occupied Germany. Also, the unilateral transfer of territories east of the Oder and Neisse to Poland before the peace treaty contributed to the escalation of tensions. Similar conflicts arose in Korea, where the Soviet Union advocated for a satellite state, and in Iran, where it tried to acquire areas of special interest. The Soviet government refused to cooperate with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, institutions that American planners envisioned as central to the recovery of the world economy.

Of course, the reasons for these tensions were not only the actions of Stalin, but for Truman it was indisputable that he was opposed by a statesman who did not keep his word. From this Truman concluded that the Soviet Union in no way intended to cooperate with the West to maintain the balance of power, but would try to extend its power wherever possible. Totalitarian states, thought Truman, and most Americans with him, rely on military force or the threat of violence to achieve their interests. The formation of the Cominform in 1947 seemed to indicate that the Soviet Union wanted to continue to act as the political and ideological tip of the spear of the communist world revolution.

Developments in Eastern Europe and the successes of communist parties in Western Europe, the Balkans and China supported this interpretation. Although the American diplomat George Kennen, a brilliant expert on Russian history, never tried to explain Soviet foreign policy from a purely ideological point of view, his “long telegram” from Moscow in January 1946 nevertheless contributed to a hardening of Washington’s position. Kennen saw the Soviet Union as a successor state to the tsarist regime, with its autocratic institutions and tendency toward isolation from the outside world. Also published by Kennen in 1947 in the journal Foreign Affairs, a work on the reasons for Soviet behavior confirmed this assessment of the situation and impressed Truman.

The assumption of a Soviet threat to Western Europe, no matter how one-sided and problematic it may be, was not far from the need to support and ensure the security of Western Europe in the interests of US national security. Western Europe and Japan were given strategic importance for the defense of the United States. Neither the Pentagon, nor the State Department, nor the Secret Service, nor President Truman himself expected a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union suffered heavily from the German attack and war, and it will take years to rebuild the country. More significant seemed to be the fact that Soviet policy was supposed to lead to a psychological influence on the population of the similarly weakened Western democracies. For Truman, there was a direct relationship between economic well-being, psychological self-awareness and defense capability. If the Europeans failed to instill confidence in a speedy recovery, it was foreseeable that Moscow would gain massive influence.

From these considerations arose the “policy of containment,” which at first, as “dual containment,” was directed against the Soviet Union and Germany. It was supposed to establish a global military balance of powers and at the same time form new power centers in Europe and Japan, which could in the future gain a foothold against Soviet policy. Soviet and revisionist historians in the United States and elsewhere argued in the 1960s and 1970s that the United States had overreacted in relation to Soviet policy. As new research shows, it is possible that the West stopped trying to cooperate earlier than Stalin did. New studies of British politics, however, show that both the Conservative government of Churchill and the Labor government of Attlee, even before the American leaders, came to the conclusion that it was impossible to cooperate with the Soviet Union in the long term.

None of the American presidents influenced development in Europe in the postwar period as decisively as Truman. In 1947, he proclaimed the Truman Doctrine when he called on Congress to provide military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey to protect them from a supposed communist takeover. Since Great Britain was no longer able to act as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union in this region, the United States became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and pledged its full economic potential to contain communism.

The Marshall Plan was even more important. The main goals of planners in Washington were to prevent further economic stagnation in Western Europe, to stop the economic chaos that was considered a breeding ground for the spread of communist ideology, and to encourage democracy in Western Europe to economic and political cooperation. Revisionist historians blamed Truman for tying West Germany tightly to the West with the Marshall Plan, legitimizing the division of Germany and Europe. These documents appear after the political turn in the world of 1989 - 1990. in a new light.

As with the election of George Marshall as Foreign Secretary in 1947, Truman had the same luck in appointing Dean Aickson as his successor in 1949. Marshall and Aickson loyally supported Truman's policies, were convinced of the special importance of Western Europe in the global conflict with the Soviet Union, and helped defend foreign policy in domestic political clashes.

The decision to create NATO (1947) also occurred during Truman's first term as president. Like the Berlin Airlift, the development of NATO clearly showed that Truman understood the psychological significance of political decisions. The creation of NATO and the Berlin “air bridge” should have been understood as political signals to the Soviet Union. Both actions were about defensive measures. The people of Western Europe needed to be given the impression that the United States had closely linked its destiny with the further development of democracy.

