Harry S. Truman (8 de mayo de 1884 - 26 de diciembre de 1972) fue el 33.º presidente de los Estados Unidos , en el cargo desde 1945 hasta 1953. Miembro del Partido Demócrata , sirvió como senador de los Estados Unidos por Misuri desde 1935 hasta 1945 y brevemente en 1945 como el 34.º vicepresidente bajo Franklin D. Roosevelt . Asumiendo la presidencia después de la muerte de Roosevelt, Truman implementó el Plan Marshall a raíz de la Segunda Guerra Mundial para reconstruir la economía de Europa Occidental y estableció tanto la Doctrina Truman como la OTAN para contener la expansión del comunismo soviético . Propuso numerosas reformas internas liberales, pero pocas fueron promulgadas por la coalición conservadora que dominaba el Congreso .
Truman se crió en Independence, Missouri , y durante la Primera Guerra Mundial luchó en Francia como capitán de la Artillería de Campaña. Al regresar a casa, abrió una mercería en Kansas City, Missouri , y fue elegido juez del condado de Jackson en 1922. Truman fue elegido senador de los Estados Unidos por Missouri en 1934. Entre 1940 y 1944, ganó prominencia nacional como presidente del Comité Truman , cuyo objetivo era reducir el desperdicio y la ineficiencia en los contratos en tiempos de guerra.
Truman fue elegido vicepresidente en las elecciones presidenciales de 1944 y asumió la presidencia tras la muerte de Roosevelt en abril de 1945. Fue sólo cuando Truman asumió la presidencia que fue informado sobre el Proyecto Manhattan en curso y la bomba atómica . Truman autorizó el primer y único uso de armas nucleares en la guerra contra las ciudades japonesas de Hiroshima y Nagasaki . La administración de Truman se comprometió con una política exterior internacionalista al trabajar en estrecha colaboración con Gran Bretaña . Truman denunció firmemente el aislacionismo . Impulsó la coalición del New Deal durante las elecciones presidenciales de 1948 , a pesar de un Partido Demócrata dividido , y obtuvo una victoria sorpresa contra el candidato del Partido Republicano Thomas E. Dewey que aseguró su propio mandato presidencial.
Truman presidió el inicio de la Guerra Fría en 1947. Supervisó el Puente Aéreo de Berlín y el Plan Marshall en 1948. Con la participación de los EE. UU. en la Guerra de Corea de 1950-1953, Corea del Sur repelió la invasión de Corea del Norte . En el ámbito interno, los desafíos económicos de la posguerra, como las huelgas y la inflación, crearon una reacción mixta sobre la eficacia de su administración. En 1948, propuso al Congreso aprobar una legislación integral sobre los derechos civiles. El Congreso se negó, por lo que Truman emitió la Orden Ejecutiva 9980 y la Orden Ejecutiva 9981 , que prohibían la discriminación en las agencias federales y desegregaban las Fuerzas Armadas de los EE. UU .
Las investigaciones revelaron corrupción en partes de la administración de Truman, y esto se convirtió en un tema importante de la campaña en las elecciones presidenciales de 1952 , aunque no implicaron al propio Truman. Era elegible para la reelección en 1952, pero, debido a las malas encuestas, decidió no presentarse. Truman se retiró marcado por la fundación de su biblioteca presidencial y la publicación de sus memorias. Durante mucho tiempo se pensó que sus años de jubilación fueron financieramente difíciles para Truman, lo que resultó en que el Congreso estableciera una pensión para los expresidentes, pero finalmente surgió evidencia de que amasó una riqueza considerable, parte de ella mientras aún era presidente. Cuando dejó el cargo, la administración de Truman fue duramente criticada. A pesar de esta controversia, los académicos clasifican a Truman en el primer cuartil de los presidentes estadounidenses. Además, la reevaluación crítica de su presidencia ha mejorado su reputación entre los historiadores y la población en general. [6]
Truman nació en Lamar, Misuri , el 8 de mayo de 1884, el hijo mayor de John Anderson Truman y Martha Ellen Young Truman . Recibió su nombre en honor a su tío materno, Harrison "Harry" Young. Su inicial del segundo nombre, "S", no es una abreviatura de un nombre en particular. Más bien, honra a sus dos abuelos, Anderson Shipp Truman y Solomon Young, una práctica bastante común en el sur de Estados Unidos en ese momento. [b] [8] Un hermano, John Vivian, nació poco después de Harry, seguido por su hermana Mary Jane. [9] Si bien la ascendencia de Truman era principalmente inglesa , también tenía ascendencia escocesa-irlandesa , alemana y francesa . [10] [11]
John Truman era un granjero y comerciante de ganado. La familia vivió en Lamar hasta que Harry tenía diez meses, cuando se mudaron a una granja cerca de Harrisonville, Missouri . Luego se mudaron a Belton y en 1887 a la granja de 600 acres (240 ha) de sus abuelos en Grandview . [12] Cuando Truman tenía seis años, sus padres se mudaron a Independence, Missouri , para que pudiera asistir a la Escuela Dominical de la Iglesia Presbiteriana . No asistió a una escuela convencional hasta que tuvo ocho años. [13] Mientras vivía en Independence, sirvió como goy de Shabat para los vecinos judíos, haciendo tareas para ellos en Shabat que su religión les impedía hacer ese día. [14] [15] [16]
Truman se interesaba por la música, la lectura, la historia y las matemáticas, [17] todo ello alentado por su madre, con la que era muy cercano. Como presidente, le solicitaba consejos políticos y personales. [18] Truman aprendió a tocar el piano a los siete años y tomó lecciones de la Sra. EC White, una profesora muy respetada en Kansas City . [19] Se levantaba a las cinco de la mañana todas las mañanas para practicar el piano, que estudió más de dos veces por semana hasta que cumplió quince años, convirtiéndose en un músico bastante hábil. [20] Truman trabajó como paje en la Convención Nacional Demócrata de 1900 en Kansas City ; [21] su padre tenía muchos amigos activos en el Partido Demócrata que ayudaron al joven Harry a obtener su primer puesto político. [22]
Después de graduarse de la Independence High School en 1901, [23] Truman tomó clases en el Spalding's Commercial College, una escuela de negocios de Kansas City. Estudió contabilidad, taquigrafía y mecanografía, pero dejó de estudiar después de un año. [24]
La segregación se practicaba y era ampliamente aceptada en el lugar donde creció Truman. Si bien más tarde apoyaría los derechos civiles, las primeras cartas del joven Truman reflejaban su educación y sus prejuicios contra los afroamericanos y los asiático-americanos . [25]
Truman trabajó brevemente en la sala de correo de The Kansas City Star [26] antes de aprovechar su experiencia en la escuela de negocios para obtener un trabajo como cronometrador para los equipos de construcción en el ferrocarril Atchison, Topeka y Santa Fe , lo que le exigía dormir en campamentos de trabajadores a lo largo de las líneas ferroviarias. [27] Truman y su hermano Vivian trabajaron más tarde como empleados en el Banco Nacional de Comercio en Kansas City. [28]
En 1906, Truman regresó a la granja Grandview, donde vivió hasta ingresar al ejército en 1917. [29] Durante este período, cortejó a Bess Wallace . [30] Le propuso matrimonio en 1911, pero ella lo rechazó. [31] Creyendo que Wallace lo rechazó porque no tenía mucho dinero, Truman dijo más tarde que tenía la intención de proponerle matrimonio nuevamente, pero que quería tener un ingreso mejor que el que obtenía un granjero. [32] De hecho, Wallace le dijo más tarde a Truman que no tenía la intención de casarse, pero que si lo hacía, sería con él. [31] Todavía decidido a mejorar sus finanzas, durante sus años en la granja e inmediatamente después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, Truman se volvió activo en varias empresas comerciales. Estas incluían una mina de plomo y zinc cerca de Commerce, Oklahoma , una empresa que compraba tierras y arrendaba los derechos de perforación petrolera a los prospectores, y la especulación en bienes raíces en Kansas City. [33] Truman ocasionalmente obtuvo algunos ingresos de estas empresas, pero ninguna resultó exitosa a largo plazo. [34]
Truman es el único presidente desde William McKinley (elegido en 1896) que no obtuvo un título universitario. [35] Además de haber asistido brevemente a la escuela de negocios, de 1923 a 1925 tomó cursos nocturnos para obtener una licenciatura en derecho en la Facultad de Derecho de Kansas City (ahora la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Missouri-Kansas City ), pero abandonó los estudios después de perder la reelección como juez del condado. [36] Los abogados del área de Kansas City le informaron que su educación y experiencia probablemente eran suficientes para recibir una licencia para ejercer la abogacía, pero no la solicitó porque ganó la elección como juez presidente. [37]
Mientras ejercía como presidente en 1947, Truman solicitó una licencia para ejercer la abogacía. [38] Un amigo que era abogado comenzó a trabajar en los preparativos y le informó a Truman que su solicitud tenía que ser notariada. Cuando Truman recibió esta información, ya había cambiado de opinión, por lo que nunca hizo ningún seguimiento. Después de que se descubriera la solicitud de Truman en 1996, la Corte Suprema de Missouri le otorgó una licencia honoraria póstuma para ejercer la abogacía. [39]
Debido a la falta de fondos para la universidad, Truman consideró asistir a la Academia Militar de los Estados Unidos en West Point, Nueva York , que no tenía matrícula, pero se le negó un nombramiento debido a su mala vista. [36] Se alistó en la Guardia Nacional de Misuri en 1905 y sirvió hasta 1911 en la Batería B con base en Kansas City , 2.º Regimiento de Artillería de Campaña de Misuri, en el que alcanzó el rango de cabo . [40] En su inducción, su vista sin gafas era inaceptable 20/50 en el ojo derecho y 20/400 en el izquierdo (más allá del estándar de ceguera legal). [41] La segunda vez que tomó la prueba, pasó memorizando en secreto la tabla optométrica. [42] Fue descrito como de 5 pies y 10 pulgadas de alto, ojos grises , cabello oscuro y tez clara. [43]
Cuando Estados Unidos entró en la Primera Guerra Mundial el 6 de abril de 1917 , Truman se reincorporó a la Batería B, reclutando con éxito nuevos soldados para la unidad en expansión, para la que fue elegido como su primer teniente . [44] Antes del despliegue en Francia, Truman fue enviado a entrenarse al Campamento Doniphan , Fort Sill , cerca de Lawton, Oklahoma , cuando su regimiento fue federalizado como la 129.ª Artillería de Campaña . [45] El comandante del regimiento durante su entrenamiento fue Robert M. Danford , quien más tarde sirvió como Jefe de Artillería de Campaña del Ejército. [46] Truman recordó que aprendió más información práctica y útil de Danford en seis semanas que en seis meses de instrucción formal del Ejército, y cuando Truman sirvió como instructor de artillería, modeló conscientemente su enfoque en el de Danford. [46]
Truman también dirigía el comedor del campamento junto con Edward Jacobson , un empleado de una tienda de ropa que conocía de Kansas City. A diferencia de la mayoría de los comedores financiados por miembros de la unidad, que normalmente perdían dinero, el comedor operado por Truman y Jacobson generó ganancias, devolviendo la inversión inicial de $2 de cada soldado y $10,000 en dividendos en seis meses. [40] En Fort Sill, Truman conoció al teniente James M. Pendergast, sobrino de Tom Pendergast , un jefe político de Kansas City, una conexión que tuvo una profunda influencia en la vida posterior de Truman. [47] [48]
