Remembering Harry Truman
On December 26, 1972 (42 years ago today) Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, died at the age of 88 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri, the oldest child of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. His parents named him Harry after his maternal uncle Harrison "Harry" Young. They chose "S" as his middle initial to please both of his grandfathers, Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. The "S" did not stand for anything, a common practice among some families of Celtic origin at the time.
Truman had a remarkable career, given his humble beginnings. He spent most of his youth on his family's farm. When the United States entered World War I, Truman enlisted and served in combat in France as an artillery officer in his National Guard unit. He should have been rejected because of poor eyesight, but he cheated by memorizing the eye chart. As a Captain, Truman's battery did not lose a single man. His battery also provided support for George S. Patton's tank brigade during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. On November 11, 1918, Truman's artillery unit fired some of the last shots of the war. His war service enhanced his political career in Missouri.
After the war, Truman briefly owned a haberdashery and joined the Democratic Party political machine of Tom Pendergast (a man with a reputation for being a corrupt party boss) in Kansas City, Missouri. He was first elected to public office as a county official, and in 1934 became U.S. senator. He gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee, which exposed waste, fraud, and corruption in wartime contracts.
In 1944 Truman was chosen to be the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He succeeded Roosevelt as President on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II. Germany surrendered a few weeks after Truman assumed the Presidency, but the war with Japan was expected to last another year or more. Truman's decision to use atomic weapons against Japan led to a speedy end of the war but remains one of the most controversial decisions ever made by a president.
Working closely with Congress, Truman assisted in the founding of the United Nations. He also issued the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, and passed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, including the Axis nations. Former wartime Ally Soviet Union became the peacetime enemy, and the Cold War began. Under Truman's watch NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created in 1949.
Truman astounded political experts in 1948 when he successfully won election to the Presidency in his own right, something almost everyone predicted would not happen, even on election night. The Chicago Tribune was so confident of Truman's defeat that it posted headlines on election day reading "Dewey Defeats Truman."
When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, Truman immediately sent in U.S. troops and gained UN approval for the Korean War. After initial success, the UN forces were thrown back by Chinese intervention and the conflict was stalemated through the final years of Truman's presidency.
Corruption in Truman's administration, which was linked to certain members in the cabinet and senior White House staff, was a central issue in the 1952 presidential campaign. Truman chose not to run for re-election and the Democratic Party lost to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Following his retirement, Truman returned home to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home he and his wife Bess had shared for years with her mother. Truman chose not to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of office of the president. He he faced financial challenges as his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month. Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and wrote his memoirs of his time in office. Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and had to pay two-thirds of that in tax. He got $37,000 after he paid his assistants. The following year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president. The one other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money, in order to avoid embarrassing Truman.
Truman served as an elder statesman in the party and continued to campaign for Democratic candidates for many years. After a fall in his home in late 1964, his physical condition declined. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor the former president's fight for government health care while in office.
On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with lung congestion from pneumonia. He developed multiple organ failure and died at 7:50 am on December 26 at the age of 88. Bess Truman opted for a simple private service at the library for her husband rather than a state funeral in Washington. Bess died a decade later in 1982. They both are buried at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum in Independence.
Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri, the oldest child of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. His parents named him Harry after his maternal uncle Harrison "Harry" Young. They chose "S" as his middle initial to please both of his grandfathers, Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. The "S" did not stand for anything, a common practice among some families of Celtic origin at the time.
Truman had a remarkable career, given his humble beginnings. He spent most of his youth on his family's farm. When the United States entered World War I, Truman enlisted and served in combat in France as an artillery officer in his National Guard unit. He should have been rejected because of poor eyesight, but he cheated by memorizing the eye chart. As a Captain, Truman's battery did not lose a single man. His battery also provided support for George S. Patton's tank brigade during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. On November 11, 1918, Truman's artillery unit fired some of the last shots of the war. His war service enhanced his political career in Missouri.
After the war, Truman briefly owned a haberdashery and joined the Democratic Party political machine of Tom Pendergast (a man with a reputation for being a corrupt party boss) in Kansas City, Missouri. He was first elected to public office as a county official, and in 1934 became U.S. senator. He gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee, which exposed waste, fraud, and corruption in wartime contracts.
In 1944 Truman was chosen to be the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He succeeded Roosevelt as President on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II. Germany surrendered a few weeks after Truman assumed the Presidency, but the war with Japan was expected to last another year or more. Truman's decision to use atomic weapons against Japan led to a speedy end of the war but remains one of the most controversial decisions ever made by a president.
Working closely with Congress, Truman assisted in the founding of the United Nations. He also issued the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, and passed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, including the Axis nations. Former wartime Ally Soviet Union became the peacetime enemy, and the Cold War began. Under Truman's watch NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created in 1949.
Truman astounded political experts in 1948 when he successfully won election to the Presidency in his own right, something almost everyone predicted would not happen, even on election night. The Chicago Tribune was so confident of Truman's defeat that it posted headlines on election day reading "Dewey Defeats Truman."
When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, Truman immediately sent in U.S. troops and gained UN approval for the Korean War. After initial success, the UN forces were thrown back by Chinese intervention and the conflict was stalemated through the final years of Truman's presidency.
Corruption in Truman's administration, which was linked to certain members in the cabinet and senior White House staff, was a central issue in the 1952 presidential campaign. Truman chose not to run for re-election and the Democratic Party lost to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Following his retirement, Truman returned home to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home he and his wife Bess had shared for years with her mother. Truman chose not to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of office of the president. He he faced financial challenges as his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month. Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and wrote his memoirs of his time in office. Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and had to pay two-thirds of that in tax. He got $37,000 after he paid his assistants. The following year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president. The one other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money, in order to avoid embarrassing Truman.
Truman served as an elder statesman in the party and continued to campaign for Democratic candidates for many years. After a fall in his home in late 1964, his physical condition declined. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor the former president's fight for government health care while in office.
On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with lung congestion from pneumonia. He developed multiple organ failure and died at 7:50 am on December 26 at the age of 88. Bess Truman opted for a simple private service at the library for her husband rather than a state funeral in Washington. Bess died a decade later in 1982. They both are buried at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum in Independence.