In the post-war period, one could definitely talk about American hegemony in Western Europe. Truman resisted the initial impulse to urgently curtail overseas activity, but pursued a foreign policy that assumed economic and military commitments while acting as a catalyst for the political unification of Europe. This American role would not have been possible if the United States had not found, especially in Great Britain, the Benelux countries and after the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, partners who understood the American presence in Europe as a necessity for national survival. The Marshall Plan and the American production campaign associated with it should also be viewed from this point of view.

Despite his general rhetoric, Truman had neither the intention nor the military means to use the United States as the “world's policeman.” The Long Telegram and the article by Mr. X did not contain specific recommendations, but were an urgent request from the author, George Kennen, to draw the attention of the American public to the global problems of security policy after 1945 and remind them of increased responsibility. Nothing more than this happened at first. The security policy of the Truman administration until 1950 was about a policy of economic containment of real or imaginary Soviet expansionist aspirations. Bilateral economic aid, sanctions, trade liberalization, and foreign exchange policies were introduced to stem the rise of Soviet influence. But while military and political security structures had not yet been expanded, the Truman Doctrine was intended primarily to influence the American public and a reluctant Congress to provide funds for economic stabilization in Europe.

The main goal of the Marshall Plan should also be considered in the context of security policy. It was an attempt to stop the undermining of Western Europe by spreading hunger, poverty and hopelessness. The Marshall Plan replaced the failed bilateral aid to European states and was supposed to create a balance of power in Europe. The coup in Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1948 and the Soviet blockade of Berlin have not yet led to a significant expansion of military weapons. The redeployment of B-29 bombers to England was, first of all, a way of waging psychological warfare, since these aircraft were not at all suitable for atomic weapons. Truman's restraint in expanding military activity was also evident in his decision not to intervene in any way with American ground troops in the conflict between Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek. Limited financial resources required concentration of efforts on Europe, which was implemented.

Against this background, the creation of NATO meant not so much the formation of a military alliance, although this also took place, but rather a political addition to the policy of economic containment. The starting point was the demands of Great Britain and France for American support. The NATO treaty did not contain automatic obligations to defend Europe, but made such actions dependent on the consent of Congress. Only since 1951 has NATO had American troops. Neither the military nor Truman assumed that the creation of NATO was associated with a permanent US presence in Europe.

The Truman administration's policy, however, changed under the influence of the successful testing of the first Soviet atomic bomb and the National Security Council's review of American security policy, which became known as NSC 68 (1950). The decisive milestone for Truman, however, was the North Korean attack on South Korea in June 1950, and the conflict was interpreted as a “second Greece” and the beginning of military aggression initiated by the Soviet Union. This may have been an overreaction, since the situation in Asia was in fact difficult to compare with the situation in Europe. But it became clear to Truman and his advisers that the Soviet Union was pursuing a global expansionist policy together with China,

In policy towards Palestine, there were serious disagreements between the White House and the Foreign Office. Truman had a positive attitude towards the creation of an Israeli state in Palestine, as he sympathized with the victims of mass destruction. He believed that the State Department was too protective of Arab states and American oil interests, and he saw support for Jewish immigration to Palestine as an opportunity to win Jewish votes for the September 1948 elections. Truman's decision to recognize the state of Israel in May 1948 did not yet mean an American guarantee of survival, but it marked the beginning of the United States' entry into the development of the Middle East crisis.

In recent years, the domestic policies of the Truman administration have attracted increased attention. Trueman identified himself with the New Deal, but he had great difficulty with Roosevelt's liberal advisers, who reproached him for neglecting the president's legacy or not expanding it. Ultimately, it was more a question of personal style in politics than of substantive differences, and in 1948 many New Deal liberals supported Truman in the presidential race. After the Republicans had already won majorities in both houses of Congress in the 1946 midterm elections, Truman's chances in 1948 were extremely poor. The Democratic Party was in crisis, and the President faced competition from within his own ranks, both from conservative Southerners who distrusted his racial policies and from leftist forces around former Vice President Welles. Although pollsters and the press had already “buried” Truman and declared his Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, the winner, under the influence of the Berlin crisis, the president managed a sensational comeback in the form of the smallest majority of votes since 1916.