A mediados de 1918, cerca de un millón de soldados de las Fuerzas Expedicionarias Estadounidenses (AEF) estaban en Francia. [49] Truman fue ascendido a capitán a partir del 23 de abril de [50] y en julio se convirtió en comandante de la recién llegada Batería D, 129.ª Artillería de Campaña, 35.ª División . [51] [52] La Batería D era conocida por sus problemas de disciplina, y Truman fue inicialmente impopular debido a sus esfuerzos por restablecer el orden. [40] A pesar de los intentos de los hombres de intimidarlo para que renunciara, Truman tuvo éxito al hacer que sus cabos y sargentos fueran responsables de la disciplina. Prometió respaldarlos si se desempeñaban de manera competente y reducirlos a soldados rasos si no lo hacían. [53] En un evento conmemorado en la tradición de la batería como "La batalla de los que corren", sus soldados comenzaron a huir durante un repentino ataque nocturno de los alemanes en las montañas de los Vosgos ; Truman tuvo éxito al ordenar a sus hombres que se quedaran y lucharan, utilizando blasfemias de sus días en el ferrocarril. Los hombres quedaron tan sorprendidos al oír a Truman utilizar ese lenguaje que obedecieron inmediatamente. [40]
La unidad de Truman se unió a un bombardeo de asalto masivo preestablecido el 26 de septiembre de 1918, al comienzo de la ofensiva Meuse-Argonne . [54] Avanzaron con dificultad sobre terreno lleno de hoyos para seguir a la infantería y establecieron un puesto de observación al oeste de Cheppy . [54] El 27 de septiembre, Truman vio a través de sus binoculares una batería de artillería enemiga desplegándose al otro lado de un río en una posición que les permitiría disparar contra la vecina 28.ª División . [54] Las órdenes de Truman lo limitaron a los objetivos que enfrentaban a la 35.ª División, pero lo ignoró y esperó pacientemente hasta que los alemanes habían alejado a sus caballos de sus armas, asegurándose de que no pudieran reubicarse fuera del alcance de la batería de Truman. [54] Luego ordenó a sus hombres que abrieran fuego, y su ataque destruyó la batería enemiga. [54] Sus acciones fueron acreditadas por salvar las vidas de soldados de la 28.ª División que de lo contrario habrían sido atacados por los alemanes. [55] [56] Truman recibió una reprimenda por parte de su comandante de regimiento, el coronel Karl D. Klemm, quien amenazó con convocar una corte marcial, pero Klemm nunca cumplió su promesa y Truman no fue castigado. [54]
En otra acción durante la ofensiva de Meuse-Argonne, la batería de Truman brindó apoyo a la brigada de tanques de George S. Patton , [57] y disparó algunos de los últimos tiros de la guerra el 11 de noviembre de 1918. La batería D no perdió ningún hombre mientras estuvo bajo el mando de Truman en Francia. Para mostrar su agradecimiento por su liderazgo, sus hombres le obsequiaron una gran copa de amor a su regreso a los Estados Unidos después de la guerra. [40]
La guerra fue una experiencia transformadora en la que Truman manifestó sus cualidades de líder. Había ingresado al servicio en 1917 como granjero familiar que había trabajado en empleos administrativos que no requerían la capacidad de motivar y dirigir a otros, pero durante la guerra adquirió experiencia de liderazgo y un historial de éxitos que realzaron y apoyaron enormemente su carrera política de posguerra en Missouri. [40]
Truman se crió en las iglesias presbiterianas y bautistas , [58] pero evitaba los avivamientos y a veces ridiculizaba a los predicadores avivadores. [59] Rara vez hablaba de religión, que para él, significaba principalmente un comportamiento ético según las líneas protestantes tradicionales. [60] Truman escribió una vez en una carta a su futura esposa, Bess: "Sabes que no sé nada sobre la Cuaresma y esas cosas..." [61] La mayoría de los soldados que comandó en la guerra eran católicos, y uno de sus amigos cercanos fue el capellán de la 129.ª Artillería de Campaña, Monseñor L. Curtis Tiernan. [62] Los dos siguieron siendo amigos hasta la muerte de Tiernan en 1960. [63] El desarrollo de habilidades interpersonales y de liderazgo que más tarde lo convirtieron en un político exitoso ayudó a Truman a llevarse bien con sus soldados católicos, como lo hizo con los soldados de otras denominaciones cristianas y los miembros judíos de la unidad. [64] [65]
Truman fue dado de baja honorablemente del ejército como capitán el 6 de mayo de 1919. [66] En 1920, fue nombrado mayor en el Cuerpo de Reserva de Oficiales . [67] Se convirtió en teniente coronel en 1925 y coronel en 1932. [68] En las décadas de 1920 y 1930 comandó el 1.er Batallón, 379.º Regimiento de Artillería de Campaña, 102.ª División de Infantería . [69] Después de su ascenso a coronel, Truman avanzó al mando del regimiento. [70]
Después de su elección al Senado de los EE. UU., Truman fue transferido al Grupo de Asignaciones Generales, una unidad de retención para oficiales menos activos, aunque no había sido consultado con anticipación. [71] Truman protestó por su reasignación, lo que llevó a su reanudación del mando del regimiento. [71] Siguió siendo un reservista activo hasta principios de la década de 1940. [72] Truman se presentó como voluntario para el servicio militar activo durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial , pero no fue aceptado, en parte debido a la edad y en parte porque el presidente Franklin D. Roosevelt deseaba que los senadores y congresistas que pertenecían a las reservas militares apoyaran el esfuerzo de guerra permaneciendo en el Congreso o poniendo fin a su servicio activo y reanudando sus escaños en el Congreso. [73] Fue un reservista inactivo desde principios de la década de 1940 hasta que se retiró como coronel en la entonces redesignada Reserva del Ejército de los EE. UU. el 20 de enero de 1953. [74]
Truman recibió una Medalla de la Victoria de la Primera Guerra Mundial con dos broches de batalla (por St. Mihiel y Meuse-Argonne ) y un broche del Sector Defensivo . También recibió dos Medallas de Reserva de las Fuerzas Armadas . [75]
Después de su servicio en tiempos de guerra, Truman regresó a Independence, donde se casó con Bess Wallace el 28 de junio de 1919. [76] La pareja tuvo una hija, Mary Margaret Truman . [77]
Poco antes de la boda, Truman y Jacobson abrieron juntos una mercería en el 104 de West 12th Street en el centro de Kansas City . [78] Después de un breve éxito inicial, la tienda se declaró en quiebra durante la recesión de 1921. [ 18] Truman no pagó la última de las deudas de esa empresa hasta 1935, cuando lo hizo con la ayuda del banquero William T. Kemper , quien trabajó entre bastidores para permitir que el hermano de Truman, Vivian, comprara el pagaré de $ 5,600 de Truman durante la venta de activos de un banco que había quebrado en la Gran Depresión . [79] [80] El pagaré había subido y bajado de valor a medida que se compraba y vendía, se acumulaban intereses y Truman hacía pagos, por lo que cuando el último banco que lo tenía quebró, valía casi $ 9,000. [81] Gracias a los esfuerzos de Kemper, Vivian Truman pudo comprarlo por $ 1,000. [80] Jacobson y Truman siguieron siendo amigos cercanos incluso después de que su tienda fracasara, y el consejo de Jacobson a Truman sobre el sionismo más tarde jugó un papel en la decisión del gobierno de los EE. UU. de reconocer a Israel. [82]
Con la ayuda de la maquinaria demócrata de Kansas City liderada por Tom Pendergast , Truman fue elegido en 1922 juez del Tribunal del Condado de Jackson del distrito este; el tribunal de tres jueces del condado de Jackson incluía jueces del distrito oeste (Kansas City), el distrito este (el condado fuera de Kansas City) y un juez presidente elegido en todo el condado. Se trataba de un tribunal administrativo en lugar de judicial, similar a las comisiones del condado en muchas otras jurisdicciones. Truman perdió su campaña de reelección de 1924 en una ola republicana liderada por la aplastante elección del presidente Calvin Coolidge para un mandato completo. Dos años vendiendo membresías de clubes de automóviles lo convencieron de que una carrera en el servicio público era más segura para un hombre de familia que se acercaba a la mediana edad, y planeó postularse para juez presidente en 1926. [83]
Truman ganó el puesto en 1926 con el apoyo de la maquinaria de Pendergast, y fue reelegido en 1930. Como juez presidente, Truman ayudó a coordinar el Plan de Diez Años , que transformó el condado de Jackson y el horizonte de Kansas City con nuevos proyectos de obras públicas, incluida una amplia serie de carreteras y la construcción de un nuevo edificio del Tribunal del Condado diseñado por Wight and Wight . También en 1926, se convirtió en presidente de la Asociación Nacional de Caminos Antiguos , y durante su mandato supervisó la dedicación de 12 monumentos de la Virgen del Camino para honrar a las mujeres pioneras. [83] [84]
En 1933, Truman fue nombrado director de Missouri para el programa de Reempleo Federal (parte de la Administración de Obras Civiles ) a petición del director general de Correos James Farley . Esto fue una retribución a Pendergast por haber entregado el voto de Kansas City a Franklin D. Roosevelt en la elección presidencial de 1932. El nombramiento confirmó el control de Pendergast sobre los trabajos de patrocinio federal en Missouri y marcó el cenit de su poder. También creó una relación entre Truman y el asistente de Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins , y aseguró el ávido apoyo de Truman al New Deal. [85]
Después de servir como juez del condado, Truman quería postularse para gobernador de Missouri o para el Congreso , [86] [87] pero Pendergast rechazó estas ideas. Truman pensó entonces que podría terminar su carrera en algún puesto bien remunerado en el condado; [87] las circunstancias cambiaron cuando Pendergast lo respaldó a regañadientes como la opción de la máquina en las elecciones primarias demócratas de 1934 para el Senado de los EE. UU. por Missouri , después de que las primeras cuatro opciones de Pendergast se negaran a presentarse. [88] En las primarias, Truman derrotó a los congresistas John J. Cochran y Jacob L. Milligan con el sólido apoyo del condado de Jackson , que fue crucial para su candidatura. También fueron críticos los contactos que había hecho en todo el estado en su calidad de funcionario del condado, miembro de los masones , [c] reservista militar, [d] y miembro de la Legión Americana. [e] [92] En las elecciones generales, Truman derrotó al republicano en el cargo Roscoe C. Patterson por casi 20 puntos porcentuales en una ola continua de demócratas pro- New Deal elegidos durante la Gran Depresión . [88] [93] [94]
Truman asumió el cargo con la reputación de ser "el senador de Pendergast". Derivó las decisiones de patrocinio a Pendergast, pero sostuvo que votaba con su propia conciencia. Más tarde defendió las decisiones de patrocinio diciendo que "al ofrecer un poco a la máquina, [él] ahorró mucho". [94] [95] En su primer mandato, Truman se pronunció en contra de la codicia corporativa y de los peligros de que los especuladores de Wall Street y otros intereses especiales adinerados adquieran demasiada influencia en los asuntos nacionales. [96] Aunque sirvió en los Comités de Asignaciones Presupuestarias y Comercio Interestatal , fue en gran medida ignorado por el presidente Roosevelt y tuvo problemas para obtener respuestas a las llamadas de la Casa Blanca. [94] [97]
