Harry s
Harry S. Truman
1. The youth of a late-bloomer
It was a sunny, bright spring day, May, 8 1884, when Martha Ellen Truman had her first child, a boy. She and John A. Truman decided to call him Harry S. Truman.
The S. in his name had no exact meaning, since it was a compromise between his grandparents names, Solomon Young and John Shipp Truman.
Harry’s parents where farmers in Grandview, a Town close to Independence in Missouri. They lived in the golden age of American agriculture, in which a farmer could achieve respectable prosperity, and so did they. John Truman worked very hard as farmer but also took part in various speculations, since he always had the dream of becoming rich.
So Harry grew up on a prospering American farm, with a lot of people around like his brother Vivian, his sister Mary-Jane, his Grandfather Solomon and farm-labourers.
As he himself later would describe, he had „the happiest childhood imaginable“. There were a lot of things to discover for a curious young boy like Harry, such as the various animals or the huge fields and forests. The strongest influence on him was undoubtedly his mother, who educated him strict but fair (he was sometimes punished but never beaten) and taught him reading before he was 5 years old. She also taught him her ideals, like never giving up and faith in the future.
It was her too, who noticed his visual defect and bought him quiet expensive glasses when he was 6. One year later, the family moved to Independence, where Harry could go to school.
His teachers would remembered him as a polite, highly gifted boy, who always curious and in a good mood. „He always smiled his way along“, his 1st grade teacher Mira Erwin would say. Indeed, Harry liked school, liked his teachers, he liked almost everything in his life. He was known to be able to get along with everyone, and he almost never had any enemies. Very soon Harry became a „book worm“ and read everything he could get his hands on. By the time he was 12, he had read twice the bible, Plutarch’s „lies“, Mark Twains autobiography and more than 20 books of Shakespeare.
In the age of 13, he fell in love with „Bessie“ Wallace, a very sympathetic, intelligent girl, who belonged to one of the richest families in Independence. She remained the love of his life and would become his wife in 1919.
When Harry was at the High School he also became more independent and started working at a drug store. He also regularly went to the town library and was known for reading 5 books a week.
The solid Democrat Town Independence was growing and prospering so were the Trumans. They could afford more and more luxuries like books, paintings, even a piano.
But this suddenly changed in 1901, when John Truman lost his luck and more than 40,000 $ in a year. They had to move away from Independence back to Grandview and to work again as farmers, John also had to accept the job at the Santa Fe Railroad to pay back his debts.
In 1903 Harry accepted a job at the National Bank of Commerce in Kansas city, where he made a good performance. The first report ever made of him, was full of praise. „He is a willing worker, almost always here and tries hard to please everybody. We never had a boy in the vault like him before.
He watches everything very closely and by his watchfulness, detects many errors which a careless boy would let slip through. His appearance is good and his habits and character are of the best.
His wage increased steadily and he was expected to have a good carrier as banker. He found new friends, and his relation to „Bessie“ became more and more promising.
But things turned worse again and in 1906: after floods had destroyed the entire crops, he was asked by his father to return to the farm where his help was needed. Although this had to be a shock for Harry Truman, no complain was recorded.
He was not the kind of person who complained. Like his father he often worried about situations (later, as President he had quiet a lot to worry about) but he was a man of decisions. So he became farmer.
His work was extraordinary hard, he had to wake up at 5:30 and hardy ever could finish before 10 in the evening, but he never complained. As the years passed by, Harry Truman become more and more useful to the farm, since he read a lot about agriculture and used his knowledge. Through his helping hand, the farm prospered again, and in 1914 his mother could afford buying him a car.
He had written his girlfriend Bess a letter every day, now he also could visit her more often. Their relationship became more and more serious. Besides the hard work as farmer he also joined the National guard, the Freemasons and the Democratic Party, which left him hardly any time to sleep. But Truman enjoyed himself in those days as farmer and if someone would have asked him then, he would have never given up the job. He was interested in politics but he never thought of being a politician himself.
When on Nov.
2, 1914 his father died of a heart-attack, Harry had to run the farm alone and like his father, Harry tried to get some money by speculations, but these financial adventures only lead to debts. So he went on working as a farmer.
But then suddenly in 1917 he decided to join the army and to fight in WW1. As child, it had always been his dream to be a famous army general and so he left the farm to his younger sister Mary Jane and joined the American forces.
One interesting detail is, that he could only pass the eye examination by cheating – he memorised the whole chart. In the army, the 33-years-old soldier turned out once more being highly gifted and effective and so he was allowed to lead a Battery.