Truman’s major guiding domestic political reforms included the abolition of racial divisions in the army. It would not be wrong to consider the beginning of the civil rights movement during Truman's reign, since in addition to the army, the president cared about the interests of the colored population in society. While still a senator, he advocated for equal rights for citizens of color in the world of work. He voted to abolish the poll tax in certain states, supported the legal prohibition of lynching, and looked after the interests of his colored voters in Missouri. How the President proposed that Congress create a permanent commission to ensure equal educational and occupational opportunities for blacks. But due to the resistance of conservative Democrats from the southern states, the so-called "Dixiecrats", further implementation of reforms became very difficult. Fundamentally, Truman believed in civil rights for all Americans, in a public “fair deal,” as he called it. Although he ultimately failed to obtain congressional consent to his reform system, it is noteworthy that revisionist historians, while critical of his foreign policy, have been entirely positive about his civil rights policies.

Truman's relations with the leaders of the major labor unions were subject to great fluctuations. Immediately after the war, when, in connection with the transition from a military to a peaceful economy, a conflict arose over increasing wages and stabilization measures, they were rather fierce. Improvement came during the 1948 presidential race, when Truman was able to use his veto against the Taft-Hartley Act, passed by conservative forces in Congress to reduce the influence of labor unions. Things got worse again when Truman advocated wage and price controls during the Korean War.

If the relationship between President Truman and labor unions was often contentious, his attitude toward big industry was no better. When a conflict arose in the steel industry in 1952, the cause of which, according to the president, was the inflexible position of industrialists, without thinking twice, on April 8, 1952, Truman ordered the transfer of steel foundries to the government until the conflict was resolved. The Supreme Court declared this emergency measure unconstitutional in early June 1952, and everything lasted until the end of July, until employers and trade unions reached a compromise.

Truman's most controversial domestic policy decisions included the loyalty program, an attempt to ensure the national security of the United States also through the control of left-wing political dissidents. This led not only to the restriction of civil liberties and ideological persecution of alleged communists in government under the leadership of Senator Joseph McCarthy, but also to the poisoning of the domestic political climate in the United States. In this context, Truman is often accused of overemphasizing the Soviet threat to the United States in order to win over Congress to support his policies in Europe and Asia, and thus unleashed an anti-communist persecution. Against this interpretation, objections have recently emerged that the American public, since 1946 at the latest, had become increasingly anti-Soviet in reaction to Soviet policies in Eastern Europe, and that Truman was only trying to control Congress. Despite this, the "misdirected loyalty program," as it was called, remains the most problematic chapter of Truman's presidency.

The relationship between Harry Truman and the US Congress was strained by many factors: after his election as president in 1948, he introduced the 25-point Fair Deal program. It covered control of prices, loans, industrial products, exports, wages and rents. She promised expanded civil rights laws, low-cost housing, a 75-cent-an-hour minimum wage, repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, mandatory health insurance, better social security, and federal aid for the education system. In view of the Republican majority in Congress, this ambitious program could not be carried out, but it pointed in the direction of expanding the still undeveloped American social system according to European standards.

Conflicts between Truman and Congress increased during Truman's second term as President, as Republicans harshly attributed to the President the "loss of China" to Mao's Communists. During his two terms, Truman faced four Congresses, in which each time the majority was to the right of his domestic policies. Truman did not hesitate to make extensive use of the veto to reflect Republican initiatives and stick to his course. One of the greatest successes of his presidency, undoubtedly, is that he managed to oblige the Republican-controlled 80th Congress of 1946 - 1948. towards a supra-party foreign policy." Due to growing domestic political criticism, Truman in the spring of 1952 announced his refusal to be nominated again as a candidate. By this time, Congress had already adopted the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limited the presidency to two terms. This would not have affected Truman anyway, since he had only served as president for six years. He chose Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson as his successor, who, however, was clearly inferior to the popular General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In his memoirs, Truman wrote that being president meant being “lonely, very lonely in times of big decisions.” From Independence, where the Harry S. Truman Library was opened in 1957, the ex-president closely followed political events and was glad when a Democrat re-entered the White House in 1961 in the person of John F. Kennedy and when Lyndon B. Johnson has implemented many of his plans and reforms since 1964.

Truman died on December 26, 1972 at the age of 88 in Kansas City. At his funeral, Johnson praised him as a "giant of the twentieth century" who influenced the world like no other before him, an assessment shared by most American historians today. This posthumous positive assessment was not least facilitated by the fact that with the opening of archives it becomes increasingly clear that Truman, despite many personal attacks, had a strong will, in difficult situations he made all decisions himself, even if they were not popular, and never deviated from what was accepted.

In preparing the material, we used the article by Hermann-Josef Rupiper “The Unpopular Creator of the Post-War World.”