Durante las elecciones al Senado de los Estados Unidos de 1940 , el fiscal de los Estados Unidos Maurice Milligan (hermano del ex oponente Jacob Milligan) y el ex gobernador Lloyd Stark desafiaron a Truman en las primarias demócratas. Truman se vio debilitado políticamente por el encarcelamiento de Pendergast por evasión de impuestos sobre la renta el año anterior; el senador se había mantenido leal, habiendo afirmado que los jueces republicanos (no la administración Roosevelt) eran responsables de la caída del jefe. [98] El apoyo del líder del partido de St. Louis, Robert E. Hannegan, a Truman resultó crucial; más tarde negoció el acuerdo que puso a Truman en la lista nacional. Al final, Stark y Milligan dividieron el voto anti-Pendergast en las primarias demócratas del Senado y Truman ganó por un total de 8.000 votos. En las elecciones de noviembre, Truman derrotó al republicano Manvel H. Davis por 51-49 por ciento. [99] Como senador, Truman se opuso tanto a la Alemania nazi como a la Rusia comunista. Dos días después de que Hitler invadiera la Unión Soviética en junio de 1941, Truman dijo:
Si vemos que Alemania está ganando debemos ayudar a Rusia, y si Rusia está ganando debemos ayudar a Alemania, y de esa manera dejar que maten a tantos como sea posible, aunque no quiero ver a Hitler victorioso bajo ninguna circunstancia. [100]
Esta cita sin su última parte se convirtió más tarde en un elemento básico de la propaganda soviética y luego rusa como "prueba" de una conspiración estadounidense para destruir el país. [101] [102]
A fines de 1940, Truman viajó a varias bases militares. El despilfarro y la especulación que vio lo llevaron a utilizar su presidencia del Subcomité de Movilización de Guerra del Comité de Asuntos Militares para iniciar investigaciones sobre los abusos mientras la nación se preparaba para la guerra. Se creó un nuevo comité especial bajo el mando de Truman para realizar una investigación formal; la Casa Blanca apoyó este plan en lugar de soportar una investigación más hostil por parte de la Cámara de Representantes. La misión principal del comité era exponer y combatir el despilfarro y la corrupción en los gigantescos contratos gubernamentales en tiempos de guerra.
La iniciativa de Truman convenció a los líderes del Senado de la necesidad de la comisión, lo que reflejaba sus exigencias de una administración honesta y eficiente y su desconfianza hacia las grandes empresas y Wall Street. Truman dirigió la comisión "con extraordinaria habilidad" y por lo general logró consensos, generando una gran publicidad en los medios que le dio una reputación nacional. [103] [104] Las actividades de la Comisión Truman iban desde criticar a los " hombres de un dólar al año " contratados por el gobierno, muchos de los cuales resultaron ineficaces, hasta investigar un proyecto de viviendas de Nueva Jersey construido de mala calidad para trabajadores de guerra. [105] [106] En marzo de 1944, Truman intentó investigar el costoso Proyecto Manhattan , pero el Secretario de Guerra Henry L. Stimson lo convenció de que descontinuara la investigación. [107] : 634
Según se informa, el comité ahorró hasta 15 mil millones de dólares (equivalentes a 260 mil millones de dólares en 2023), [108] [ 109] [110] [111] y sus actividades pusieron a Truman en la portada de la revista Time . [112] Según las actas históricas del Senado, al dirigir el comité, "Truman borró su imagen pública anterior como un mensajero para los políticos de Kansas City", y "ningún senador obtuvo mayores beneficios políticos al presidir un comité de investigación especial que Harry S. Truman de Missouri". [113]
Los asesores de Roosevelt sabían que Roosevelt podría no vivir un cuarto mandato y que su vicepresidente muy probablemente se convertiría en el próximo presidente. Henry Wallace había servido como vicepresidente de Roosevelt durante cuatro años y era popular en la izquierda, pero era visto como demasiado izquierdista y demasiado amigable para trabajar para algunos de los asesores de Roosevelt. El presidente y varios de sus confidentes querían reemplazar a Wallace con alguien más aceptable para los líderes del Partido Demócrata. El presidente saliente del Comité Nacional Demócrata Frank C. Walker , el presidente entrante Hannegan, el tesorero del partido Edwin W. Pauley , el jefe del partido del Bronx Ed Flynn , el alcalde de Chicago Edward Joseph Kelly y el cabildero George E. Allen querían mantener a Wallace fuera de la lista. [114] Roosevelt dijo a los líderes del partido que aceptaría a Truman o al juez de la Corte Suprema William O. Douglas . [115]
Los líderes del partido en el estado y la ciudad preferían firmemente a Truman, y Roosevelt estuvo de acuerdo. [116] Truman había dicho repetidamente que no estaba en la carrera y que no quería la vicepresidencia, y se mantuvo reacio. [116] Una de las razones fue que su esposa y su hermana Mary Jane estaban en la nómina de su personal del Senado, y temía publicidad negativa. [116] Truman no hizo campaña para el puesto de vicepresidente, aunque recibió con agrado la atención como evidencia de que se había convertido en algo más que el "senador de Pendergast". [117] La nominación de Truman fue apodada el "Segundo Compromiso de Misuri " y fue bien recibida. La candidatura Roosevelt-Truman logró una victoria de 432-99 votos electorales en la elección, derrotando a la candidatura republicana del gobernador Thomas E. Dewey de Nueva York y su compañero de fórmula, el gobernador John Bricker de Ohio. Truman juró como vicepresidente el 20 de enero de 1945. [118] Después de la investidura, Truman llamó a su madre, quien le dijo: "Ahora compórtate". [119]
La breve vicepresidencia de Truman transcurrió relativamente sin incidentes. Truman presidió principalmente el Senado y asistió a fiestas y recepciones. Mantuvo las mismas oficinas de sus años en el Senado, y en su mayoría solo utilizó la oficina oficial del vicepresidente en el Capitolio para recibir a los visitantes. Truman fue el primer vicepresidente al que se le asignó un agente del Servicio Secreto. Truman concibió la oficina como un enlace entre el Senado y el presidente. [120] El 10 de abril de 1945, [121] Truman emitió su único voto de desempate como presidente del Senado, en contra de una enmienda de Robert A. Taft que habría bloqueado la entrega de posguerra de los artículos de la Ley de Préstamo y Arriendo contratados durante la guerra. [122] [123] Roosevelt rara vez se comunicó con él, incluso para informarle de decisiones importantes; el presidente y el vicepresidente se reunieron solo dos veces durante su mandato. [124]
En uno de sus primeros actos como vicepresidente, Truman generó cierta controversia cuando asistió al funeral del deshonrado Pendergast. Hizo caso omiso de las críticas y dijo simplemente: "Él siempre fue mi amigo y yo siempre he sido el suyo". [18] Rara vez había discutido asuntos mundiales o de política interna con Roosevelt; no estaba informado sobre las principales iniciativas relacionadas con la guerra y el Proyecto Manhattan de alto secreto , que estaba a punto de probar la primera bomba atómica del mundo. [125] En un evento que generó publicidad negativa para Truman, fue fotografiado con la actriz Lauren Bacall sentados sobre el piano en el National Press Club mientras tocaba para los soldados. [126]
Truman había sido vicepresidente durante 82 días cuando el presidente Roosevelt murió el 12 de abril de 1945. [125] Truman, que presidía el Senado, como de costumbre, acababa de levantar la sesión del día y se disponía a tomar una copa en la oficina del presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Sam Rayburn , cuando recibió un mensaje urgente para que fuera inmediatamente a la Casa Blanca, donde Eleanor Roosevelt le dijo que su marido había muerto después de una hemorragia cerebral masiva . Truman le preguntó si había algo que pudiera hacer por ella; ella respondió: "¿Hay algo que podamos hacer por usted ? ¡Porque usted es el que está en problemas ahora!" [127] [128] [129] Fue juramentado como presidente a las 7:09 pm en el ala oeste de la Casa Blanca, por el presidente del Tribunal Supremo Harlan F. Stone . [130]
En la Casa Blanca, Truman reemplazó a los remanentes de Roosevelt por viejos confidentes. La Casa Blanca estaba muy escasa de personal, con no más de una docena de ayudantes; apenas podían seguir el ritmo del pesado flujo de trabajo de un departamento ejecutivo enormemente ampliado. Truman actuó como su propio jefe de gabinete a diario, así como su propio enlace con el Congreso, un organismo que ya conocía muy bien. No estaba bien preparado para tratar con la prensa y nunca logró la familiaridad jovial de FDR. Lleno de ira latente por todos los reveses en su carrera, desconfiaba amargamente de los periodistas. Los veía como enemigos que acechaban su próximo descuido. Truman era un trabajador muy duro, a menudo hasta el punto de agotarse, lo que lo dejaba irritable, fácilmente irritable y al borde de parecer poco presidencial o mezquino. En cuanto a los temas importantes, los discutía en profundidad con los principales asesores. Dominaba los detalles del presupuesto federal tan bien como cualquiera. Truman era un mal orador al leer un texto. Sin embargo, su visible enojo lo convirtió en un eficaz orador , denunciando a sus enemigos mientras sus partidarios le gritaban "¡Dales la lata, Harry!" [131]
Truman se rodeó de sus viejos amigos y nombró a varios de ellos en altos puestos que parecían estar más allá de su competencia, incluidos sus dos secretarios del Tesoro, Fred Vinson y John Snyder . Su amigo más cercano en la Casa Blanca era su ayudante militar Harry H. Vaughan , que sabía poco de asuntos militares o exteriores y fue criticado por negociar el acceso a la Casa Blanca a cambio de regalos caros. [132] [133] A Truman le encantaba pasar el mayor tiempo posible jugando al póquer, contando historias y bebiendo bourbon. Alonzo Hamby señala que:
... para muchos en el público en general, el juego y el consumo de bourbon, por más discretos que fueran, no eran precisamente presidenciales. Tampoco lo eran el estilo de campaña desenfrenado de "darles caña" ni las ocasionales frases profanas que pronunciaba en público. El póquer ejemplificaba un problema mayor: la tensión entre sus intentos de dar una imagen de liderazgo necesariamente superior a lo común y una informalidad que a veces parecía rayar en la crudeza. [134] [135]
En su primer día completo, Truman dijo a los periodistas: "Muchachos, si alguna vez rezan, recen por mí ahora. No sé si alguna vez les cayó un montón de heno encima, pero cuando me dijeron lo que pasó ayer, sentí como si la luna, las estrellas y todos los planetas hubieran caído sobre mí". [136]
Truman pidió a todos los miembros del gabinete de Roosevelt que permanecieran en sus puestos, pero pronto reemplazó a casi todos ellos, especialmente por viejos amigos de sus días en el Senado. [137]