It was the Battery D of the 2nd battalion , 129th regiment of the Fourth army, 205 men and some heavy artillery-cannons. After the landing in 1918 in Brest, Truman's Battery quickly travelled through France and took part in the last big American attack at the Argonne. Truman was a wise and fair commander, the soldiers respected him as much as he treated them well. Although he was afraid of war himself, he never showed it to his men. In the battle of the Argonne he had to face hidden German Artillery units but by disregarding orders he could manage to capture the enemy without losing a single men. This manoeuvre made him extremely popular, and showed his ability of good leadership.
Soon the war was over, but he kept contact to his men, who would remain in his memory as the „Battery D boys“. He would meet them several times in his life, and they also would take part in his inauguration ceremony in 1948.
After 6 month desperate waiting (the American government failed to organise the fast return of his soldiers) he could return to the US. Immediately after his arrival he married Elisabeth Wallace just the same day, the treaty of Versailles was signed.
The War was the turning point in Truman’s life and he changed his attitude towards his work. He didn’t want to become a farmer again, he wanted to make more of his life.
He had seen, that he had far more abilities and skills than he had thought before, and he wanted to make the best of his ability. He could be more than a farmer, if he wanted. It had taken him 36 years to realize that.
As his cousin Ethan Noland alter remarked :
„Harry has always been a late-bloomer“.
2. From Farmer to President
His first idea was to open a men’s furnishing shop.
With his partner Eddie Jacobson, a very sympathetic, intelligent, Jewish merchant he opened „Truman & Jacobson“ in Kansas City. They invested more than 35,000$ – Harry had to sell the farm at Grandview and borrow a lot of money – and in the beginning it seemed to pay off. The store had a lot of customers and many „Battery D boys“ came to see their „Captain Harry“. But in 1921 the nation-wide Depression also reached Kansas City and people had no more money for luxuries as they were offered in „Truman & Jacobson“. In 1922 they went bankrupt, with nothing left than debts and unpaid bills. Harry remembered Jim Pendergast, a friend from the army, whose father Tom J.
Pendergast was an influent man in Kansas City and also had his connections inside the Democratic Party. He offered Harry Truman to help him running for Judge of Jackson County, and he accepted. So Truman went on his first campaign. His first speeches were reported as brief and very poor, since Harry had been never good in expressing himself. He greatly admired people who could talked to masses (F. D.
Roosevelt), but he himself had no talent in making a show of himself. (This would change in his campaign 1948).
Nevertheless he had the Pendergast „machine“ behind him and so he won the primaries, which where the important elections, since the whole State of Missouri was democratic, and so, the Democrats’ candidate always had been winning.
Harry Truman became judge in 1924 and the same year his daughter Margaret was born. For the next to years he did an excellent job, was known for always be prepared and well informed about the matters he had to treat. He had a very good memory and paid high attention on details, which made him often more prepared than the Presiding Judge.
In 1926 he lost the job again, and after some months working for the Kansas City Automobile Club, he decided to run for Presiding Judge himself. Again he was backed up by Tom J. Pendergast, who had become his mentor and boss, and again he could win.
For 8 years, 1926 – 1933, he served as Presiding Judge of Jackson County, and his performance was again astonishing. He built new roads, new railways, a new Town Hall and also other improvements such as a orphan home for black children. Even during the time of the Great Depression in 1929 Kansas City and Jackson County prospered.
Privately Truman was calm, reasonable and always in a good mood. It’s reported that during his whole marriage, he never had a serious quarrel with Bess, and he liked to call her the „boss“. Although he often got headaches because of political problems, he never lost his unshakeable optimism and faith in the lord and in himself. He simply loved being a politician, liked to be among people and feel honoured by being able to serve the country. In 1933, Truman became director of the federal reemployment service in Missouri, which prepared him for the next big step: candidature for the U.S.
Senator of Missouri. Although he was inexperienced, he still had Pendergast behind him, whose influence had become enormous. He managed to make the newcomer Truman win the elections, with almost dubious methods. Truman was often influenced by Pendergast, and he never made a secret of it. He consult his mentor, whenever he had big questions, and in his office he always had portrait of him. Therefore Truman was often called „Senator from Pendergast“ and in his first months he had to face a lot of criticism.
Even in his times as President he was often reminded by the Republicans of the „Pendergast period“.
Nevertheless he was in Washington and he could prove, what he was worth to the country.
He made a lot of Committee-work, hardly ever made speeches but always was a careful listener. He kept out of debates, kept polite and friendly, and just did his job.
