President's DayIt's President's Day. When I think of presidents, my mind goes back to Harry S. Truman. He ruled the roost with a stick, not a carrot. I feel that I am somewhat like him <> we say things like they are, with straight talk. If it's not liked, I offer my middle finger in the vertical position pointed toward Heaven.
I have met and shook hands with three presidents. Truman was the first in 1948. I met him at church in the city of New Burn, N.C. He was there running to be president against Republican Thomas Dewey for another four years. I was 21 years old and for the first time, I was eligible to vote. My first vote went to Harry. He was elected even though many folks didn't think he had a chance to win. During those times, all the votes were counted.
After World War II ended, Truman wanted to eliminate the United States Marine Corps. Since he served in the Army, he didn't like the guys who wore the beautiful blue uniforms. It might have also been because the Marines referred to US Army personnel, as dog-faces. Truman later made a remark about the Marines that he should not have made. Truman said, "The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's." He later apologized for the first time in his life.
I hope you will enjoy reading a little history of this great American. With his great decision of ordering the Atomic Bomb to be dropped over Japan in August 1945, many American and Japanese lives were saved even though some Japanese lives were lost from the result of the bomb. My own life might have been saved because my First Marine Division had just wrapped up the fighting on the island of Okinawa, and our next engagement was scheduled to be homeland Japan.
~Noah
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HARRY S. TRUMAN
33rd President of the United States
Harry S. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri on May 8, 1884, the son of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen (Young) Truman. The family, which soon included another boy, Vivian, and a girl, Mary Jane moved several times during Truman's childhood and youth - first, in 1887, to a farm near Grandview, then, in 1890, to Independence, and finally, in 1902, to Kansas City. Young Harry attended public schools in Independence, graduating from high school in 1901. After leaving school, he worked briefly as a timekeeper for a railroad construction contractor, then as a clerk in two Kansas City banks. In 1906 he returned to Grandview to help his father run the family farm. He continued working as a farmer for more than ten years.
From 1905 to 1911, Truman served in the Missouri National Guard. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, he helped organize the 2nd Regiment of Missouri Field Artillery, which was quickly called into Federal service as the 129th Field Artillery and sent to France. Truman was promoted to Captain and given command of the regiment's Battery D. He and his unit saw action in the Vosges, Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns. Truman joined the reserves after the war, rising eventually to the rank of colonel. He sought to return to active duty at the outbreak of World War II, but Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall declined his offer to serve.
On June 28, 1919, Truman married Bess Wallace, whom he had known since childhood. Their only child, Mary Margaret, was born on February 17, 1924. From 1919 to 1922 he ran a men's clothing store in Kansas City with his wartime friend, Eddie Jacobson. The store failed in the postwar recession. Truman narrowly avoided bankruptcy, and through determination and over many years he paid off his share of the store's debts.
Truman was elected in 1922, to be one of three judges of the Jackson County Court. Judge Truman whose duties were in fact administrative rather than judicial, built a reputation for honesty and efficiency in the management of county affairs. He was defeated for reelection in 1924, but won election as presiding judge in the Jackson County Court in 1926. He won reelection in 1930.
In 1934, Truman was elected to the United States Senate. He had significant roles in the passage into law of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 and the Transportation Act of 1940. After being reelected in 1940, Truman gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. This committee, which came to be called the Truman Committee, sought with considerable success to ensure that defense contractors delivered to the nation quality goods at fair prices.
In July 1944, Truman was nominated to run for Vice President with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On January 20, 1945, he took the vice-presidential oath, and after President Roosevelt's unexpected death only eighty-two days later on April 12, 1945, he was sworn in as the nations' thirty-third President.
During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly these and a host of other wartime problems became Truman's to solve when, on April 12, 1945, he became President. He told reporters, "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
Truman later called his first year as President a "year of decisions." He oversaw during his first two months in office the ending of the war in Europe. He participated in a conference at Potsdam, Germany, governing defeated Germany, and to lay some groundwork for the final stage of the war against Japan. Truman approved the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945. Japan surrendered on August 14, and American forces of occupation began to land by the end of the month. This first year of Truman's presidency also saw the founding of the United Nations and the development of an increasingly strained and confrontational relationship with the Soviet Union.