The presidency fell on Harry Truman out of the blue. He took the presidential oath of office at the White House 2 hours and 24 minutes after Franklin Roosevelt's death.

One can only sympathize with Truman, who shouldered a very heavy load - the little-known politician had to live up to the heights at which Roosevelt was.

We can say that Truman coped with this task. And in some ways it even surpassed its predecessor.

Missouri Man

The 33rd President of the United States came from a family of farmers who lived in Missouri.

Born in 1884, Truman graduated from high school, where he excelled in history, music, and literature. He probably wanted to study further, but his father went bankrupt while playing on the grain exchange, and Harry had to get a job at a grain elevator. In 1905 he was drafted into the Missouri National Guard, where he served until 1911.

During World War I, Harry was sent to France to command Artillery Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment, 60th Brigade, 35th Infantry Division. Truman treated his subordinates with extreme care and did everything to ensure that none of them were harmed. Not a single person died from his battery. And this character trait of Harry later played a fatal role in the decision to bomb Japanese cities: the main purpose of this atrocity was to save American soldiers. And Truman didn’t care at all what would happen to the Japanese!

After returning from the war, Harry tried to find his place in life: he changed several places and owned a men's clothing store. However, business did not work out, and Truman entered politics.

By joining the Democratic Party, he was elected a circuit court judge in 1922. In 1934, Harry Truman became a senator. He always supported Roosevelt in everything, and it is not surprising that the current president paid attention to him.

However, he was nothing outstanding as a political figure: Truman was a poor speaker, had no charisma, and could hardly count on a great political career. However, Franklin Roosevelt's sudden death on April 12, 1945 made him the leader of a huge country.

After the death of his predecessor

The heavy burden that Harry had to take upon himself at first seemed unbearable.

In addition to the burden of economic problems, financial troubles associated with participation in the war, and other problems, Truman suddenly learned that the United States was on the verge of the greatest discovery - the creation of the atomic bomb!

On July 16, 1945, the world's first successful test of an atomic weapon was carried out at a test site in New Mexico. Surprisingly, Harry Truman very quickly entered into the course of political “vaulting” and already 8 days later at the Potsdam Conference he announced the creation of weapons of unprecedented power to Stalin. But he didn’t even raise an eyebrow, saying only that he hoped that these weapons would help the United States in the war with Japan. Truman decided that Stalin did not understand anything. But the real reason for this behavior of “Uncle Joe” was that Stalin had already been informed about the properties of this weapon, and the USSR was creating the same weapon.

Meanwhile, the war with Japan for the United States was developing according to the worst possible scenario. The Japanese army stubbornly resisted - the samurai spirit did not allow the emperor's soldiers to fight worse than they knew how, and 5 thousand kamikazes, prepared by the Japanese in case of an American invasion of the islands, were ready to die for Hirohito. The atomic bomb could become a decisive factor in this matter. In addition, Truman believed that the Japanese should take revenge for the daring attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The pain had still not subsided, and Truman wanted his presidency to be associated with retribution. And the president also proceeded from the fact that atomic bombs would save the US Army and Navy from inevitable huge losses in the event of an amphibious landing on the Japanese Islands - according to military analysts, losses could amount to a million killed and several million wounded. For Truman, who considered saving the lives of American boys the most important thing, this was unacceptable. And he gave the order for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On August 6, 1945, humanity entered a new era - the era of atomic weapons, which from now on will forever be associated with the name of Truman. The price of this “innovation” was the lives of 200 thousand civilians, and taking into account the diseases that subsequently led to death, it cost humanity approximately 450 thousand lives.

Despite this, the Japanese army was not going to give up. The United States had only two atomic bombs, and there was nothing more to “scare” Japan. So if it were not for the entry into the war of the Red Army, which began hostilities on August 8, 1945, the samurai could have broken off the wings of the American eagle.

In the silence of the library

On September 2, 1945, Japan signed an act of surrender on the American warship Missouri in Tokyo Bay with the participation of Soviet military and diplomats. The Second World War ended, and Truman wrote perhaps the most terrible lines into it. It could be said that this humble, devout Missouri Baptist was the architect of a post-war world that would become shaped by the Cold War.

With the participation of Harry Truman, the United Nations was created in 1945. Quite successfully, Truman solved the problem of the US transition from military to peaceful life. After all, at the end of 1945, the US Army numbered about 12 million people, and all this demobilized mass of young men had to be somehow trained and employed. Truman was a supporter of state control over the economy, and this justified itself: food prices rose by 70% compared to pre-war prices, but this was insignificant compared to the jump that happened in Europe (in the USSR the government led the country to famine in 1946 -1947).