The only time he raised attention was when he took part in an investigation committee against corruption, but he hardly ever opposed the President.
In 1940 he succeeded another time to become Senator, but this time without the Pendergast help, because he had been sentenced to imprisonment for tax evasion.
After a very though campaign he won by a margin of only 8,000 votes against Governor Lloyd C. Clark
In his second term in the Senate he showed much more courage and elan than in the first. He introduced an investigation about corruption in the organisation of the U.S.Army, which was one of the most successful investigations ever made by the Senate. The „Truman committee“ as it was called in the press, discovered numerous alarming nuisances in the production of war material.
His name was associated with success, and once it was said, that with his investigation he had saved the state a 15$ billions and thousands of lives. He was praised high and in 1943 he was even on the cover of the Time magazine. In his 2nd term he also became more active in political topics, he blamed the isolationists for WW2 and insisted on U.S. interventions. In 1943 he made speaking tours through the country to convince the people of the necessity of American intervention against Hitler and his allies.
In 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States became more and more ill. This was only know to insiders, who predicted that he would die within a year. Nevertheless, when in 1944 the Presidential primary election came closer, he decided to have another run for the presidency. So the Democrats had to make a crucial decision: who should become Vice President? Whereas usually the Vice President had a quiet annoying job without many responsibilities (the vice President was mainly a public-relations-man for the President), this time the Vice President was expected to take over Roosevelt’s business soon.
The top favourite for the job was Governor Jimmy Byrnes, who’s only problem was, that he was known as being a racist.
Since Roosevelt wasn’t sure if he could win without the black Americans vote, he needed someone, who was popular and didn’t disturbed anyone. So he was the first who came up with the name Truman, although Roosevelt didn’t know him personally. But the question was still not decided, since most Democrats had other candidates in mind such as Henry Wallace, the former Vice President, or Jimmy Byrnes. The democratic convent turned out to be a struggle between Truman and Wallace supporters, with the Wallace supporters in the majority. But the Truman supporters managed to make the ballot, when most delegations which would have voted for Wallace where outside the hall.
So Truman was nominated for Vice President, to the great surprise to the media.
Most Americans couldn’t imagine him as Vice President or even as the President. An irony is, that Truman hadn’t wanted to become Vice President himself. He liked the job as senator and he had to be convinced by his supporters to accept the nomination.
Truman and Roosevelt went on a campaign, and since Roosevelt was in a good condition they won without any problems. In January 1945 Truman became the Vice President, and he made the best of it. He spent most of the time at parties or abroad, and Roosevelt never really cared about him.
They only met twice and Truman was hardly ever informed about what was going on in the White House.
But then, suddenly the fear of most Americans became reality: on the 12th of April 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt died.
Harry S. Truman was the new President of the United States.
3.
Mr. Truman’s War
The same morning Roosevelt died, Truman was inaugurated in his office. The whole nation was upset. Truman looked like a little, friendly man, such as every American had somewhere in his neighbourhood. This man was going to be the President of the United States of America? Could this man handle the current problems? The United States where in the middle of a war and a couple of great unsolved problems were just about to arise.
In his first official speech, Truman promised to follow Roosevelt’s goals, which were: unconditioned surrender of Germany and Japan and an continuation of the New Deal.
He immediately started to work, and just as he was used to it, he began the day early in the morning and ended it late at night. He acted very sovereign, and was very friendly to the media – a wise decision, which was honoured by very positive reports about him. He made some changes in his staff and chose some of his older fellows as secretaries. Among his best Secretaries was Dean Achenson, who would remain a life-long friend.
His first steps in foreign politics nevertheless showed his inexperience. In a meeting with the Soviet foreign minister Molotov he spoke very harsh to him, which was exactly the opposite, as the charming, talkative Roosevelt had treated the Soviets.
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A month later, Hitler was defeated, the war in Europe was over. But while the people all over the world celebrated the end of the nazi regime, the real problems were still ahead for Truman. Europe was divided into those areas „freed“ by the Soviet, and those freed by the Britains, the French and the Americans. It was rumoured, that in the Soviet occupation zone the governments were strongly influenced and Stalin announced, that the Red Army would remain in Europe, as long as the danger of fascism existed. (In his opinion, it still did.
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An even greater problem was the war against Japan. Although the Japanese had no chance to win at all, Emperor Hirohito refused to surrender. The cities were under continuos bombing, but by every American occupation was accompanied by heavy casualties, since the Japanese forced their civilians to „kamikaze“, suicide attacks. The only hope lasted in the secret „Manhattan“-project, which had been initiated by Roosevelt for exactly such a situation. The aim of this project at Los Alamos was the construction of thermonuclear weapons and it was predicted to succeed.
