Harry
S. Truman:33rd President, 1945-1953
Truman became President at one of the most critical moments in American history. He had been Vice-President for only 83 days when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. World War II still had to be won. Plans to establish the United Nations organization had just been started.
The Missouri Democrat met the challenges of his presidency with courage, determination, and imagination. During the first few weeks of his administration, the Allies won victory in Europe. Truman then made one of the most awesome decisions ever considered by one man -- to use the powerful new atomic bomb against Japan to end World War II.
| Election of 1948 | |
| Place of Nominating Convention | Philadelphia |
| Ballot on Which Nominated | 1st |
| Republican Opponent | Thomas E. Dewey |
| Dixiecrat Opponent | Strom Thurmond |
| Progressive Opponent | Henry A. Wallace |
| Electoral Vote | 303 (Truman) to 189 (Dewey) to 39 (Thurmond) to 0 (Wallace) |
| Popular Vote | 24,105,695 (Truman) to 21,969,170 (Dewey) to 1,169,021 (Thurmond) to 1,156,103 (Wallace) |
| Age at Inauguration | 64 |
| His Vice-President and Cabinet | |
| Vice-President | Alben W. Barkley |
| Secretary of State | Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. James F. Byrnes (1945) George C. Marshall (1947) Dean G. Acheson (1949) |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Frederick M. Vinson (1945) John W. Snyder (1946) |
| Secretary of War | Henry L. Stimson Robert P. Patterson (1945) Kenneth C. Royall (1947) |
| Secretary of Defense | James V. Forrestal (1947) Louis A. Johnson (1949) George C. Marshall (1950) Robert A. Lovett (1951) |
| Attorney General | Francis Biddle Tom C. Clark (1945) J. Howard McGrath (1949) James P. McGranery (1952) |
| Postmaster General | Frank C. Walker Robert E. Hannegan (1945) Jesse M. Donaldson (1947) |
| Secretary of the Navy | James V. Forrestal |
| Secretary of the Interior | Harold L. Ickes Julius A. Krug (1946) Oscar L. Chapman (1950) |
| Secretary of Agriculture | Claude R. Wickard Clinton P. Anderson (1945) Charles F. Brannan (1948) |
| Secretary of Commerce | Henry A. Wallace Averell Harriman (1946) Charles Sawyer (1948) |
| Secretary of Labor | Frances
Perkins Lewis B. Schwellenbach (1945) Maurice J.Tobin (1948) |
| Major Domestic Events of His Administration | |
| Population in 1953: 159,700,000 | |
| July 16, 1945 | American forces tested the world's first atomic bomb. |
| 1946 | Congress created the Atomic Energy Commission. |
| May 15, 1947 | Congress approved the Truman Doctrine. |
| June 1947 | Congress passed the Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act) over Truman's veto. |
| July 1947 | The armed forces were unified under a single Secretary of Defense. |
| April 2, 1948 | Congress approved the Marshall Plan. |
| June 27, 1950 | Truman announced that U.S. planes and ships had been sent to help South Korea fight off communists. |
| November 1, 1950 | Two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to invade Blair House and assassinate Truman. |
| 1951 | The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting the President to two four-year terms, was adopted. |
| 1951 | A Senate committee investigated U.S. crime. |
| April 1951 | Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur as U.N. commander in Korea. |
| 1951 | Americans saw the first nationwide telecast. |
| 1952 | Puerto Rico became a commonwealth. |
| November 1, 1952 | American scientists tested the world's first hydrogen bomb. |
| Major World Events of His Administration | |
| April 25, 1945 | The first United Nations conference met in San Francisco. |
| May 7, 1945 | Germany surrendered to the Allies. |
| August 6, 1945 | An American bomber dropped an atomic bomb -- "Little Boy" -- on Hiroshima, Japan. |
| August 9, 1945 | An atomic bomb -- "Fat Man" -- was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. |
| August 14, 1945 | Japan surrendered to the United States. |
| 1946 | The Philippines became a republic. |
| 1947-1948 | India, Pakistan, and Ceylon won independence in the British Commonwealth; Burma became a republic. |
| 1948-1949 | An Allied airlift supplied blockaded West Berlin. |
| 1948 | Israel became a republic in Palestine. |
| 1949 | The United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and eight other nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty. |
| June 25, 1950 | Communist forces from North Korea invaded South Korea. |
| 1952 | Elizabeth II became Queen of England. |
The American Presidency. ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0295360-0
The American President. www.millercenter.virginia.edu/academic/americanpresident/truman
Internet Public Library. www.ipl.org/div/potus/hstruman.html
Japan
World War II
Secretary of State
George Catlett Marshall
Dean G. Acheson
Frances Coralie Perkins
"Little Boy"
"Fat Man"
The Philippines
Israel
Elizabeth II