Truman se benefició de un período de luna de miel gracias al éxito en la derrota de la Alemania nazi en Europa y la nación celebró el Día de la Victoria en Europa el 8 de mayo de 1945, su 61 cumpleaños. [138]
Aunque a Truman le dijeron brevemente en la tarde del 12 de abril que Estados Unidos tenía una nueva arma altamente destructiva, no fue hasta el 25 de abril que el Secretario de Guerra Henry Stimson le contó los detalles: [139]
Hemos descubierto la bomba más terrible de la historia del mundo. Puede ser la destrucción por fuego profetizada en la era del valle del Éufrates, después de Noé y su fabulosa Arca.
— Harry Truman, escribiendo sobre la bomba atómica en su diario [140] el 25 de julio de 1945 [141]
Truman viajó a Berlín para la Conferencia de Potsdam con Joseph Stalin y el líder británico Winston Churchill . Allí se enteró de que el 16 de julio se había realizado con éxito la prueba Trinity (la primera bomba atómica). Le insinuó a Stalin que estaba a punto de utilizar un nuevo tipo de arma contra los japoneses. Aunque era la primera vez que los soviéticos recibían información oficial sobre la bomba atómica, Stalin ya conocía el proyecto de la bomba, pues se había enterado de él a través del espionaje atómico mucho antes que Truman. [142] [143] [144]
In August, the Japanese government refused surrender demands as specifically outlined in the Potsdam Declaration. With the invasion of Japan imminent, Truman approved the schedule for dropping the two available bombs. Truman maintained the position that attacking Japan with atomic bombs saved many lives on both sides; a military estimate for the invasion of Japan submitted to Truman by Herbert Hoover indicated that an invasion could take at least a year and result in 500,000 to 1,000,000 Allied casualties.[145] A study done for the staff of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7–4 million American casualties, including 400,000–800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities if Japanese civilians participated in the defense of Japan.[146] The U.S. Army Service Forces estimated in their document "Redeployment of the United States Army after the Defeat of Germany," that between June 1945 and December 1946 the Army would be required to furnish replacements for 43,000 dead and evacuated wounded every month during this period.[147] From analysis of the replacement schedule and projected strengths in overseas theaters, it suggested that Army losses alone in those categories, excluding the Navy and Marine Corps, would be approximately 863,000 through the first part of 1947, of whom 267,000 would be killed or missing.[148]
Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, and Nagasaki three days later, leaving 105,000 dead.[149] The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 9 and invaded Manchuria. Japan agreed to surrender the following day.[150][151]
Supporters[f] of Truman's decision argue that, given the tenacious Japanese defense of the outlying islands, the bombings saved hundreds of thousands of lives of Allied prisoners, Japanese civilians, and combatants on both sides that would have been lost in an invasion of Japan. Some modern criticism has argued that the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary, given that conventional attacks or a demonstrative bombing of an uninhabited area might have forced Japan's surrender, and therefore assert that the attack constituted a crime of war.[152][153][154] In 1948 Truman defended his decision to use atomic bombs:
As President of the United States, I had the fateful responsibility of deciding whether or not to use this weapon for the first time. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. But the President cannot duck hard problems—he cannot pass the buck. I made the decision after discussions with the ablest men in our Government, and after long and prayerful consideration. I decided that the bomb should be used to end the war quickly and save countless lives—Japanese as well as American.[155]
Truman continued to strongly defend himself in his memoirs in 1955–1956, stating many lives could have been lost had the United States invaded mainland Japan without the atomic bombs. In 1963, he stood by his decision, telling a journalist "it was done to save 125,000 youngsters on the U.S. side and 125,000 on the Japanese side from getting killed and that is what it did. It probably also saved a half million youngsters on both sides from being maimed for life."[156]
The end of World War II was followed by an uneasy transition from war to a peacetime economy. The costs of the war effort had been enormous, and Truman was intent on diminishing military services as quickly as possible to curtail the government's military expenditures. The effect of demobilization on the economy was unknown, proposals were met with skepticism and resistance, and fears existed that the nation would slide back into depression. In Roosevelt's final years, Congress began to reassert legislative power and Truman faced a congressional body where Republicans and conservative southern Democrats formed a powerful "conservative coalition" voting bloc. The New Deal had greatly strengthened labor unions and they formed a major base of support for Truman's Democratic Party. The Republicans, working with big business, made it their highest priority to weaken those unions.[157] The unions had been promoted by the government during the war and tried to make their gains permanent through large-scale strikes in major industries. Meanwhile, price controls were slowly ending, and inflation was soaring.[158] Truman's response to the widespread dissatisfaction was generally seen as ineffective.[158]
When a national rail strike threatened in May 1946, Truman seized the railroads in an attempt to contain the issue, but two key railway unions struck anyway. The entire national railroad system was shut down, immobilizing 24,000 freight trains and 175,000 passenger trains a day.[159] For two days, public anger mounted. His staff prepared a speech that Truman read to Congress calling for a new law, whereby railroad strikers would be drafted into the army. As he concluded his address, he was handed a note that the strike had been settled on presidential terms; nevertheless, a few hours later, the House voted to draft the strikers. The bill died in the Senate.[160][161]
The president's approval rating dropped from 82 percent in the polls in January 1946 to 52 percent by June.[162] This dissatisfaction led to large Democratic losses in the 1946 midterm elections, and Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since 1930. When Truman dropped to 32 percent in the polls, Democratic Arkansas Senator William Fulbright suggested that Truman resign; the president said he did not care what Senator "Halfbright" said.[163][164]
Truman cooperated closely with the Republican leaders on foreign policy but fought them bitterly on domestic issues. The power of the labor unions was significantly curtailed by the Taft–Hartley Act which was enacted over Truman's veto. Truman twice vetoed bills to lower income tax rates in 1947. Although the initial vetoes were sustained, Congress overrode his veto of a tax cut bill in 1948. In one notable instance of bipartisanship, Congress passed the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which replaced the secretary of state with the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate as successor to the president after the vice president.[165]
As he readied for the 1948 election, Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the New Deal tradition, advocating for national health insurance,[166] and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. He broke with the New Deal by initiating an aggressive civil rights program which he termed a moral priority. His economic and social vision constituted a broad legislative agenda that came to be called the "Fair Deal."[167] Truman's proposals were not well received by Congress, even with renewed Democratic majorities in Congress after 1948. The Solid South rejected civil rights as those states still enforced segregation. Only one of the major Fair Deal bills, the Housing Act of 1949, was ever enacted.[168][169] Many of the New Deal programs that persisted during Truman's presidency have since received minor improvements and extensions.[170]
As a Wilsonian internationalist, Truman supported Roosevelt's policy in favor of the creation of the United Nations and included Eleanor Roosevelt on the delegation to the first UN General Assembly.[172] With the Soviet Union expanding its sphere of influence through Eastern Europe, Truman and his foreign policy advisors took a hard line against the USSR. In this, he matched U.S. public opinion which quickly came to believe the Soviets were intent upon world domination.[173]
Although he had little personal expertise on foreign matters, Truman listened closely to his top advisors, especially George Marshall and Dean Acheson. The Republicans controlled Congress in 1947–1948, so he worked with their leaders, especially Senator Arthur H. Vandenburg, chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee.[174] He won bipartisan support for both the Truman Doctrine, which formalized a policy of Soviet containment, and the Marshall Plan, which aimed to help rebuild postwar Europe.[175][176]
To get Congress to spend the vast sums necessary to restart the moribund European economy, Truman used an ideological argument, arguing that communism flourishes in economically deprived areas.[177] As part of the U.S. Cold War strategy, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 and reorganized military forces by merging the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (later the Department of Defense) and creating the U.S. Air Force. The act also created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Council.[178] On November 4, 1952, Truman authorized the official, though at the time, confidential creation of the National Security Agency (NSA).[179][180]
Truman did not know what to do about China, where the Nationalists and Communists were fighting a large-scale civil war. The Nationalists had been major wartime allies and had large-scale popular support in the United States, along with a powerful lobby. General George Marshall spent most of 1946 in China trying to negotiate a compromise but failed. He convinced Truman the Nationalists would never win on their own and a very large-scale U.S. intervention to stop the Communists would significantly weaken U.S. opposition to the Soviets in Europe. By 1949, the Communists under Mao Zedong had won the civil war, the United States had a new enemy in Asia, and Truman came under fire from conservatives for "losing" China.[181]
On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked access to the three Western-held sectors of Berlin. The Allies had not negotiated a deal to guarantee supply of the sectors deep within the Soviet-occupied zone. The commander of the U.S. occupation zone in Germany, General Lucius D. Clay, proposed sending a large armored column across the Soviet zone to West Berlin with instructions to defend itself if it were stopped or attacked. Truman believed this would entail an unacceptable risk of war. He approved Ernest Bevin's plan to supply the blockaded city by air.