The first probation of Truman’s diplomatic abilities was the Potsdam conference.
It lasted from July 17 until August 2 and was the first and last meeting of the „Big Three“. Churchill, Stalin and Truman. Until this point they had been allies, and it was now up to them to create rules for the post-war world. First of all, the leaders met each other face-to-face. Truman liked Churchill but to his own surprise he also like the „Old Major“ Stalin. Stalin told him very soon that, Russia would enter the war with Japan in August, but this was the only concession he would make for the 2 weeks.
He didn’t failed his goal in misguiding Truman.
„I can deal with Stalin. He is honest – but smart as hell.“ Truman wrote into his diary. It seemed, that he underestimated the Soviet dictator completely.
In the meetings of Stalin, Churchill and Truman only a few thing were decided.
The division of the German fleet among the Allies, the Nuremberg Trials and a few other details could be decided but main topics such as the future of Germany, the exact Polish borders, and the retreat of the Soviet armies couldn’t be discussed. Stalin simply refused to talk about it, postponed them. Once Churchill explained his view that Europe was divided by an „iron Curtain“, whereupon Stalin shouted „All fairy tales!“
Then, in the middle of the conference, Churchill lost the elections in the UK and was replaced by C. Attlee. The only real success of the conference at Potsdam was the „Declaration of Potsdam“, signed on July 27. It declared, that if Japan wouldn’t surrender without condition, Russia would enter into the war very soon.
During the conference, Truman received a call from the White House, in which he was told, that the Manhattan project had succeeded. The a-bomb was ready for use. He decided to tell Stalin about it (the English knew it already, since it had been a joint project), and remarked to him at the end of the conference that the Americans had a quiet powerful, new weapon. Stalin pretended being not interested at all, but in fact the Russians already knew about it through their spy network. They were working on nuclear weapons too, but with less success.
In the U.
S., the conference could be presented as a victory, but Truman knew that the question of the communistic imperialism had to be treated sooner or later.
But first, he had to deal with Japan.
On August 5, 1945, a message went around the world. A nuclear bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. The reactions were overwhelming positive, the media hoped it would end the war.
But after some days, it became a fact, that 200,000 people had died in Hiroshima.
A lot of people asked, if the bomb had been really necessary. But Truman had gone through this question before, and for him it was. First of all, the bomb had been built to be used. As long as it remained a secret, it was worth nothing. Truman knew, that nuclear weapons was something very dangerous, and he later admitted, „not to have liked the bomb“, so it’s destructive power must have been shown to the world.
Of course it was discussed just to destroy some Japanese landscape, but to Truman it seemed, that it wouldn’t be enough. The cities on the Japanese mainland had been bombed by conventional weapons for months, causing even more destruction as the atomic bomb has, but the Japanese hadn’t surrendered.
Truman wasn’t sure, if the Japanese would surrender, and so it was an objective to hit a military target, which Hiroshima was indeed. It was the headquarter of the southern army of Japan and a huge ammunition depot. Unfortunately the industrial buildings, that produced weapons, where just in the centre of the city.
Another important fact is, that without the Japanese surrender, the Allies would have had to occupy Japan, which would have caused large casualties.
General Marshall speculated on 500.000 to 1,000,000 victims among the U.S. troops and even more on the Japanese side. In his memoirs Truman writes, the he thought, there would be only 20,000 victims, which was the number he has been told by the head of the Manhattan project Oppenheimer. For Truman there had never been a real alternative to Hiroshima, but after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he hoped he would never have to use the weapon again.
But there came no reaction from Japan. On August 9 another thermonuclear weapon hit Japan, this time in Nagasaki. The order had not come from Truman personally, but in his order to bomb Hiroshima, he had also allowed further bombing if necessary. This second attack caused 70,000 victims.
After Nagasaki, the Japanese reacted immediately. Emperor Hirohito proclaimed a „de facto“ unconditional surrender, with the only condition, the he could remain the head of Japan.
The Allies accepted this, and on August 14, the 2nd World War was over.
The day was celebrated all over the World, and Truman was really satisfied. Not just once during the past month, he had wished, someone else would have done the job instead of him. Although, he hardly ever complained, in his diary he often mentioned, that Roosevelt would have handled things better. But now the war was over, and it had been a success for the United States. Even more it had been a success for Harry Truman.