An ardent anti-communist, Truman initiated financial assistance to Greece and Turkey just to save them from “international communism.” At his instigation, the United States organized a brilliant financial operation called the “Marshall Plan,” which helped post-war Europe quickly restore its economy and turned the United States into a superpower.

In 1948, Truman pushed for an increase in the minimum wage, an expansion of Social Security, and a low-cost housing program. The formation of the “welfare state” has ended in the United States. Americans paid tribute to Truman by electing him president in 1948 (before that he had served as acting president without elections).

Truman was the initiator of a new doctrine, named after him, which replaced the Monroe Doctrine, which was based on the policy of isolationism. The essence of the “Truman Doctrine” was interference in the internal affairs of states in order to counter the communist threat.

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Ricans, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, tried to assassinate Truman in his own home. The president's life was saved by a security guard who died in the line of duty. Collazo was subsequently pardoned by Jimmy Carter, he went to Cuba, where Fidel Castro awarded him an order - I wonder why on earth?

The Korean War, which began in June 1950, greatly damaged Truman's reputation. His doctrine came into conflict with his principles: the United States intervened in this war, and young men again died for no apparent reason. But Truman could no longer do anything. Although he was again offered to drop an atomic bomb on North Korea. But this time Harry refused. Truman's rating dropped to 22%, the lowest rating for a president in US history. Therefore, in 1952, Truman did not even put forward his candidacy for election, although he formally had the right to do so.

Dwight Eisenhower became the next head of the United States, and Truman left politics and moved to his native Independence, where he opened his own library.

He worked there until his death in 1972.

Despite his many political initiatives, Truman is remembered mainly as the initiator of the atomic bombings. Many still wonder: did the president regret his decision? Most eyewitnesses say: no, not at all! He was sure he was right!

But there are memoirs of Robert Oppenheimer, the “father” of the atomic bomb. During a meeting with him, Truman admitted: “There is blood on my hands...”

And this blood will no longer be washed away.

Nobody. And never.

Dmitry Kupriyanov

33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953 from the Democratic Party.

Harry Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, USA. The boy was the second child in the family of farmer Anderson Truman and his wife Martha. As a child, I was interested in reading books, history, and music. After school, Harry entered a business college, where, among other things, he studied accounting, but a year later he was forced to leave the educational institution, since by that time his father had gone bankrupt and had to earn money.

After his father's death, Truman took control of the farm and improved it by introducing crop rotation and raising cattle. At the same time, Harry tried his hand at business: he invested in lead and zinc mines in Oklahoma, invested in the development of oil fields and speculated in real estate in Kansas City. However, all the business projects of the novice entrepreneur turned out to be unsuccessful.

In 1914, Truman became interested in politics. He had no luck in his business endeavors, but quickly moved up the political career ladder.

During the First World War he was an artillery captain, a popular county mayor, and a senator. He was famous for his ability to find a common language with representatives of any class.

In 1944, Roosevelt appointed Truman as vice president instead of Henry Wallace, who began to be distinguished by liberal habits, which caused discontent among representatives of the Democratic Party. In this position, Harry supervised American military activities. He held the post of vice president for 82 days. In April 1945, Roosevelt died unexpectedly, and, according to the American Constitution, Truman assumed the presidency.

Truman inherited a household with difficult problems: the war was ending, the conflict over the division of Eastern Europe was flaring up, relations with the Soviet Union were deteriorating, and some holes needed to be patched up in his own country.

Harry Truman's reign was associated with the easing of racial tensions. The president has attempted to roll back policies and laws that divide the population along racial lines. A committee to oversee the status of African Americans emerged: a structure that monitored the equality of all citizens.

Truman paid great attention to economic and social problems, proposing new laws. The president's most famous program was called the "Fair Deal." In essence, the project was an expansion of Roosevelt's New Deal.

Increasing costs for social support, controlling prices and loans, increasing wages, building public housing, ensuring full employment of the population, introducing state health insurance, assistance to education. This is where the politician saw growth points for the United States of America.

But, unfortunately, Harry Truman did not find support in Congress. The bill was not passed, so over time voters became disillusioned with the policy. In 1952, he declined to run for the presidency. Only fifteen years later would other leaders return to Truman's initiatives.

