This year, the Truman Presidential
Museum is celebrating the 70th
Eric in front of the Thomas
Hart Benton mural depicting
Independence, Missouri &
the opening of the West.
Harry S. Truman grew up wearing glasses to help his poor vision. During World War I he became an Army Captain in the Artillery. He worked as a farmer and haberdasher before entering Missouri politics. Truman accepted help from Democratic party boss, Tom Pendergast, to win elections and work for the people of Missouri, Pendergast helped Truman win his seat in the U.S. Senate. During World War II, Senator Truman chaired the Senate Committee to Investigate National Defense Program. The committee saved millions of US taxpayer dollars in military cost overruns.
Senator Harry S. Truman accepted the Democratic nomination for Vice President in Chicago, Illinois in 1944. He supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt during Roosevelt's fourth presidential run.
President Roosevelt died
Vice President Truman took the oath of office & got to work. World War II still raged across the globe.
On May 8, 1945, the
Germans surrendered.
V-E Day was President Truman's 61st birthday. War still raged in the Pacific. President Truman approved the use of atomic bombs for use against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On August 14, 1945,
World War II was over.
Millions of soldiers and sailors returned home. Many went back to their civilian jobs. Others used the GI Bill to finance college courses. The economy was changing from military manufacturing to domestic manufacturing and it was boiling hot. Inflation spiked. Unions demanded raises. Millions went on strike. President Truman used the power of his office to keep the economy running during a very tumultuous time.
The converted economy boomed.
Suburbs were created to house
new families.
Homes were filled with the
latest appliances.
Europe was in rubble following World War II. The Marshall Plan was developed to provide assistance to 17 European countries. Tensions rose between the Allies: England, France, the U.S. and Russia regarding the running of partitioned Germany. On June 15, 1948, Russia sealed off Berlin, in the Russian sector to drive the British, French and Americans from the city.
On June 26, President Truman
ordered the U.S. to participate
in an airlift to supply Berlin.
The combined Allied effort to supply Berlin during the blockade delivered from 5,000 tons to 8,000 tons of food, medical and heating supplies per day. At the height of the airlift, a supply plane landed in Berlin every minute with assistance for Berlin residents. Russians reopened up land routes to the city on May 12, 1949. The airlift officially ended on September 30, 1949.
In 1948, President Truman ran for re-election. The Democratic party was split and many thought that the Republicans would win the White House with New York Governor
President Truman, his wife,
campaigned across the
country by train.
President Truman's
Oval Office in the
President Truman won reelection and faced new challenges in his second term: a growing Cold War with the United Soviet Socialist Republic, formerly Russia; growing concerns about nuclear war with the USSR; growing fear of Communists among us in the U.S.; the Korean War; and more...
My photo op with our
son, Adam's, favorite
President.
In the Courtyard, beneath the
flagpole are the graves of
President Truman, Bess Truman,
their daughter, Margaret & her
husband, E. Clifton Daniel, Jr.
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