His popularity was at an all-time high (87% approval, according to a Gallup poll) and the press was full of praise for him. The Time magazine elected him „Man of the Year 1945“ and once more, his head appeared on the cover. In his memoirs, Truman called the Year 1945 „the year of decisions.“
In 1945 it seemed, that those decisions were right.
4. President in times of peace
Truman had expected that it would be easier to run a country in time of peace than in war, but he was wrong.
He had a lot of trouble to avoid a post-war depression like the one after WW1. For example, a whole industry branch had to be restructured suddenly, which was the war industry. Ford and Boing had to dismiss a several thousand workers because the government had cancelled orders.
But the real problem were the returning men (most of them had visited no college) from Europe who needed immediately work and housing. Truman reacted quickly by creating a reeducation-plan which allowed the homecoming men to study and also he supported construction. He also introduced universal military training, to guaranty a constant trained army.
He tried to create a national health insurance program, but with this he failed.
His greatest problem became the workers movement. During the war, the country had held together and people were willing to work more than required. But now, the unions grew stronger and stronger and the coal-miners wanted a wage increase. Truman refused an increase as high as the workers demanded, and they reacted with a nation-wide strike.
Times became harder for the President, his popularity fell to 65%.
He was criticised for his unable handling of the worker’s strike and for having a „government of crony“, since he had appointed a lot of his old friends.
The union strike became larger and caused more and more damage to the country. When the railroad worker’s hold a solidarity strike, the whole nation was paralysed and only 1% of the trains kept out of the strike. Noticing that the situation was getting out of his control, Truman decided to break the strike by army powers if the union wouldn’t negotiate. This announcement had the wished effect, the strike was soon over and the union accepted the government’s condition. Later, when the railroaders stroked again, Truman simply sued the union because of having violated a strike-agreement.
But because of his strict treatment of the strike Truman’s popularity sank dramatically (32%) and the press turned against him. In 1946 the Democrats lost a lot of votes when the Congress was elected, and they blamed Truman for this defeat.
It’s reported that he felt miserable these days. He never accepted himself being the President, and he often talked of „the President“ in the 3rd form, as if it wasn’t him. „I felt there must be a million men better qualified than I, to take up the Presidential task.“ he would later explain in his farewell address in 1953.
Nevertheless, most of the time he was in a good mood and still worked very hard, 14 hours a day and more. For example, he created the „Atomic Energy Commission“ which was under civilian control since he didn’t want the atomic energy under the control of the army.
In 1947 he appointed General Marshall his Secretary of State, which was one of his best personal choices. Truman sent him on a mission to China, where he tried to negotiate between the Communists under Mao-Tse Tung and the Nationalists, who were supported by the USA.
Gradually things were become better again for Truman, there country’s economy was flourishing and his popularity again increasing (48%).
After all, he had lead his country into normalisation.
But the real challenges were ahead in foreign politics.
5. Truman and Communism
When the 2nd World War was over, Europe was a „rubble-heap, a charnel house, a breeding ground of pestilence and hate“ (Winston Churchill, May 14, 1947).
The communist menace grew larger and larger. Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, East-Germany, Romania, Austria and Czechoslovakia were under Russian occupation and Greece and Turkey where also under Soviet pressure.
Truman soon realised, that communism was only a dictatorship and the enemy of the free world.
(As he would say in his inauguration speech of his 2nd term, „Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate, that he is unable to govern himself“.)
Eastern Europe had already disappeared behind the Iron Curtain, but there was still the chance of saving Western Europe, Greece and Turkey. He decided to give Greece and Turkey a huge financial aid to counter the Russian controlled communist influence, who were once more in Russian history a try to get access to the mediterran sea.
On March 7, 1947 he held a famous speech in the Senate about the American-Russian relations: „At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. [...] I believe that we must assist free people to work their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. [...] Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to West as well as to the East. We must take immediate and resolute action.
“
The Senate approved his plan by a vote of 67 to 23, and it was the first step of the new „Truman doctrine“, which meant not to tolerate communistic aggressions in democratic countries.
The financial aid soon showed effect, and Turkey and Greece seemed to be secured. But still the Soviets had no will in agreement with the USA, and Truman felt that more had to be done to stabilise Europe.
So he gave General Marshall the order to create an „European Recovery Program“, the ERP, or as it was called by media, the „Marshall plan“ (some also called „Truman plan“, but the President always refused the honour and said, that it was Marshall who had worked it out in details). The costs of the ERP were huge: 17$ billion but the Senate approved it. General Marshall also offered financial aid to the countries behind the Iron Curtain, but they rejected the „imperialistic US-Propaganda“.