Truman's presidency was marked throughout by important foreign policy initiatives. Central to almost everything Truman undertook in his foreign policy was the desire to prevent the expansion of the influence of the Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine was an enunciation of American willingness to provide military aid to countries resisting communist insurgencies; the Marshall Plan sought to revive the economies of the nations of Europe in the hope that communism would not thrive in the midst of prosperity; the North Atlantic Treaty Organization built a military barrier confronting the Soviet-dominated part of Europe. The one time during his presidency when a communist nation invaded a non-communist one -- when North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950 -- Truman responded by waging undeclared war.
In his domestic policies, Truman sought to accomplish the difficult transition from a war to a peace economy without plunging the nation into recession, and he hoped to extend New Deal social programs to include more government protection and services and to reach more people. He was successful in achieving a healthy peacetime economy, but only a few of his social program proposals became law. The Congress, which was much more Republican in its membership during his presidency than it had been during Franklin Roosevelt's, did not usually share Truman's desire to build on the legacy of the New Deal.
The Truman administration went considerably beyond the New Deal in the area of civil rights. Although, the conservative Congress thwarted Truman's desire to achieve significant civil rights legislation, he was able to use his powers as President to achieve some important changes. He issued executive orders desegregating the armed forces and forbidding racial discrimination in Federal employment. He also established a Committee on Civil Rights and encouraged the Justice Department to argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of plaintiffs fighting against segregation.
In 1948, Truman won reelection. His defeat had been widely expected and often predicted, but Truman's energy in undertaking his campaign and his willingness to confront issues won a plurality of the electorate for him. His famous "Whistlestop" campaign tour through the country has passed into political folklore, as has the photograph of the beaming Truman holding up the newspaper whose headline proclaimed, "Dewey Defeats Truman."
Truman left the presidency and retired to Independence in January 1953. For the nearly two decades of his life remaining to him, he delighted in being "Mr. Citizen," as he called himself in a book of memoirs. He spent his days reading, writing, lecturing and taking long brisk walks. He took particular satisfaction in founding and supporting his Library, which made his papers available to scholars, and which opened its doors to everyone who wished to have a glimpse of his remarkable life and career.
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More about Harry S.Truman
President Harry Truman was often fond of a glass of bourbon. His favorite brand was I.W. Harper. His wife, Bess, never knew that he kept a hidden stash of it in his personal bathroom.
Harry S Truman was playing Poker when he learned he was to be president.
He was the first president to travel underwater in a modern submarine.
"Tell him to go to hell!" - Truman's first response to the messenger who told him that Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted him to be his running mate.
Truman watched from a window as guards had a gunfight with two men trying to break in and kill him. One of the men was
killed, the other was convicted of several crimes and sentenced to death, Truman changed the sentence to life in prison. Jimmy Carter freed the man in 1979.
His Secretary of State won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Truman loved to play the piano. In 1948, a piano leg went through the floor of the White House!
Harry S Truman was a great-nephew of John Tyler.
He was the first president to give a speech on television.
Truman was the first president to be paid a salary of $100,000.
Truman was left handed, but his parents made him write with his right hand.
He was a Captain in the field artillery in World War I.
Truman popularized the saying, "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen."
Truman was named one of the 10 best-dressed senators.
Truman once said, "No man should be allowed to be president who doesn't understand hogs."
Harry S Truman was the first president to take office during wartime.
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President Harry S. Truman's quotes
A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.
Harry S. Truman
A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.
Harry S. Truman
A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
Harry S. Truman
A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.
Harry S. Truman
A President cannot always be popular.
Harry S. Truman
A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.
Harry S. Truman
A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.
Harry S. Truman
Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.
Harry S. Truman
All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.
Harry S. Truman
All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.