On June 25, the Allies initiated the Berlin Airlift, a campaign to deliver food, coal and other supplies using military aircraft on a massive scale. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before, and no single nation had the capability, either logistically or materially, to accomplish it. The airlift worked; ground access was again granted on May 11, 1949. Nevertheless, the airlift continued for several months after that. The Berlin Airlift was one of Truman's great foreign policy successes; it significantly aided his election campaign in 1948.[182]
Truman had long taken an interest in the history of the Middle East and was sympathetic to Jews who sought to re-establish their ancient homeland in Mandatory Palestine. As a senator, he announced support for Zionism; in 1943 he called for a homeland for those Jews who survived the Nazi regime. However, State Department officials were reluctant to offend the Arabs, who were opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state in the large region long populated and dominated culturally by Arabs. Secretary of Defense James Forrestal warned Truman of the importance of Saudi Arabian oil in another war; Truman replied he would decide his policy on the basis of justice, not oil.[183] U.S. diplomats with experience in the region were opposed, but Truman told them he had few Arabs among his constituents.[184]
Palestine was secondary to the goal of protecting the "Northern Tier" of Greece, Turkey, and Iran from communism, as promised by the Truman Doctrine.[185] Weary of both the convoluted politics of the Middle East and pressure by Jewish leaders, Truman was undecided on his policy and skeptical about how the Jewish "underdogs" would handle power.[186][187] He later cited as decisive in his recognition of the Jewish state the advice of his former business partner, Eddie Jacobson, a non-religious Jew whom Truman absolutely trusted.[184]
Truman decided to recognize Israel over the objections of Secretary of State George Marshall, who feared it would hurt relations with the populous Arab states. Marshall believed the paramount threat to the United States was the Soviet Union and feared Arab oil would be lost to the United States in the event of war; he warned Truman the United States was "playing with fire with nothing to put it out".[188] Truman recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, eleven minutes after it declared itself a nation.[189][190] Of his decision to recognize the Israeli state, Truman said in an interview years later: "Hitler had been murdering Jews right and left. I saw it, and I dream about it even to this day. The Jews needed some place where they could go. It is my attitude that the American government couldn't stand idly by while the victims [of] Hitler's madness are not allowed to build new lives."[191]
Under his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Fair Employment Practices Committee was created to address racial discrimination in employment,[192] and in 1946, Truman created the President's Committee on Civil Rights. On June 29, 1947, Truman became the first president to address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The speech took place at the Lincoln Memorial during the NAACP convention and was carried nationally on radio. In that speech, Truman laid out the need to end discrimination, which would be advanced by the first comprehensive, presidentially proposed civil rights legislation. Truman on "civil rights and human freedom", declared:[193]
It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our country's efforts to guarantee freedom and equality to all our citizens … it is more important today than ever before to ensure that all Americans enjoy these rights. … [And] When I say all Americans, I mean all Americans … Our immediate task is to remove the last remnants of the barriers which stand between millions of our citizens and their birthright. There is no justifiable reason for discrimination because of ancestry, or religion, or race, or color. We must not tolerate such limitations on the freedom of any of our people and on their enjoyment of basic rights which every citizen in a truly democratic society must possess. Every man should have the right to a decent home, the right to an education, the right to adequate medical care, the right to a worthwhile job, the right to an equal share in making the public decisions through the ballot, and the right to a fair trial in a fair court. We must ensure that these rights – on equal terms – are enjoyed by every citizen. To these principles I pledge my full and continued support. Many of our people still suffer the indignity of insult, the harrowing fear of intimidation, and, I regret to say, the threat of physical injury and mob violence. Prejudice and intolerance in which these evils are rooted still exist. The conscience of our nation, and the legal machinery which enforces it, have not yet secured to each citizen full freedom from fear.
In February 1948, Truman delivered a formal message to Congress requesting adoption of his 10-point program to secure civil rights, including anti-lynching, voter rights, and elimination of segregation. "No political act since the Compromise of 1877," argued biographer Taylor Branch, "so profoundly influenced race relations; in a sense it was a repeal of 1877."[194]
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The 1948 presidential election is remembered for Truman's stunning come-from-behind victory.[195] In the spring of 1948, Truman's public approval rating stood at 36 percent,[196] and the president was nearly universally regarded as incapable of winning the general election. At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Truman attempted to unify the party with a vague civil rights plank in the party platform. His intention was to assuage the internal conflicts between the northern and southern wings of his party. Events overtook his efforts. A sharp address given by Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis—as well as the local political interests of a number of urban bosses—convinced the convention to adopt a stronger civil rights plank, which Truman approved wholeheartedly.[197] Truman delivered an aggressive acceptance speech attacking the 80th Congress, which Truman called the "Do Nothing Congress,"[158] and promising to win the election and "make these Republicans like it."[198]
Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home—but not for housing. They are strong for labor—but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage—the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all—but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine—for people who can afford them ... They think American standard of living is a fine thing—so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.