Truman went on a speaking-tour across the country to convince the people of the necessity of the Marshall plan, and so most Americans were quiet satisfied with the new, international doctrine of the United States. Privately Truman argued for the ERP by comparing it with the estimated costs for a war with Russia: 400$ billion. He was very proud of his policy and wrote into his diary: „We are the first in history who feed and support the conquered. Our neighbours are not afraid of us.“
When the ERP started in 1948, the World already spoke of a Cold War, since there were no more talks between the 2 world powers. In spring 1948, Czechoslovakia was invaded by Russian forces and proclaimed a new „people’s republic“.
It became clear to Truman that, „The will for peace must be backed up with strength“ and therefore he thought of establishing an alliance of the free Western counties.
The situation became critical, when in June 1948, the Russian set up a blockade around Berlin, which was in Soviet-controlled area. The clear intention of the USSR was to force a withdraw from Berlin, but Truman wanted to make a sign of strength. He rejected his advisers proposals of armed convoys or counter-provocations to maintain the supply of the former German capital. He invented the „Berlin Airlift“, which was a full-scale airlift of supplies flown in by American machines. This turned out to be his most brilliant strategic move during the Cold War and it was strongly affecting West-European morals.
The airlift became a success, and in May 1949 the Russians lifted the blockade.
Truman would celebrate this as his victory. More than once in this few years the world had been close to a war, but he had prevented it with success. The Marshall-plan, the Truman doctrine, the NATO and the Berlin Airlift, were undoubtedly his most brilliant decisions, and as Churchill later would regard, „This man had done more for the free World as any other in history“.
6. Give ‘em hell, Harry
In 1948 Truman decided to run again for President, since he had the feeling, that still a lot of work was unfinished.
The only one he would have supported himself was General Eisenhower, but the General had no intentions to became candidate. After Truman won the primaries, he made his opponent Barkley candidate for Vice President, and promised him to „give ‘em ( = the Republicans) hell“.
So Truman made a phenomenal campaign in 1948. In the beginning his popularity (which had suffered because of his hesitation at the Palestine question) was at 36% and so he began a huge speaking-tour across the country. Everywhere huge crowds were listening to him, since the people were curious about their president.
Harry Truman made a great show.
He showed that he was an American just like his listeners, and that he knew their worries. Truman said, that he cared about the prosperity of the masses and not as the Republicans only about the privileged ones. He accused the Republican-dominated Congress of slowing down his work and draw the attention on the good economy which he claimed to be a result of his work. He promised the „Fair Deal“ of increased social welfare and public health expenditure. His speeches were no longer poor but very positive and honest. „Give ‘em hell, Harry“ became his slogan, and he later added: „I never gave anybody hell, I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
“ The combination of his new style of presentation and a couple of good ideas in the campaign (e.g.: he was the first to translate his speeches in other languages, so that every non-English-newspaper in the country printed them) made him regaining more and more votes.
His most important challengers Henry Wallace (Progressive Party) and John Dewey (Republican Party) made good campaigns too, and in the end, everyone was sure, Dewey would win. In poll made among journalists 1 week before the election 50 out of 50 said, Dewey would win. But the people of the United States decided otherwise and re-elected Harry S.
Truman to their President. Now he really was the elected President and he no more worried about being at the wrong place.
In his inauguration speech he promised to realise his „Fair Deal“ and also to continue his foreign policy and support the United Nation Organisation more than before. He also introduced his plans of building up the NATO, which was then founded in April 1949.
Spring 1949 was a good time for Truman, he started with his Fair Deal, did a lot on Civil Rights, reformed the structures of the FBI, founded the CIA, and the press praised his sovereign handling in Berlin. The Marshall plan proved to be successful and his European allies rebuilt their cities very fast.
Also had the threat of communism disappeared in Greece, France, Italy and Turkey.
But in summer the atmosphere turned once again. China became entirely communistic and founded a people’s republic, Russia developed the a-bomb. The American reaction to this unexpected event was the announcement of the H-bomb, a „super“-nuclear bomb, which should be 10 times as devastating as the one used in Hiroshima. The necessity of the „super“-bomb was discussed in the press, because of it’s enormous costs, but the majority was sure, that America had to stay on the top in the nuclear race. Except the US-navy and it’s nuclear depot, the American army was inferior to the mighty Red Army and so Truman hoped to balance it with having more nuclear capacity.