President Truman's best trait was his ability to put himself in the shoes of an ordinary American and his great responsibility. Harry did not run again for the presidency of the United States in the 1952 elections; Dwight Eisenhower became the 34th president of the country.

When Harry Truman left office and retired in 1953, his popularity was extremely low, but over time he became one of the best presidents. In 1957, the ex-president opened his library in Independence.

After the death of F. Roosevelt on April 12. 1945 The United States was led by the former Vice President, Harry Truman. Roosevelt's departure—decline in the influence of the Democrats (+ fatigue of the population from their 12-year rule, military regulations, government control). Thanks to this, in 1946 the Republicans regained their majority in both houses of Congress. During the war, the position of big capital strengthened, demanding a departure not only from government regulation, but also from many of Roosevelt’s reforms. On the other hand, opponents of extreme individualism have great influence - the slave. movements (the number of trade unions in 1939-1945 increased from 9 to 14.3 million people; + the abolition of the wartime ban on strikes (in 1946 the strike movement covered 4.6 million people) - the apogee of the influence of trade unions in the country).

Sep. 1945 Truman, in his message to Congress, outlined an extensive program of liberal reforms, which later became known as "fair course". It was stated that there was a need to adopt a law on full employment (adopted in February 1946: the head of state’s responsibility for the state of the economy was declared, a Committee of Economic Advisers was created), and an increase in the minimum salary (increased in 1948, i.e. just in time for the elections) , on the introduction of health insurance, on the expansion of the social system. provision (the so-called “Soldier’s Bill of Rights” - a law on benefits for demobilized people, since the army was reduced from 12 to 1.5 million people by 1947), on limiting racial discrimination, as well as on the implementation of a construction program cheap housing (also since 1948). But Truman could not achieve more from the conservative Congress. ÜÛÞ The formation of a “welfare state” in the USA.

The omnipotence of trade unions, the strike movement® serious economics. losses®republican dissatisfactionÞpassed by Congress in June 1947 despite the president's veto Taft-Hartley law, who contributed means. changes to the Wagner Labor Law. relationships. Strikes by civil servants, as well as forcing workers to join a trade union, were prohibited and compulsory measures were introduced. fate arbitration in especially dangerous work. conflicts. Workers were required to notify the employer of any strike in the private sector 60 days before it began (+ the president could postpone it for another 80 days).

In March 1947, Truman issued an order to verify the loyalty of government officials. employees. Individuals accused of having links with communists were fired from their jobs and subjected to persecution.

Elections 1948 There is an intense struggle between both reps. and dem. parties, and within each of them. The confrontation between the moderate conservative group (Thomas Dewey) and the group of right-wing Republicans (Robert Taft) ended with Dewey's nomination. The left wing (Henry Wallace) broke away from the Democrats and became independent. Progressive Party. After inclusion in the preselect. platform dem. party demanded the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, the clause on the protection of civil rights of blacks and the prohibition in 1948 of discrimination against blacks in hiring at the federation. Southern Democrats also nominated their own candidate for civil service (States' Rights Democrats, Strom Thurmond). ÜÛÞ Dem. the party found itself in a state of deep split. But Truman was still re-elected (with a significant advantage), and the Democrats regained their majority in both houses of Congress. Lieber. The Democratic platform, based on the “Fair Deal” program, turned out to be preferable to most voters than the Republican platform. party, which promised to carry out only some modest measures in social services. areas.

In 1949-50, Truman's administration managed to get some legislation passed through Congress. important reforms: the minimum hourly salary was increased from 40 to 75 cents, the circle of persons covered by the social insurance law was expanded, funds were allocated for the construction of apartments for poor families. But the rest of the program is “fair.” course" was rejected by Congress by the votes of the conservative bloc of Republicans and Southern Democrats due to a strong shift to the right and reaction within the gender. life in the USA at the turn of the 40s and 50s. Ü exacerbation of international confrontation (in 1949 - the creation of nuclear weapons in the USSR, the formation of the PRC, NATO and CMEA, the coming of the Communist Party to power in Czechoslovakia, the blockade of West Berlin, the final division of Germany; in July 1950 - the beginning of the Korean War).

Truman's foreign policy. After WWII, the USA finally became the leaders. country capital world (in 1948 their share in the world industry was 55%)®In a message to Congress in December. 1945 Truman announced his intention to “maintain his role as the leader of all nations” and the need to counteract the “owls.” expansion" + bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in September. 1945ÞInevitable conflict with the USSR. If Roosevelt assumed that he would be able to come to an agreement with Stalin, then Truman from March. 1946 (Churchill's speech in Fulton) finally passed to the antis. course.® Truman Doctrine(“containment”, March 12, 1947): assistance to Greece and Turkey in the fight against “com. threat", ch. American task ext. Pol-ki - protection of demos. free institutions peace."