— Harry S. Truman, October 13, 1948, St. Paul, Minnesota, Radio Broadcast[199][200][201][202]
Within two weeks of the 1948 convention Truman issued Executive Order 9981, ending racial discrimination in the Armed Services, and Executive Order 9980 to end discrimination in federal agencies.[203][204] Truman took a considerable political risk in backing civil rights, and many seasoned Democrats were concerned the loss of Dixiecrat support might seriously weaken the party. South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, a segregationist, declared his candidacy for the presidency on a Dixiecrat ticket and led a full-scale revolt of Southern "states' rights" proponents. This rebellion on the right was matched by one on the left, led by Wallace on the Progressive Party ticket. The Democratic Party was splitting three ways and victory in November seemed unlikely.[205] For his running mate, Truman accepted Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley, though he really wanted Justice William O. Douglas, who turned down the nomination.[206]
Truman's political advisors described the political scene as "one unholy, confusing cacophony." They told Truman to speak directly to the people, in a personal way.[207] Campaign manager William J. Bray said Truman took this advice, and spoke personally and passionately, sometimes even setting aside his notes to talk to Americans "of everything that is in my heart and soul."[208]
The campaign was a 21,928-mile (35,290 km) presidential odyssey.[209] In a personal appeal to the nation, Truman crisscrossed the United States by train; his "whistle stop" speeches from the rear platform of the presidential car, Ferdinand Magellan, came to represent his campaign. His combative appearances captured the popular imagination and drew huge crowds. Six stops in Michigan drew a combined half-million people;[210] a full million turned out for a New York City ticker-tape parade.[211]
The large crowds at Truman's whistle-stop events were an important sign of a change in momentum in the campaign, but this shift went virtually unnoticed by the national press corps. It continued reporting Republican Thomas Dewey's apparent impending victory as a certainty. The three major polling organizations stopped polling well before the November 2 election date—Roper in September, and Crossley and Gallup in October—thus failing to measure the period when Truman appears to have surged past Dewey.[212][213]
In the end, Truman held his progressive Midwestern base, won most of the Southern states despite the civil rights plank, and squeaked through with narrow victories in a few critical states, notably Ohio, California, and Illinois. The final tally showed the president had secured 303 electoral votes, Dewey 189, and Thurmond only 39. Henry Wallace got none. The defining image of the campaign came after Election Day, when an ecstatic Truman held aloft the erroneous front page of the Chicago Tribune with a huge headline proclaiming "Dewey Defeats Truman."[214]
Truman's second inauguration was the first ever televised nationally.[215]
The Soviet Union's atomic bomb project progressed much faster than had been expected,[216] and they detonated their first bomb on August 29, 1949. Over the next several months there was an intense debate that split the U.S. government, military, and scientific communities regarding whether to proceed with the development of the far more powerful hydrogen bomb.[217] The debate touched on matters from technical feasibility to strategic value to the morality of creating a massively destructive weapon.[218][219] On January 31, 1950, Truman made the decision to go forward on the grounds that if the Soviets could make an H-bomb, the United States must do so as well and stay ahead in the nuclear arms race.[220][221] The development achieved fruition with the first U.S. H-bomb test on October 31, 1952, which was officially announced by Truman on January 7, 1953.[222]
On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army under Kim Il-sung invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. In the early weeks of the war, the North Koreans easily pushed back their southern counterparts.[223] Truman called for a naval blockade of Korea, only to learn that due to budget cutbacks, the U.S. Navy could not enforce such a measure.[224]
Truman promptly urged the United Nations to intervene; it did, authorizing troops under the UN flag led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. Truman decided he did not need formal authorization from Congress, believing that most legislators supported his position; this would come back to haunt him later when the stalemated conflict was dubbed "Mr. Truman's War" by legislators.[223] Rockoff writes that "President Truman responded quickly to the June invasion by authorizing the use of U.S. troops and ordering air strikes and a naval blockade. He did not, however, seek a declaration of war, or call for full mobilization, in part because such actions might have been misinterpreted by Russia and China. Instead, on July 19 he called for partial mobilization and asked Congress for an appropriation of $10 billion for the war."[225] Cohen writes that: "All of Truman's advisers saw the events in Korea as a test of American will to resist Soviet attempts to expand their power, and their system. The United States ordered warships to the Taiwan Strait to prevent Mao's forces from invading Taiwan and mopping up the remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's army there."[226]
However, on July 3, 1950, Truman did give Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas a draft resolution titled "Joint Resolution Expressing Approval of the Action Taken in Korea". Lucas stated Congress supported the use of force, the formal resolution would pass but was unnecessary, and the consensus in Congress was to acquiesce. Truman responded he did not want "to appear to be trying to get around Congress and use extra-Constitutional powers," and added that it was "up to Congress whether such a resolution should be introduced."[227]
By August 1950, U.S. troops pouring into South Korea under UN auspices were able to stabilize the situation.[228] Responding to criticism over readiness, Truman fired his secretary of defense, Louis A. Johnson, replacing him with the retired General Marshall. With UN approval, Truman decided on a "rollback" policy—liberation of North Korea.[229] UN forces led by General Douglas MacArthur led the counterattack, scoring a stunning surprise victory with an amphibious landing at the Battle of Inchon that nearly trapped the invaders. UN forces marched north, toward the Yalu River boundary with China, with the goal of reuniting Korea under UN auspices.[230]
China surprised the UN forces with a large-scale invasion in November. The UN forces were forced back to below the 38th parallel, then recovered.[231] By early 1951 the war became a fierce stalemate at about the 38th parallel where it had begun. Truman rejected MacArthur's request to attack Chinese supply bases north of Yalu, but MacArthur promoted his plan to Republican House leader Joseph Martin, who leaked it to the press. Truman was gravely concerned further escalation of the war might lead to open conflict with the Soviet Union, which was already supplying weapons and providing warplanes (with Korean markings and Soviet aircrew). Therefore, on April 11, 1951, Truman fired MacArthur from his commands.[232]
I fired him [MacArthur] because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President ... I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.[233]
—Truman to biographer Merle Miller, 1972, posthumously quoted in Time magazine, 1973
The dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur was among the least politically popular decisions in presidential history. Truman's approval ratings plummeted, and he faced calls for his impeachment from, among others, Senator Robert A. Taft.[234] Fierce criticism from virtually all quarters accused Truman of refusing to shoulder the blame for a war gone sour and blaming his generals instead. Others, including Eleanor Roosevelt and all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly supported Truman's decision. MacArthur meanwhile returned to the United States to a hero's welcome, and addressed a joint session of Congress, a speech the president called "a bunch of damn bullshit."[235]
Truman and his generals considered the use of nuclear weapons against the Chinese army, but ultimately chose not to escalate the war to a nuclear level.[236] The war remained a frustrating stalemate for two years, with over 30,000 Americans killed, until an armistice ended the fighting in 1953.
In February 1952, Truman's approval mark stood at 22 percent according to Gallup polls, which is the all-time lowest approval mark for a sitting U.S. president, though it was matched by Richard Nixon in 1974.[237][238]
The escalation of the Cold War was highlighted by Truman's approval of NSC 68, a secret statement of foreign policy. It called for tripling the defense budget, and the globalization and militarization of containment policy whereby the United States and its NATO allies would respond militarily to actual Soviet expansion. The document was drafted by Paul Nitze, who consulted State and Defense officials and was formally approved by President Truman as the official national strategy after the war began in Korea. It called for partial mobilization of the U.S. economy to build armaments faster than the Soviets. The plan called for strengthening Europe, weakening the Soviet Union, and building up the United States both militarily and economically.[239]
Truman was a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which established a formal peacetime military alliance with Canada and democratic European nations of the Western Bloc following World War II. The treaty establishing it was widely popular and easily passed the Senate in 1949; Truman appointed General Eisenhower as commander. NATO's goals were to contain Soviet expansion in Europe and to send a clear message to communist leaders that the world's democracies were willing and able to build new security structures in support of democratic ideals. The United States, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Iceland, and Canada were the original treaty signatories. The alliance resulted in the Soviets establishing a similar alliance, called the Warsaw Pact.[240][241]
General Marshall was Truman's principal adviser on foreign policy matters, influencing such decisions as the U.S. choice against offering direct military aid to Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalist Chinese forces in the Chinese Civil War against their communist opponents. Marshall's opinion was contrary to the counsel of almost all of Truman's other advisers; Marshall thought propping up Chiang's forces would drain U.S. resources necessary for Europe to deter the Soviets.[242] When the communists took control of the mainland, establishing the People's Republic of China and driving the nationalists to Taiwan, Truman would have been willing to maintain some relationship between the United States and the new government, but Mao was unwilling.[243] Truman announced on January 5, 1950, that the United States would not engage in any dispute involving the Taiwan Strait, and that he would not intervene in the event of an attack by the PRC.[244]
On June 27, 1950, after the outbreak of fighting in Korea, Truman ordered the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent further conflict between the communist government on the China mainland and the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan.[245][246]
Truman usually worked well with his top staff – the exceptions were Israel in 1948 and Spain in 1945–1950. Truman was a very strong opponent of Francisco Franco, the right-wing dictator of Spain. He withdrew the American ambassador (but diplomatic relations were not formally broken), kept Spain out of the UN, and rejected any Marshall Plan financial aid to Spain. However, as the Cold War escalated, support for Spain was strong in Congress, the Pentagon, the business community and other influential elements especially Catholics and cotton growers.
Liberal opposition to Spain had faded after the Wallace element broke with the Democratic Party in 1948; the CIO became passive on the issue. As Secretary of State Acheson increased his pressure on Truman, the president stood alone in his administration as his own top appointees wanted to normalize relations. When China entered the Korean War and pushed American forces back, the argument for allies became irresistible. Admitting he was "overruled and worn down," Truman relented and sent an ambassador and made loans available.[247]
In August 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former spy for the Soviets and a senior editor at Time magazine, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He said an underground communist network had worked inside the U.S. government during the 1930s, of which Chambers had been a member, along with Alger Hiss, until recently a senior State Department official. Chambers did not allege any spying during the Truman presidency. Although Hiss denied the allegations, he was convicted in January 1950 for perjury for denials under oath.
