Notes on Truman

Truman was born in 1884 and raised in what would later become suburbs of Kansas City (but at the time were small towns in what still felt somewhat like the frontier). He fought in World War I in the artillery, achieving the rank of captain.

After the war, he returned to Missouri, ran a short stint as the owner of a haberdashery, and then in 1922 ran for and won the position of county judge— despite the name, an administrative position rather than legal one— in Jackson County, MO. There, in spite of his connection to the Kansas City Pendergast political machine, he built a name for himself as a hardworking, honest government employee in a time of great corruption. His great initiatives were a rebuilding of county roads and a new courthouse building. In 1934, he ran for the U.S. Senate and won, largely due to the support of the Pendergast machine and his popular stance as an ardent New Dealer.

During his first term in the Senate, Truman faced adversity due to his transparent connection to (and refusal to disavow) machine politics. He served on the Appropriations and Interstate Commerce Committees, fostering an impressive number of strong working relationships despite many senators' initial prejudice against him. In 1940 he ran for reelection, though this time with much less support from the now-weakened Kansas City machine. He narrowly won the primary— his opponents split the anti-Pendergast vote— and continued on to win the general election. This term, he built a name for himself leading the so-called Truman Committee to investigate waste and profiteering in wartime government spending. A diligent investigator, he helped to save as much as $15 billion ($260 billion in 2024) and garnered much fame as a result of his position and work.

In the 1944 presidential election, FDR was running for a fourth term and, after plenty of political scheming and conferencing with party bosses, selected Truman as his running mate. Truman initially did not want the job of Vice President, but eventually acceded. At the time, it was well known that Roosevelt's health was failing, and few doubted that the vice president would eventually take over.

On April 12, 1942, FDR died, and that's exactly what happened. Truman had never desired the presidency, yet took over during a time of great conflict as the war in Europe wound down and the fighting in the Pacific, despite American gains, promised to stretch for at least another year and a half. Quickly, Truman was thrust into such momentous occasions as the Potsdam Conference with Churchill and Stalin, the creation of the United Nations, and the completion of the atomic bomb. As is obvious, he authorized use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which hastened the end of war in the Pacific. At the time, the effects of the nuclear bomb were not totally understood: everyone involved knew it would be hugely destructive, but estimates of the casualties in a bombing of a Japanese city varied widely. Truman made the decision to use the weapons without a great amount of outward deliberation; as with most government leaders who knew about the existence of the bomb, the default stance was that it'd be foolish to not use a weapon that could save many thousands of American lives, and especially one that had been developed at such a high cost. Despite this, Truman gave indications throughout the rest of his life that he took the usage of nuclear weapons very seriously, and set a precedent against their repeated usage.

After VJ Day in August, 1945, the celebrations and national unity did not last long. Quickly, Truman faced a challenging series of domestic issues. As he did away with wartime price controls, inflation skyrocketed up to 18% in 1946. Correspondingly, union workers demanded wage increases that businesses refused to meet, and thousands of strikes broke out across the country. In May of 1946, rail workers broke into a massive strike that paralyzed the nation. Truman, whose popularity had plummeted from 87% during the war to the low 30s the following year, decided to act. In the midst of stalling negotiations, he threatened to draft the striking rail workers into the army, and gave a speech to Congress advocating the authorization of the president to perform such an action. (Midway through the speech, Truman received a note that an agreement had been reached with the rail workers. He finished the speech, regardless.) A jubilant House of Representatives passed HR 6578 by an overwhelming majority, but the blatantly unconstitutional measure was voted down by the Senate. Still, Truman gained some popular credit for forcing an end to the rail strike. The following year, the Republican-controlled Congress would pass the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 (over Truman's veto), which sought to limit the influence and power of unions.

1948 saw the development of the Marshall Plan, named after General George C. Marshall, who served as Secretary of State under Truman. This entailed a large amount of aid for European nations recovering from World War II. (It included Eastern European countries under occupation by the Soviet Union, but these countries and the Soviets themselves withdrew, effectively limiting this aid to Western Europe.) Some $13bn in aid helped these countries avoid dire conditions of poverty and unemployment. This aid fit in the general theme of the Truman Doctrine— support for countries threatened by the Soviet Union— and was complemented by additional support for Greece (facing Communist pressure, unrest, and violence) and Turkey (where the Soviet Union threatened Turkey's control over the Turkish Straits).