The Republican senator McCarthy turned out to be another problem, since he accused the government to be under communistic influence and created an anti-communistic paranoia.
In march 1950, Truman’s popularity was again down at 37%. But the real „hell“ laid still before him.
7. The Korean War
During WW2 Korea had been under Japanese occupation, and the allies had agreed on the 38th degree as division-line of their landing troops. Although never intended, this line became a border, since the soviet-occupied North had turned into a people’s republic, whereas the south remained free.
But on June 25, 1950, North-Korean forces attacked the South, whose army had no chance to win.
Truman decided to draw a line, and not to tolerate the communistic aggression. He hoped that the Soviets only wanted to test the U.S. and not intended to provoke WW3, but he was sure, that a toleration of the North-Korean attack could be seen as invitation for other attacks in Europe or Asia. So he decided to help the South, but not without remarking sadly:
„Everything I’ve done in the past 5 years has been a try to avoid making a decision as I have to make tonight.
“
He declared his participation in the war a „UN-police mission“ and asked Congress for additional 10$ billion to finance the war, which were granted. In the beginning, the U.S. troops rushed from defeat to defeat. They were outnumbered and had worse equipment than the North-Koreans but nevertheless Truman didn’t seriously consider using an a-bomb. He asked for more money and sent more troops to Korea.
In September, the situation changed after a large amphibious surprise attack of US-marines. By October, the American and South-Korean forces had reached the 38th parallel again.
If they would have stopped war at this point, the intervention in Korea would have been just another success in Truman’s foreign politics, in a row with the Berlin airlift, the NATO and ERP. But instead he insisted on destroying to whole North-Korean army to avoid another war later on. The army crossed the border which made the Chinese join the war with several hundred thousands of infantry. But even more problems appeared.
In November, two Puerto Ricans tried to assassinate President Truman (they were shot by the Security, but not without killing one of Truman’s personal bodyguards), and also his General in Korea, General MacArthur started becoming a problem. He insisted to broader the conflict and bomb the Chinese mainland with nuclear bombs. While the war turned more and more into an expensive disaster, MacArthur become convinced, that only he knew what to do.
In the end of the year 1950 Truman noticed in his diary, „it looks all very bad“.
At home, the Republicans accused him of killing „our boys“ in a resource-wasting war and his popularity fell to 26%. Truman had to expand the defensive budget to 50$ billion, which caused a great deficit in the budget.
In April 1951 Truman decided to fire MacArthur, who had become unbearable, but still he was extremely popular in the US. The reaction was a wave of indignation in country and there was even talk of impeaching Harry Truman.
Historians later said, that he’s decision might have been right, but he should have done it earlier. Now he had to face McCarthy’s accusation of being a traitor and a communist, and when MacArthur arrived in NY at a ceremony, 7,5 million (!) Americans came to see him, their national hero. In the next weeks the Senate made hearings about the MacArthur case, and in these hearings, MacArthur turned out to be simple-minded, self-absorbed and oddly interested in global issues. When asked, whether he thought, bombing Chinese mainland would have provoked WW3, he answered „That’s none of my business“.
He rapidly lost his popularity, but not without having damaged Truman’s reputation either.
In July 1951 Truman started peace talks with the North Koreans, but without result. More than 13,000 American soldiers had lost their lives until than, and the war was still were it had started: at the 38th degree.
Truman didn’t manage to end the war under his presidency and his successor Eisenhower only could make peace, after Stalin had died in March 1953.
The Korean war had been the biggest defeat in his carrier, but it’s questioned, if anyone else would have handled it better. To enter into the war was definitely not a failure, since the Soviets respected only signs of strength and in the time, when there was the question whether to cross the line and attack North-Korea or not, the overwhelming majority of American backed his decision.
Last days in office
Besides the Korean war, Truman had also to face other problems in 1951 and 1952. The so-called „McCarthyism“, anti-communistic paranoia was steadily growing, and in April 1952, another nationwide strike was organized, this time by the steel-millers. Since the steel-production was essential for the war, Truman decided to simple seize the steel-mills. The public opinion heavily criticized this method and he was sued for it by the union. The Supreme Court declared, that the seizure had been illegal, and the strikes went on for 7 weeks. The country lost 21million tons of steel and nearly 400$ million wages until Truman gave in and negotiated with the union.
Just like after the MacArthur-case his reputation suffered heavily and he decided not to run for another term. Although his diaries prove, that he really never intended to run for a 3rd term, it’s also most unlikely that he would have won against Eisenhower who this decided to run, yet not for the Democrats but for the Republicans.