The Soviet Union's success in exploding an atomic weapon in 1949 and the fall of the nationalist Chinese the same year led many Americans to conclude subversion by Soviet spies was responsible and to demand that communists be rooted out from the government and other places of influence.[248][249] Hoping to contain these fears, Truman began a "loyalty program" with Executive Order 9835 in 1947.[250] However, Truman got himself into deeper trouble when he called the Hiss trial a "red herring".[251][252] Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the State Department of harboring communists and rode the controversy to political fame,[253] leading to the Second Red Scare,[254] also known as McCarthyism. McCarthy's stifling accusations made it difficult to speak out against him. This led Truman to call McCarthy "the greatest asset the Kremlin has" by "torpedo[ing] the bipartisan foreign policy of the United States."[255]
Charges that Soviet agents had infiltrated the government were believed by 78 percent of the people in 1946 and became a major campaign issue for Eisenhower in 1952.[256] Truman was reluctant to take a more radical stance, because he felt it could threaten civil liberties and add to a potential hysteria. At the same time, he felt political pressure to indicate a strong national security.[257] It is unclear to what extent President Truman was briefed of the Venona intercepts, which discovered widespread evidence of Soviet espionage on the atom bomb project and afterward.[258][259] Truman continued his own loyalty program for some time while believing the issue of communist espionage was overstated.[258] In 1949, Truman described American communist leaders, whom his administration was prosecuting, as "traitors".[257] Truman would later state in private conversations with friends that his creation of a loyalty program had been a "terrible" mistake.[260]
In 1950, Truman vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which was passed by Congress just after the start of the Korean War and was aimed at controlling communists in America.[261] Truman called the Act, "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798," a "mockery of the Bill of Rights" and a "long step toward totalitarianism".[262][263] His veto was immediately overridden by Congress and the Act became law.[261] In the mid-1960s, parts of the Act were found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.[264][265]
In 1948, Truman ordered an addition to the exterior of the White House: a second-floor balcony in the south portico, which came to be known as the Truman Balcony. The addition was unpopular. Some said it spoiled the appearance of the south facade, but it gave the First Family more living space.[266][267][268] Meanwhile, structural deterioration and a near-imminent collapse of the White House led to a comprehensive dismantling and rebuilding of the building's interior from 1949 to 1952. Architectural and engineering investigations during 1948 deemed it unsafe for occupancy. Truman, his family, and the entire residence staff were relocated across the street into Blair House during the renovations. As the newer West Wing, including the Oval Office, remained open, Truman walked to and from his work across the street each morning and afternoon.[269]
On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate Truman at Blair House. On the street outside the residence, Torresola mortally wounded a White House policeman, Leslie Coffelt. Before he died, the officer shot and killed Torresola. Collazo was wounded and stopped before he entered the house. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in 1952. Truman commuted his sentence to life in prison. To try to settle the question of Puerto Rican independence, Truman allowed a plebiscite in Puerto Rico in 1952 to determine the status of its relationship to the United States. Nearly 82 percent of the people voted in favor of a new constitution for the Estado Libre Asociado, a continued 'associated free state.'[270]
In response to a labor/management impasse arising from bitter disagreements over wage and price controls, Truman instructed his Secretary of Commerce, Charles W. Sawyer, to take control of a number of the nation's steel mills in April 1952. Truman cited his authority as commander in chief and the need to maintain an uninterrupted supply of steel for munitions for the war in Korea. The Supreme Court found Truman's actions unconstitutional, however, and reversed the order in a major separation-of-powers decision, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952). The 6–3 decision, which held that Truman's assertion of authority was too vague and was not rooted in any legislative action by Congress, was delivered by a court composed entirely of justices appointed by either Truman or Roosevelt. The high court's reversal of Truman's order was one of the notable defeats of his presidency.[271]
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In 1950, the Senate, led by Estes Kefauver, investigated numerous charges of corruption among senior administration officials, some of whom received fur coats and deep freezers in exchange for favors. A large number of employees of the Internal Revenue Bureau (today the IRS) were accepting bribes; 166 employees either resigned or were fired in 1950,[272] with many soon facing indictment. When Attorney General J. Howard McGrath fired the special prosecutor in early 1952 for being too zealous, Truman fired McGrath.[273] Truman submitted a reorganization plan to reform the IRB; Congress passed it, but corruption was a major issue in the 1952 presidential election.[274][275]
On December 6, 1950, Washington Post music critic Paul Hume wrote a critical review of a concert by the president's daughter Margaret Truman:
Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality ... [she] cannot sing very well ... is flat a good deal of the time—more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years ... has not improved in the years we have heard her ... [and] still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.[276]
Truman wrote a scathing response:
I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an 'eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay.' It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work. Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below! Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.[276]
Truman was criticized by many for the letter. However, he pointed out that he wrote it as a loving father and not as the president.[277][278][279]
In 1951, William M. Boyle, Truman's longtime friend and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was forced to resign after being charged with financial corruption.[280]
A 1947 report by the Truman administration titled To Secure These Rights presented a detailed ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. Speaking about this report, international developments have to be taken into account, for with the UN Charter being passed in 1945, the question of whether international human rights law could be applicable also on an inner-land basis became crucial in the United States. Though the report acknowledged such a path was not free from controversy in the 1940s United States, it nevertheless raised the possibility for the UN-Charter to be used as a legal tool to combat racial discrimination in the United States.[281]
In February 1948, the president submitted a civil rights agenda to Congress that proposed creating several federal offices devoted to issues such as voting rights and fair employment practices.[282] This provoked a storm of criticism from southern Democrats in the runup to the national nominating convention, but Truman refused to compromise, saying: "My forebears were Confederates ... but my very stomach turned over when I had learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of Army trucks in Mississippi and beaten."[283]
Tales of the abuse, violence, and persecution suffered by many African American veterans upon their return from World War II infuriated Truman and were major factors in his decision to issue Executive Order 9981, in July 1948, requiring equal opportunity in the armed forces.[284] In the early 1950s after several years of planning, recommendations and revisions between Truman, the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity and the various branches of the military, the services became racially integrated.[285] Truman later appointed people who aligned with civil rights agenda. He appointed fellow colonel and civil rights icon Blake R. Van Leer to the board of the United States Naval Academy and UNESCO who had a focus to work against racism through influential statements on race.[286][287]
Executive Order 9980, also in 1948, made it illegal to discriminate against persons applying for civil service positions based on race. A third, in 1951, established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance, which ensured defense contractors did not discriminate because of race.[288][289]
From 1947 until 1989, world affairs were dominated by the Cold War, in which the U.S. and its allies faced the Soviet Union and its allies. There was no large-scale fighting but instead several local civil wars as well as the ever-present threat of a catastrophic nuclear war.[290][291]
Unlike Roosevelt, Truman distrusted Stalin and the Soviet Union, and did not have FDR's faith in the UN to soften major tensions. Nevertheless, he cooperated in terms of dividing control over Germany. Soviet efforts to use its army to control politics in Eastern Europe and Iran angered Washington. The final break came in 1947 when the Labour government in London could no longer afford to help Greece fight communism and asked Washington to assume responsibility for suppressing the Communist uprising there.[292][293] The result was the Truman Doctrine of 1947–48 which made it national policy to contain Communist expansion.[294]
Truman was supported by the great majority of Democrats, after he forced out the Henry Wallace faction that wanted good terms with Moscow.[295] Truman's policy had the strong support of most Republicans, who led by Senator Arthur Vandenberg overcame the isolationist Republicans led by Senator Robert A. Taft.[296]
In 1948, Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which supplied Western Europe—including Germany—with US$13 billion in reconstruction aid. Stalin vetoed any participation by East European nations. A similar program was operated by the United States to restore the Japanese economy. The U.S. actively sought allies, which it subsidized with military and economic "foreign aid", as well as diplomatic support. The main diplomatic initiative was the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, committing the United States to nuclear defense of Western Europe. The result was a peace in Europe, coupled with the fear of Soviet invasion and a reliance on American protection.[297] The United States operated a worldwide network of bases for its Army, Navy and Air Force, with large contingents stationed in Germany, Japan and South Korea.[298] Washington had a weak intelligence community before 1942, and the Soviets had a very effective network of spies. The solution was to create the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947.[299] Economic and propaganda warfare against the communist world became part of the American toolbox.[300]
The containment policy was developed by State Department official George Kennan in 1947.[301] Kennan characterized the Soviet Union as an aggressive, anti-Western power that necessitated containment, a characterization which would shape US foreign policy for decades to come. The idea of containment was to match Soviet aggression with force wherever it occurred while not using nuclear weapons. The policy of containment created a bipolar, zero-sum world where the ideological conflicts between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated geopolitics. Due to the antagonism on both sides and each countries' search for security, a tense worldwide contest developed between the two states as the two nations' governments vied for global supremacy militarily, culturally, and politically.[302]
The Cold War was characterized by a lack of global hot wars. Instead there were proxy wars, fought by client states and proxies of the United States and Soviet Union. The most important was Korean War (1950–1953), a stalemate that drained away Truman's base of support. Truman made five international trips during his presidency.[303]
In 1951, the United States ratified the 22nd Amendment, making a president ineligible for election to a third term or for election to a second full term after serving more than two remaining years of a term of a previously elected president. The latter clause did not apply to Truman's situation in 1952 because of a grandfather clause exempting the incumbent president.[304]
Therefore, he seriously considered running for another term in 1952 and left his name on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary. However, all his close advisors, pointing to his age, his failing abilities, and his poor showing in the polls, talked him out of it.[305] At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary (March 11, 1952), no candidate had won Truman's backing. His first choice, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, had declined to run. Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson had also turned Truman down, Vice President Barkley was considered too old,[306][307] and Truman distrusted and disliked Senator Kefauver, who had made a name for himself by his investigations of the Truman administration scandals.