June 1947 – Marshall Plan(US Secretary of State) Econ. European assistance countries (in 1948-52 - $17 billion) - US hegemony, strengthened. the foundations of capital, undermining the influence of the left in these countries. Sep. 1947 – “Rio de Janeiro Pact”/Inter-Memory. mutual security treaty Û US influence in the West. hemispheres.

Since 1948, a 324-day blockade of the West. Berlin - 1st opening confrontation between the USSR and its former allies need to strengthen. military power of the West®4 Apr. 1949 – agreement on the creation NATO for "joint" defense free world" from "com. aggression.”®Comb. armed forces (Eisenhower).

Sep. 1951 – San Francisco Conference: peace conditions. agreement with Japan. troops could remain there indefinitely. term.

Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States of America (ruling from 1945 to 1953), was ahead of his time in matters of domestic policy, but ultimately failed. The politician initiated the Cold War with the Soviet Union; Truman went down in history as the creator of NATO and an ardent fighter against communism.

Childhood and youth

The future US president was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar (Missouri). Harry is the eldest of three children of farmer and cattle dealer John Anderson Truman. The family traveled around America for several years until they settled in Independence, where little Harry went to school. The boy was fascinated by reading books, history and music - he got up at 5 o'clock in the morning to learn the next part on the piano.

After school, Harry entered a business college, where, among other things, he studied accounting, but a year later he was forced to leave the educational institution - by that time his father went bankrupt, he had to earn money. The young man managed to gain experience working at a railway station, in an editorial office, at the National Commercial Bank, and before the First World War he worked with his father and brother on his grandmother’s farm. During the war he rose to the rank of captain.

After his father's death, Truman took control of the farm and improved it by introducing crop rotation and raising cattle. At the same time, Harry tried his hand at business - he invested in lead-zinc mines in Oklahoma, invested in the development of oil fields and speculated in real estate in Kansas City. However, business projects turned out to be unsuccessful.

Beginning of a political career

Truman decided on his political affiliation in his youth - he considered himself a supporter of the Democrats. Thanks to the support of this powerful party of the South, led by Tom Pendergast, as well as war veterans, Harry was elected to the post of judge of Jackson County in 1922. It was more of an administrative than a judicial position. The main areas of work covered economic needs: road maintenance, management of a nursing home, wastewater disposal. The chairman of the court received citizens with pressing questions.

Truman presided over the court for two terms, proved himself an excellent official, and in 1934, again with the help of Pendergast, he was elected to the US Senate. A staunch supporter of the New Deal, he threw himself into his work and even earned an appointment to one of the committees. He achieved popularity for uncovering fraud on the railway, and participated in the preparation of the law on transport and regulation of air traffic.

In 1940, Truman barely, but still achieved re-election to the Senate. The politician was entrusted with the leadership of a committee to investigate the implementation of the national defense program; ineffective use of public funds and corruption in the conclusion of military contracts were revealed. During World War II, the country quoted Truman's saying:

“If we see that Germany is winning, then we should help Russia, and if Russia is winning, then we should help Germany, and thus let them kill as many as possible, although I do not want to see Hitler under any circumstances winners."

In 1944, Roosevelt appointed Truman as vice president instead of Henry Wallace, who began to be distinguished by liberal habits, which caused discontent among representatives of the Democratic Party. In this position, Harry supervised American military activities. Harry Truman lasted 82 days as vice president. In April 1945, Roosevelt died unexpectedly, and, according to the American Constitution, Truman assumed the presidency.

As President

Despite the positive aspects of his activities, the politician was not popular with the people, as population surveys prove. In 1951, only 23% of Americans agreed with the course of government; two years after leaving office, 31% of the population gave positive assessments of Truman's work.

However, by the beginning of the 80s, history was revised, and the 33rd President of the United States was elevated to bronze place in the ranking of American rulers. He lost only to Franklin Roosevelt and, in fact, became a folk hero.

Truman inherited a household with difficult problems: the war was ending, the conflict over the division of Eastern Europe was flaring up, relations with the Soviet Union were deteriorating, and some holes needed to be patched up in his own country.

