US Presidents · 20th century

Harry S. Truman

1884–1972 · American

Democratic

In office: 1945–1953

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president, succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt in April 1945 after only 82 days as vice president. He took the decision to use atomic bombs against Japan and shaped the early Cold War through the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift and NATO, before winning a famous upset election in 1948.

How to spot them

▸'The buck stops here' sign on his desk; 'Give 'em Hell, Harry'
▸The 'S' in his name did not stand for anything
▸'Dewey Defeats Truman' headline after the 1948 election
▸Missouri; a failed Kansas City haberdashery; dismissed General MacArthur

In office

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)

Authorised the use of the first atomic weapons, leading to Japan's surrender

The Truman Doctrine (1947)

Pledge to support free peoples resisting subjugation, starting with aid to Greece and Turkey

The Marshall Plan (1948)

European Recovery Program of US aid to rebuild Western Europe

The Berlin Airlift (1948–1949)

Supply of West Berlin by air during the Soviet blockade

Executive Order 9981 (1948)

Ended racial segregation in the US armed forces

'Dewey Defeats Truman' (1948)

Mistaken Chicago Daily Tribune headline he held up after winning the election

Dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur (1951)

Relieved MacArthur of command during the Korean War

Key ideas

Containment of Soviet expansion, the foundation of US Cold War policy
The Fair Deal: his domestic programme extending the New Deal
Recognised the State of Israel within minutes of its declaration on 14 May 1948

Quick-fire facts

•33rd president; vice president for just 82 days before Roosevelt's death
•Born in Lamar, Missouri; lived in Independence, Missouri
•Served as an artillery captain in France in the First World War
•Attended the Potsdam Conference (1945) with Stalin and, successively, Churchill and Attlee
•Oversaw the founding of NATO (1949) and committed US forces to the Korean War (1950)
•Survived an assassination attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists at Blair House in 1950
•The last president not to hold a college degree
•Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare bill in 1965 at the Truman Library, enrolling Truman as its first beneficiary

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources

Miller Center, University of Virginia — Harry S. Truman
David McCullough — Truman