{"id":3218,"date":"2016-04-14T22:18:34","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T22:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=3218"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:42:49","slug":"harry-truman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/harry-truman\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Truman: A Detailed Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harry Truman was the 33rd President of the United States and took office in 1945 after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/a>. He made significant decisions such as authorizing the atomic bombings of Japan<\/a> and leading the United States into the Cold War<\/a> with policies like the Truman Doctrine<\/a> and the Marshall Plan<\/a>. As such, historians consider Truman to be significant in both World War II<\/a> and the Cold War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HARRY TRUMAN – EARLY LIFE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Harry S Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri on May 8th, 1884. He spent much of his childhood on a farm. \u00a0Truman graduated from high school and worked on the railways. Later, Truman served in the army and fought during World War I<\/a>. In fact, he served in World War I as a captain in the United States Army. After returning home, he opened a haberdashery shop with his wife. Unfortunately, the store went bankrupt, which caused Truman to seek an alternative profession.\u00a0 For instance, he became interested in politics and joined the Democratic Party. Truman was elected as County Court Judge in 1922. As time passed, Truman\u2019s political interests continued, and he made his way up the political ranks of American society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harry S. Truman in September of 1917. (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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HARRY TRUMAN – VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1934 Truman ran for congress, and in 1935, he became a United States Senator from Wisconsin. With time, Truman continued to gain political popularity and in 1945 Truman was chosen as Vice President under President Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/a>. However, just 82 days soon after Truman became Vice President, Roosevelt died.\u00a0 At the time, the United States was in the end stages of\u00a0World War II\u00a0against\u00a0Nazi Germany<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0European Theater\u00a0and Imperial Japan in the\u00a0Pacific Theater. With the death of Roosevelt, Truman was appointed President and became the 33rd President of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HARRY TRUMAN – PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although World War II was nearly over when Truman became President, he played a significant role in the history of the war and the decades that followed.\u00a0 First, he participated in the\u00a0Potsdam Conference<\/a>\u00a0which occurred from July 17th to August 2nd in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of the Allied leaders, including: Truman,\u00a0Winston Churchill\u00a0and\u00a0Joseph Stalin<\/a>. The meeting took place in Potsdam, which at the time was in the Allied controlled area of Germany. The purpose of the conference was for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to handle the defeat of Nazi Germany, which had occurred just recently. \u00a0Other goals focused on how the world would carry on after the war. \u00a0While, World War II in the Pacific\u00a0was not over yet, the Allies could see that the end of the war was near and that Japan would soon be defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was at the Potsdam Conference that Truman made Stalin aware of the American atomic weapons program (Manhattan Project<\/a>) and that the Americans had developed the world’s first atomic bomb. \u00a0It was also at this conference that a deep divide was created between the United States and the Soviet Union. Truman was incredibly suspicious of Stalin and his intentions and Stalin felt a similar way towards Truman. \u00a0In general terms, the seeds of the\u00a0Cold War\u00a0were planted at the Potsdam Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clement Attlee, Harry S. Truman, and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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HARRY TRUMAN – ATOMIC BOMBING OF JAPAN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Next, Truman was involved in one of the most significant events in his entire presidency and the 20th century.\u00a0 Just days after the Potsdam Conference, Truman made the decision to use the\u00a0atomic bomb against Japan<\/a>\u00a0to end World War II in the Pacific.\u00a0\u00a0The first atomic bomb dropped on Japan was codenamed Little Boy and was detonated over the city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945.\u00a0\u00a0The bombing of Hiroshima was the single greatest death caused by one weapon in human history.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after the bombing, the United States called for the full and unconditional surrender of Japan.  However, the Japanese leadership delayed and did not respond to the American demands for surrender and on August 9th, the United States carried out another atomic bombing against Japan in the city of Nagasaki.  The city of Nagasaki was located in the south east of Japan and had approximately 240,000 people.  The atomic bomb used against Nagasaki was called the Fat Man and was delivered to the city on August 9th by the American B-29 bomber Bockscar.  Japan surrendered soon after and World War II was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of the two atomic bombs against Japan was controversial<\/a>.\u00a0 While the bombs ended World War II, many have questioned the ethics of using such destructive\u00a0weapons against an enemy that was essentially defeated.\u00a0 For his part, Truman stated that he decided to use the bombs after being informed of potential American casualties of the planned American Invasion of Japan called\u00a0Operation Downfall.\u00a0 It was reported that the United States might face as many as 1 million casualties in its attempt to invade the mainland islands of Japan.\u00a0 As a result, Truman argued that the atomic bombs offered a way of ending the war as quickly as possible while potentially saving the lives of many American soldiers.\u00a0 Regardless, his decision to use the atomic bombs remains one of the most significant events of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HARRY TRUMAN – COLD WAR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1948, Truman was re-elected and served as President of the United States during another important event in American and World History: the beginning of the Cold War.\u00a0 As the Allied countries liberated Europe from Nazi control and pushed the German army back into its own country, another development began to emerge.\u00a0 More specifically,\u00a0Joseph Stalin\u2019s\u00a0forces captured and remained control over the European territory that they \u2018liberated\u2019.\u00a0 United States President\u00a0Harry Truman, along with others, viewed this as a threat to the democratic world, because it saw the ideology of\u00a0communism\u00a0spreading throughout Europe.\u00a0 Truman was concerned that many other nations would \u2018fall\u2019 to communism<\/a> and threaten democracy<\/a> around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response Truman argued that the United States and its allies should actively combat the spread of communism wherever it emerges.\u00a0 Historians refer to this idea as the\u00a0‘Truman Doctrine<\/a>‘.\u00a0 The Truman Doctrine was followed by the United States throughout the course of the Cold War and was an important reason for America\u2019s involvement in events, such as: the\u00a0Berlin Blockade<\/a>,\u00a0Korean War<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Vietnam War<\/a>. \u00a0In general, historians refer to this as ‘containment<\/a>‘ because the Truman Doctrine involved the United States trying to contain Soviet expansionism wherever it emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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