Truman spent his last month in office trying to get his heath insurance program through the Congress, but he failed. He also tried to push the democratic candidate Stevenson, but against Eisenhower, there was not much chance to win, since Eisenhower suddenly started attacks on Marshall and Truman, blaming than for having betrayed the country. In the end, Eisenhower won overwhelmingly by winning in 39 of 48 states including Truman’s homeland Missouri.
Truman popularity was still around 30-35% when he left office and he noticed in his diary:
„ I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he’d taken a poll in Egypt? It isn’t the polls or public opinion of the moment that counts.
It’s right or wrong.“
Thursday, January 15, 1953 Harry Truman held his farewell address to the nation.
It was a good speech without rhetorical flourishes or memorable epigrams, clear, simple and often personal – very typical for Harry Truman.
He summarized brief his first month as President, his sudden replacement of Roosevelt, the German surrender, the Potsdam conference, the Manhattan Project, Hiroshima...
no President in history had had to face so many important decisions so quickly or with so little preparation. But it was his job to make decision. Yet it was not for the decisions of his first months in office that he would be remembered.
„I suppose that history will remember my tern in office as the years when the Cold War began to overshadow our lives. I have had hardly a day in office that has not been dominated by this all-embracing struggle. [.
..] And always in the background there has been the atomic bomb.
But when history says that my term of office saw the beginning of the Cold War, it will also say that in those eight years we have set the course that can win it.“
He explained that Korea had been a test, like the Nazi takeover in Austria or the Japanese aggression in Manchuria had been, with the only difference that „this time we’ve met the test“.
Then he made an astonishing precise prophecy concerning the fate of communism:
„As the free world grows stronger, more united, more attractive to men on both-sides of the Iron Curtain [.
..]there will have to come a time of change in the Soviet world. Nobody can say for sure, when this is going to be, or exactly how it will come about, whether by revolution, or trouble in the satellite states, or by a change inside the Kremlin. [..
.] I have a deep and abiding faith in the destiny of free men. With patience and courage, we shall some day move on into a new era.“
So, this day, Harry S. Truman became a plain citizen again.
The next years, Truman enjoyed being free to move again, and fulfilled himself a lot of dreams.
He traveled trough Europe with his wife Bess, he built the „Harry Truman library“, he wrote his own memoirs. For the next decades, he always remained in touch with Churchill and Acheson, but also with the Democratic party itself. He died on December 26, 1972 of lung congestion, after a struggle that had lasted for weeks. The next day he was buried in the garden of the „Truman library“.
„He was not a hero or magician or a chess player, or an obsession. He was a certifiable member of the human race, direct, fallible, and unexpectedly wise when it counted.
“ wrote Mary McGrory in the Washington Star the next day.
I think, this description fits good. Truman was in some terms typically American, he made strong decisions, and thought in categories of right and wrong. He had faith in his country and believed, that everyone else in the country was as proud as him to live in this great Republic. Truman may have come from a farm, but he was nevertheless very well educated and open minded. Although he had come from the South, he was far more liberal and active on civil rights than some of his democratic colleagues from the North.
His presidency had brought a lot of achievements to the USA and to the World. He stabilized the US economy and prevented another great depression, he fought communism to the last but he managed no to get into another world war. Without Truman’s insistence of rebuilding Europe it would have probably fallen to communism. Without Truman, the atomic bomb might have become a conventional weapon, and without him, the WW3 might have come reality. A lot of Americans blame Truman for the Korea War, but in fact, there was no real alternative to it. Truman might not have been another Roosevelt, but in my personal opinion, the world of the nuclear era, would have had no use for another Roosevelt.
It needed a man who carefully but fast prepared himself for his decisions and who could learn fast from his failures. It needed a man, who had strong principles, and who was willed to stand for them.
This man was Harry S. Truman.
Sources:
books:
„1945 - Year of Decisions„, memoirs by Harry S. Truman, V.
I., 1955, 637p.
„1946 - 1452 - Years of Trial and Hope„, memoirs by Harry S. Truman V.II. , 1956, 640p.
„Mr. Truman’s War;„ J. Robert Moskin, Random House, N.Y., 1996, 411p.
„The Truman Period As A Research Field„; Kirkendall, University of Missouri Press, 1972, 243p.
„Truman„, David McCoullough; Simon & Schuster Press, 1992, 1115p.
„The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thinkers“, Alan Bullock, R.B. Woodings; FontanaPress, Glasgow, 1983, 870p.
Peter Vandor
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