Domestic policy

Harry Truman's reign was associated with the mitigation of racial tensions; he tried to abandon policies and laws that divided the population along racial lines. A committee to oversee the status of African Americans arose - a structure that monitored the equality of all citizens.

Truman paid great attention to economic and social problems, proposing new laws. The president's most famous program was called the "Fair Deal." In essence, the project was an expansion of Roosevelt's New Deal.

Increasing costs for social support, controlling prices and loans, increasing wages, building public housing, ensuring full employment of the population, introducing state health insurance, assistance to education - the politician saw these as points of growth for the country.

But, unfortunately, Harry Truman did not find support in Congress. The bill was not passed, so over time voters became disillusioned with the policy. In 1952, he abandoned his candidacy for the presidency. Only 15 years later would other leaders return to Truman's initiatives.

Foreign policy

The president went down in world history as the instigator of the Cold War. At the end of World War II, relations between America and the USSR deteriorated during the division of zones of influence in liberated Europe. Truman was outraged by Roosevelt's Yalta Treaty - he believed that his predecessor had conceded too much to the Soviet leader.

Wanting to intimidate and gain more weight in foreign policy, America announced the creation of an atomic bomb, and in order to put an end to the war with Japan, they decided to drop weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In tandem with Great Britain, the United States created a plan limiting the influence of the USSR in Europe. This is how the Cold War began.

In 1947, Truman demonstrates the doctrine of "containment" - a series of measures aimed at preventing the spread of communism. The idea is supported by Türkiye and Greece in exchange for financial assistance.

The US leader adopted the Marshall Plan, which implied the injection of billions of dollars into the war-torn economies of European countries, thereby guaranteeing America enormous influence on its territory. And in 1949, NATO was born, a bloc that would protect against communist expansion.

The United States in the late 40s and early 50s supported France in colonial activities in Vietnam and became involved in the Korean War. An aggressive foreign policy and participation in hostilities were another reason why his compatriots lost confidence in Truman.

Personal life

The politician’s biography also included a place for his personal life. In 1911, young Truman, after a long courtship, proposed marriage to a fellow villager from Independence, Elizabeth Wallace Ferman. However, the girl refused the fan. Harry promised to return to the issue when he earned more money - that is why the farmer got into business.

In April 1919, Truman married his chosen one. The wife always remained in the shadow of her husband's political career and took little part in the public life of Washington. Although, according to researchers, Harry consulted with Elizabeth in matters of politics, especially when it came to important government decisions.

The only daughter of the marriage was Mary Margaret Truman, and after the marriage, Margaret Truman Daniel. In her youth, the girl dreamed of becoming a singer, even performing with a symphony orchestra, but after marrying the editor of The New York Times, she buried her dream.

However, the woman still became popular – in the writing field. Margaret's pen includes 32 books in the detective genre, each of which became a bestseller. Truman's daughter also released a biography of her parents and a collection of memories from her childhood spent in the White House. The books contain an abundance of photographs from the Truman family archives. Margaret gave the famous father four grandchildren and died in 2008.

Death

Death threatened Truman back in 1950. In late autumn, two Puerto Ricans tried to break into the house, but the crime never happened - one of those who attempted to kill the president was killed, the other was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Harry Truman died on December 26, 1972 in Kansas City. Having lived to such an advanced age, the man was struck down by pneumonia. America's 33rd leader rests in the courtyard of the Truman Library.

Memory

• American aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)
• Truman Presidential Library and Museum
• Harry S. Truman School of Social Sciences
• State University named after Truman in Missouri

Books

• 1972 – “Harry S. Truman”, M. Truman
• 1982 – “Bess V. Truman”, M. Truman
• 1994 – “Harry S. Truman: A Life”, R. Ferrell
• 1998 – “Man of Independence”, D. Daniels
• 2003 – “Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times”, B. Burns
• 2008 – “Harry S. Truman”, R. Dallek
• 2009 – “Harry Truman”, publishing house “De Agostini”
• 2016 – “Truman”, L. Dubova, G. Chernyavsky

Movies

• 1947 – “33rd US President Harry Truman”
• 1950 – “My country, this is for you”
• 1963 – “The Winners”
• 1973 – “World at War”
• 1980 – “Atomic Cafe”
• 1984 – “Victory”
• 1988 – “18 Again”
• 1994 – “Wars of our century”
• 1995 – “Truman”
• 2006 – “Flags of our fathers”
• 2004 – “Conspiracy Theory”
• 2008 – “The President Who Will Be Remembered”