Truman let his name be entered in the New Hampshire primary by supporters. The highly unpopular Truman was handily defeated by Kefauver; 18 days later the president formally announced he would not seek a second full term. Truman was eventually able to persuade Stevenson to run, and the governor gained the nomination at the 1952 Democratic National Convention.[308]
Eisenhower gained the Republican nomination, with Senator Nixon as his running mate, and campaigned against what he denounced as Truman's failures: "Korea, communism and corruption". He pledged to clean up the "mess in Washington," and promised to "go to Korea."[306][307] Eisenhower defeated Stevenson decisively in the general election, ending 20 years of Democratic presidents. While Truman and Eisenhower had previously been on good terms, Truman felt annoyed that Eisenhower did not denounce Joseph McCarthy during the campaign.[309] Similarly, Eisenhower was outraged when Truman accused the former general of disregarding "sinister forces ... Anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-foreignism" within the Republican Party.[310]
Before being elected as Jackson County judge, Truman had earned little money, and was in debt from the failure of his haberdashery. His election as senator in 1934 carried with it a salary of $10,000 (equivalent to $228,000 in 2023), high for the time, but the need to maintain two homes, with one in expensive Washington, Margaret Truman's college expenses, and contributions to the support of needy relatives, left the Trumans little extra money. He likely had around $7,500 (equivalent to $127,000 in 2023) in cash and government bonds when nominated for vice president.[311]
His finances were transformed by his accession to the presidency, which carried with it a salary of $75,000 (equivalent to $1,269,000 in 2023), which was increased to $100,000 (equivalent to $1,281,000 in 2023) in 1949. This was a higher salary than any Major League Baseball star, except Joe DiMaggio, who also earned $100,000 in his final two seasons (1950 and 1951). Beginning in 1949, the president was also granted a $50,000 (equivalent to $640,000 in 2023) expense allowance, which was initially tax-free, and did not have to be accounted for. Although the allowance became taxable later in his presidency, Truman never reported it on his tax return, and converted some of the funds to cash he kept in the White House safe and later in a safe deposit box in Kansas City.[311]
Upon leaving the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home he and Bess had shared for years with her mother.[312] In a biography that contributed greatly to the myth that Truman was near penury after departing the White House,[311] David McCullough stated that the Trumans had little alternative than to return to Independence, for his only income was his army pension of $112.56 per month (equivalent to $1,282 in 2023), and he had only been able to save a modest amount from his salary as president.[313] In February 1953, Truman signed a book deal for his memoirs, and in a draft will dated December of that year listed land worth $250,000 (equivalent to $2,847,000 in 2023), savings bonds of the same amount, and cash of $150,000 (equivalent to $1,708,000 in 2023).[311] He wrote, "Bonds, land, and cash all come from savings of presidential salary and free expense account. It should keep you and Margaret comfortably."[311]
The writing of the memoirs was a struggle for Truman, and he went through a dozen collaborators during the project,[314] not all of whom served him well,[315] but he remained heavily involved in the result.[316] For the memoirs, Truman received a payment of $670,000 (equivalent to $7,620,522 in 2023).[317] The memoirs were a commercial and critical success.[318][319] They were published in two volumes: Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions (1955) and Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope (1956).[320][321]
Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents, and Congressional pensions were not approved until 1946, after Truman had left the Senate, so he received no pension for his Senate service.[322] Truman, behind the scenes, lobbied for a pension, writing to congressional leaders that he had been near penury but for the sale of family farmlands, and in February 1958, in the first televised interview of a former US president that aired on CBS, Truman claimed that "If I hadn't inherited some property that finally paid things through, I'd be on relief right now."[311] That year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 (equivalent to $264,014 in 2023) yearly pension to each former president, and it is likely that Truman's claim to be in difficult financial straits played a role in the law's enactment.[323] The only other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money; reportedly, he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman.[324]
Truman's net worth improved further in 1958 when he and his siblings sold most of the family farm to a Kansas City real estate developer.[325] When he was serving as a county judge, Truman borrowed $31,000 (equivalent to $353,030 in 2023) by mortgaging the farm to the county school fund, which was legal at the time.[325] When Republicans controlled the court in 1940, they foreclosed in an effort to embarrass Truman politically, and his mother and sister Mary Jane had to vacate the home.[325] In 1945, Truman organized a syndicate of supporters who purchased the farm with the understanding that they would sell it back to the Trumans.[325] Harry and Vivian Truman purchased 87 acres in 1945, and Truman purchased another portion in 1946.[325] In January 1959, Truman calculated his net worth as $1,046,788.86 (equivalent to $10,941,000 in 2023), including a share in the Los Angeles Rams football team. Nevertheless, the Trumans always lived modestly in Independence, and when Bess Truman died in 1982, almost a decade after her husband, the house was found to be in poor condition due to deferred maintenance.[311]
Bess Truman's personal papers were made public in 2009,[326] including financial records and tax returns. The myth that Truman had been in straitened circumstances after his presidency was slow to dissipate; Paul Campos wrote in 2021, "The current, 20,000-plus-word Wikipedia biography of Truman goes so far as to assert that, because his earlier business ventures had failed, Truman left the White House with 'no personal savings.' Every aspect of this narrative is false."[311][g]
Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had organized his own presidential library, but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar had not been enacted. Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library, which he donated to the federal government to maintain and operate—a practice adopted by his successors.[327]
He testified before Congress to have money appropriated to have presidential papers copied and organized. He was proud of the bill's passage in 1957. Max Skidmore, in his book on the life of former presidents, wrote that Truman was a well-read man, especially in history. Skidmore added that the presidential papers legislation and the founding of his library "was the culmination of his interest in history. Together they constitute an enormous contribution to the United States—one of the greatest of any former president."[328]
Truman taught occasional courses at universities, including Yale, where he was a Chubb Fellow visiting lecturer in 1958.[329] In 1962, Truman was a visiting lecturer at Canisius College.[330]
Truman supported Adlai Stevenson's second bid for the White House in 1956, although he had initially favored Democratic governor W. Averell Harriman of New York.[331] He continued to campaign for Democratic senatorial candidates for many years.[332]
In 1960 Truman gave a public statement announcing he would not attend the Democratic Convention that year, citing concerns about the way that the supporters of John F. Kennedy had gained control of the nominating process, and called on Kennedy to forgo the nomination for that year.[333] Kennedy responded with a press conference where he bluntly rebuffed Truman's advice.[334]
Despite his supportive stance on civil rights during his presidency, Truman expressed criticism of the civil rights movement during the 1960s. In 1960, he stated that he believed the sit-in movement to be part of a Soviet plot.[335] Truman's statement garnered a response from Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote a letter to the former president stating that he was "baffled" by the accusation, and demanded a public apology.[336] Truman would later criticize King following the Selma march in 1965, believing the protest to be "silly" and claiming that it "can't accomplish a darn thing except to attract attention."[337] In 1963, Truman voiced his opposition to interracial marriage, believing that daughters of white people would never love someone of an opposite color.[338][339]
Upon turning 80 in 1964, Truman was feted in Washington, and addressed the Senate, availing himself of a new rule that allowed former presidents to be granted privilege of the floor.[340]
After a fall in his home in late 1964, Truman's physical condition declined. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and 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.[332]
On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with pneumonia. He developed multiple organ failure, fell into a coma, and died at 7:50 a.m. on December 26, at the age of 88. At the time of his death, Truman had been the oldest living president, a distinction he held from the time of Hoover's death in 1964.[341][312]
Bess Truman opted for a simple private service at the library rather than a state funeral in Washington. A week after the funeral, foreign dignitaries and Washington officials attended a memorial service at Washington National Cathedral.[342]
Bess Truman died in 1982 and was buried next to her husband at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.[343][344]
When he left office in 1953, Truman was one of the most unpopular chief executives in history. His job approval rating of 22% in the Gallup Poll of February 1952 was lower than Richard Nixon's 24% in August 1974, the month that Nixon resigned. American public feeling towards Truman grew steadily warmer with the passing years; as early as 1962, a poll of 75 historians conducted by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. ranked Truman among the "near great" presidents. The period following his death consolidated a partial rehabilitation of his legacy among both historians and members of the public.[345] Truman died when the nation was consumed with crises in Vietnam and Watergate, and his death brought a new wave of attention to his political career.[233] In the early and mid-1970s, Truman captured the popular imagination much as he had in 1948, this time emerging as a kind of political folk hero, a president who was thought to exemplify an integrity and accountability many observers felt was lacking in the Nixon White House. This public reassessment of Truman was aided by the popularity of a book of reminiscences which Truman had told to journalist Merle Miller beginning in 1961, with the agreement that they would not be published until after Truman's death.[346]
Truman had his latter-day critics as well. After a review of information available to Truman about the presence of espionage activities in the U.S. government, Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan concluded that Truman was "almost willfully obtuse" concerning the danger of American communism.[347] In 2010, historian Alonzo Hamby concluded that "Harry Truman remains a controversial president."[348] However, Truman has fared well in polls ranking the presidents, consistently being listed in the top ten;[349] this includes a 2022 poll by the Siena College Research Institute, which placed him in seventh.[350]
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused Truman advocates to claim vindication for Truman's decisions in the postwar period. According to Truman biographer Robert Dallek, "His contribution to victory in the cold war without a devastating nuclear conflict elevated him to the stature of a great or near-great president."[351] The 1992 publication of David McCollough's favorable biography of Truman further cemented the view of Truman as a highly regarded chief executive.[351] According to historian Daniel R. McCoy in his book on the Truman presidency:
Harry Truman himself gave a strong and far-from-incorrect impression of being a tough, concerned and direct leader. He was occasionally vulgar, often partisan, and usually nationalistic ... On his own terms, Truman can be seen as having prevented the coming of a third world war and having preserved from Communist oppression much of what he called the free world. Yet clearly he largely failed to achieve his Wilsonian aim of securing perpetual peace, making the world safe for democracy, and advancing opportunities for individual development internationally.[352]
In 1956, Truman traveled to Europe with his wife. In Britain, he received an honorary degree in Civic Law from Oxford University and met with Winston Churchill.[331] In 1959, he was given a 50-year award by the Masons, recognizing his longstanding involvement: he was initiated on February 9, 1909, into the Belton Freemasonry Lodge in Missouri. In 1911, he helped establish the Grandview Lodge, and he served as its first Worshipful Master. In September 1940, during his Senate re-election campaign, Truman was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri; Truman said later that the Masonic election assured his victory in the general election. In 1945, he was made a 33° Sovereign Grand Inspector General and an Honorary Member of the supreme council at the Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters in Washington D.C.[354][355] Truman was also a member of Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)[356] and a card-carrying member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.[357] Two of his relatives were Confederate soldiers.[357][358]
In 1975, the Truman Scholarship was created as a federal program to honor U.S. college students who exemplified dedication to public service and leadership in public policy.[359]
In 1983 the Harry S. Truman State Office Building in Jefferson City was completed.[360]
In 2004, the President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering was created as a distinguished postdoctoral three-year appointment at Sandia National Laboratories.[361] In 2001, the University of Missouri established the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs to advance the study and practice of governance.[362] The University of Missouri's Missouri Tigers athletic programs have an official mascot named Truman the Tiger. On July 1, 1996, Northeast Missouri State University became Truman State University—to mark its transformation from a teachers' college to a highly selective liberal arts university and to honor the only Missourian to become president. A member institution of the City Colleges of Chicago, Harry S. Truman College in Chicago, Illinois, is named in his honor for his dedication to public colleges and universities. In 2000, the headquarters for the State Department, built in the 1930s but never officially named, was dedicated as the Harry S. Truman Building.[363]
Despite Truman's attempt to curtail the naval carrier arm, which led to the 1949 Revolt of the Admirals,[364] an aircraft carrier is named after him. The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was christened on September 7, 1996.[365] The 129th Field Artillery Regiment is designated "Truman's Own" in recognition of Truman's service as commander of its D Battery during World War I.[366]
In 1991, Truman was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians, and a bronze bust depicting him is on permanent display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol. In 2006, Thomas Daniel, grandson of the Trumans, accepted a star on the Missouri Walk of Fame to honor his late grandfather. In 2007, John Truman, a nephew, accepted a star for Bess Truman. The Walk of Fame is in Marshfield, Missouri, a city Truman visited in 1948.[367]
In 2004, international relations scholars Rachel Kleinfeld and Matthew Spence founded the Truman National Security Project. In 2013, they launched the Truman Center for National Policy. Both organizations were named after Truman.[368]
A statue of Harry S. Truman was installed in the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on September 29, 2022, as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.[369]
On the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in 2023, South Korea erected a statue of Truman in Dabu-dong, Gyeongsangbuk-do to commemorate him sending US troops to defend the country.[370]
Other sites associated with Truman include:
"Readers of good books are preparing themselves for leadership. Not all readers become leaders. But all leaders must be readers." (Post Presidential Papers, Desk File.)
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