Also in 1948 came the United States' recognition of the state of Israel— the first country to recognize Israel as an independent nation— despite vocal concerns from the State Department over the risk of destabilizing the Middle East and angering oil-wielding allies in the region. Then came the Berlin Airlift, a bold plan to supply Berlin with resources by air after the Soviet Union blocked Western ground access to the city. The airlift lasted a full year and was a smashing success.

1948 was also an election year, and Truman ran for president for the first time with Alben Barkley as his running mate. Despite a long-forecast Republican trouncing of Truman, he waged an ambitious campaign. Within weeks of the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Truman issued executive orders (9980 and 9981) respectively ending racial discrimination in federal agencies and the armed forces. He traversing the country by rail and speaking to large crowds at cities throughout the country. During his speeches, he often railed against the Republican-controlled "do-nothing Congress." While he and his team labored mightily on the campaign trail, no polls and almost no pundits predicted Truman had any chance. Further, his actions on civil rights alienated Southern Democrats, prompting Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina to run separately as a Dixiecrat. (This compounded the already-split vote, as Henry Wallace ran as a Progressive.) Despite all of this, Truman defeated Republican Thomas Dewey and gained a mandate for another four years.

Much of Truman's second term comprised dealing with the Korean War, which broke out when North Korea (aided by China and the Soviet Union) invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. Despite being caught by surprise and militarily flat-footed— especially due to post-war demilitarization and spending cuts to the armed forces— the U.S. began moving troops to Korea to help stem the southward drive by the North Korean forces. General Douglas MacArthur led the U.S. forces. The war featured savage fighting and an initially losing position, as the earliest American troops were forced to manage a precarious retreat until reaching a line they could defend properly. MacArthur's daring amphibious landing at Incheon, behind enemy lines, led to dramatic gains in territory for the U.N. forces, which quickly advanced to the 38th parallel. At this point, Truman worked to negotiate a ceasefire at the pre-war boundary, but MacArthur undermined this effort by moving his forces north into North Korea. Crucial in this decision was MacArthur's assurance that Chinese troops would not join the conflict— a prediction backed by other governmental leaders, but one that proved incorrect. As hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops poured into North Korea, the U.N. forces fell back, eventually re-losing Seoul. Due to difficulties on the battlefield, increasing meddling in political affairs, and a lack of trust, Truman relieved MacArthur of command. This decision was supported by all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and many in the State Department. MacArthur was replaced by General Matthew Ridgway, who led a U.N. recapture of Seoul. MacArthur returned home a hero, and Truman faced a fierce public backlash for firing such a popular military leader who many saw as instrumental to the end of World War II. Meanwhile, the war dragged on for another two years, finally ending in July 1953. Throughout the war, Truman fought hard to keep the scope of the conflict limited, so as to prevent a spiral that would draw in major world powers into a direct war. (Such efforts included forbidding MacArthur from bombing China, forbidding U.N. troops from approaching the border with China, and refusing to allow Taiwanese forces into the conflict to mitigate the risk of open war with China.)

The early 1950s also saw the rise of McCarthyism— which Truman opposed, albeit ineffectively— and more labor strikes. During a steelworkers' strike, Truman ordered the national government to seize and operate the steel mills in April of 1952. The Supreme Court subsequently found this action unconstitutional and the government relinquished control of the mills.

In 1952, Truman could've run for reelection, but by now his polling rates were terrible— among the worst of all time for a president— and Truman chose to withdraw from public service. (Eisenhower, running on the Republican ticket, handily beat Adlai E. Stevenson.)

For the rest of his life, Truman dedicated himself to the construction of his presidential library in Independence, Missouri. He died on December 26, 1972.

Truman proved to be a complex figure during a time of great crisis. While his popularity varied widely over his two terms, and he's often remembered for imprudent decisions and outbursts— such as an angry letter he sent to a critic who panned one of his daughter's singer performances— Truman presided over great advances in the United States' stature in world politics. Long an anti-isolationist, his policy of support for countries threatened by the Soviet Union helped contain the spread of Communism and strengthened post-war Europe. The formation of NATO furthered this goal. Truman's leadership of U.S. involvement in Korea, while imperfect, set an important precedent of avoiding the usage of nuclear weapons and minimizing the risk of escalating regional conflicts into world wars. And while he's not often remembered as a champion of civil rights, he did more than any preceding president since Lincoln to combat racial discrimination. He led the country during exceedingly turbulent times and faced relentless criticism, yet maintained a steady hand.