Basic Facts:
Birth: May 8, 1884 at Lamar, Missouri
Death: December 26, 1972 at Kansas City, Missouri
Married: Elizabeth “Bess” Virginia Wallace (1885-1982) on June 28, 1919
Children: 1-Margaret
President: Two terms beginning April 12, 1945 and January 20, 1949.
Family:
Harry S. Truman met Bess soon after his family moved to Independence, and the two attended school together until graduation. Bess and Harry Truman married on June 28, 1919.
Their only daughter, Margaret, was born in 1924.
Margaret married journalist Clifton Daniel, managing editor of The New York Times. The couple had four children.
Elizabeth “Bess” Truman currently holds the record of longest-lived First Lady, living to be 97 years old.
Other:
There has been considerable controversy regarding the use of a period after the S in Truman’s name. The Harry S. Truman Library website explains the controversy and the reason to use the period.
Truman was the third left-handed president of the United States.
Truman wanted to go to West Point, but poor eyesight kept him from the academy. He enlisted in the National Guard and was an artillery commander during World War I.
In 1944, the current vice president, Henry Wallace, was out of favor with many Democrats. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas was FDR’s preferred candidate, and Alben Barkley and James Byrnes were other strong candidates. Harry S. Truman was a compromise selection who Roosevelt didn’t know well.
As vice president, Truman had little contact with the president and was asked to mostly deal with matters in the Senate. After FDR died, Truman had to find out the basic facts about the wars in Europe and Asia, and the nation’s secret atomic program.
During Truman’s time as President, he ordered an addition to the White House to accommodate his family. When the company hired started examining the project, they found that the 130 year old White House was completely dilapidated, including a collapsed floor in the President’s bedroom and they closed his bathroom as being completely unsafe to use. In 1950 the Trumans were staying at Blair House while the White House was under renovation. Truman heard the gun fight from his room.
Two Puerto Rico nationalists tried to kill Truman A White House guard died as he killed one attacker. The other attacker was captured.
The end of World War II began the era of the Cold War. Truman created the Truman Doctrine that stated that it was America’s duty to “support free peoples who are resisting … subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures.” From 1950 to 1953, the US fought in the Korean Conflict attempting to stop the communist forces from the North from invading the South.
America was among the first countries that identified Israel as the state in Palestine in 1948. His advisors believed that the creation of a Jewish state would put an end to the holocaust.
He helped rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan while setting up bases throughout the continent.
Truman was one of the state leaders who supported the creation of the United Nations in 1945 after the end of World War II.
He desegregated the U.S. Armed Forces
After becoming President after Franklin Roosevelt’s death, Truman spoke with Eleanor Roosevelt and asked if there was anything he could do for her. Eleanor, not apparently overly fond of her husband due to his numerous affairs, replied, “Is there anything we can do for you? You are the one in trouble now!”
Truman’s inauguration for his second term as President was the first ever to be televised nationally.
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Sources:
Internet Public Library
Constitution Center.org
Thought Co.com
Discoverwalks.com
Tons of Facts.com
Greenman, Barbara. The Timeline History of U. S. Presidents and First Ladies. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2009.