Harry S. Truman
Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.
Harry S. Truman
America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman
Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here.
Harry S. Truman
Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.
Harry S. Truman
Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.
Harry S. Truman
Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.
Harry S. Truman
Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.
Harry S. Truman
He's one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.
Harry S. Truman
I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.
Harry S. Truman
I don't want it torn down. I think it's the greatest monstrosity in America.
Harry S. Truman
I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it - not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
Harry S. Truman
I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
Harry S. Truman
I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.
Harry S. Truman
I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
Harry S. Truman
I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
Harry S. Truman
I remember when I first came to Washington. For the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here.
Harry S. Truman
I was the only calm one in the house. You see I've been shot at by experts.
Harry S. Truman
I would rather have peace in the world than be President.
Harry S. Truman
I've said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!
Harry S. Truman
If I hadn't been President of the United States, I probably would have ended up a piano player in a bawdy house.
Harry S. Truman
If I'd known how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again.
Harry S. Truman
If you can't convince them, confuse them.
Harry S. Truman
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Harry S. Truman
In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.
Harry S. Truman
In my Sunday School class there was a beautiful little girl with golden curls. I was smitten at once and still am.
Harry S. Truman
In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.
Harry S. Truman
Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.
Harry S. Truman
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
Harry S. Truman
It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.
Harry S. Truman
It seems like there was always somebody for supper.
Harry S. Truman
It sure is hell to be president.
Harry S. Truman
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.
Harry S. Truman
It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work.
Harry S. Truman
Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
Harry S. Truman
Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
Harry S. Truman
My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.
Harry S. Truman
My father was not a failure. After all, he was the father of a president of the United States.
Harry S. Truman
Nixon is one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.
Harry S. Truman
Our conference in 1945 did much more than draft an international agreement among 50 nations. We set down on paper the only principles which will enable civilized human life to continue to survive on this globe.
Harry S. Truman
Richard Nixon is a no good, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, and if he ever caught himself telling the truth, he'd lie just to keep his hand in.
Harry S. Truman
That precedent should continue-not by a Constitutional amendment but by custom based on the honor of the man in the office.
Harry S. Truman
The atom bomb was no "great decision." It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.
Harry S. Truman
The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
Harry S. Truman
The buck stops here!
Harry S. Truman
The human animal cannot be trusted for anything good except en masse. The combined thought and action of the whole people of any race, creed or nationality, will always point in the right direction.
Harry S. Truman
The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.
Harry S. Truman
The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.
Harry S. Truman
The President is always abused. If he isn't, he isn't doing anything.
Harry S. Truman
The reward of suffering is experience.
Harry S. Truman
The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.
Harry S. Truman
The White House is the finest prison in the world.
Harry S. Truman
Therefore to re-establish that custom, although by a quibble I could say I've only had one term, I am not a candidate and will not accept the nomination for another term.
Harry S. Truman
This administration is going to be cussed and discussed for years to come.
Harry S. Truman
Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
Harry S. Truman
To hell with them. When history is written they will be the sons of bitches - not I.
Harry S. Truman
Upon books the collective education of the race depends; they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.
Harry S. Truman
We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God.
Harry S. Truman
We must build a new world, a far better world - one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
Harry S. Truman
We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.
Harry S. Truman
We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear as potential causes of war until communication is permitted to flow, free and open, across international boundaries.
Harry S. Truman
Well, I wouldn't say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.
Harry S. Truman
When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth - then all Americans are in peril.
Harry S. Truman
When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
Harry S. Truman
Whenever a fellow tells me he's bipartisan, I know he's going to vote against me.
Harry S. Truman
Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.
Harry S. Truman
Why, this fellow don't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday.
Harry S. Truman
You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I'm taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.
Harry S. Truman
You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now.
Harry S. Truman
You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgements about what is going on.
Harry S. Truman
You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.
Harry S. Truman
You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman died on December 26, 1972. Bess Truman died on October 18, 1982. They are buried side by side in the Library's courtyard.
