USS Harry Truman (CVN 75) - Naval Cruise Book

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compensation an immediate increase in minimum wage and tax reform among other things. , Congress fought with Trumanover issues, as varying interests fought for their pet projects. Much of accomplishment ended segregation within the military Along with his Secretary of State , George C. Marshall, Truman developed an extensive S12 billion aid package . postwar era On May 12 1949 the blockade was lifted Before it was over, there would be 277,804 flights, and 2,325,809 what he demanded would come to pass, although some not until years after he left office. Truman also did much for the reorganization of national defense. In July 1947, he signed the National Security Act, which placed all branches of the military under one department and created the Department of the Air Force. The act also created the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council. In 1948, one of the first initiatives by the federal government against segregation was achieved when Truman signed Executive Order 9981. This established the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. This significant for Westem Europe known as the 'fMarshall Plan. On April 3, 1948, he signed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, creating the European Recovery Program QERPJ to implement the Marshall Plan for U.S. aid to European recovery. The Economic Cooperation Administration was established to I administer the program. The Berlin Airlift Berlin was divided between the allied victors, here, the sector was surrounded on all sides by Soviet forces. On June 24, 1948, the Russians blockaded all routes into the city. The only way in or out of Berlin was air. Truman ordered a massive airlift of food and supplies into Berlin. The Berlin Airlift became known as one of the most brilliant achievements of the tons of food and supplies delivered into Berlin. The Truman Doctrine On March 12, 1947, Truman requested appropriation for S400 million before a joint session of Congress to right the spread of communism in Greece and Turkey. This act was the start of what became known as the Truman Doctrine. The cornerstone of American foreign policy during these times, it was also known as the policy of containment. ' ' The Whistle Stop Pushed into the Oval Office by fate, Truman wanted nothing more than to win an election in his own right. The political pendulum was swinging more toward a republican government, and Truman was being scoffed in the press as a temporary expedient who was sure to lose in the next election. On July 15, 1948, Truman was nominated the Democratic candidate for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The Republican challenger was New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Confident that victory was inevitable, Dewey was quoted as saying, All I have to do is not rock the boatf'

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Vice President Truman 9 received a call summoning him to come quickly to the White House. Twenty minutes later, he was ushered into a room where Eleanor Roosevelt told him simply, c'Harry, the president is dead. Truman stood silent for several seconds before asking at last: 'CIS there anything I can do ' for you?,' gals there anything we can do for you? she replied. c'For you are the one in trouble nowf, At 7:09 p.m. in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone administered the oath of office to Truman, making him the 33rd president of the United States. Talking to reporters the following day, Truman said, ,MI don't know if you fellows ever had a load ofnhay fall onyou, but when they told me what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on mef, X uThe baby is bornw A Trumanis demand for a speedy end to the War in Europe was fulfilled when word was .announced that Germany had surrendered unconditionally. But the victory was tempered with concerns about the war in the Pacific. Japan was determined not to surrender, and military observers estimated that Japan could go on fighting for at least another year, even though f their chances of victory had all but diminished. . While Truman was at Potsdam, Germany for the conference to determine the future of postwar Europe, he received an important message: The baby is bona. The atomic bomb had been perfected in the New Mexico desert, ' and it was a weapon Truman knew could end the war quickly. It was a single bomb, capable of eradicating an' entire city. On July 26, 1945, Truman issued what became known as the Potsdam Declaration. It simply stated that the'Japanese aimed forces were to surrender unconditionally. The alternative was that Japan would face prompt and utter destructionf, No mention was .made about the bomb. - ' ' On July 31, with Japan's silence as a sign that nothing would come of the declaration, Truman sent a coded message to his secretary of war in I Washington: 5'Release when ready but not before August Z. 0n August 6, the Enola Gay dropped the world's first atomic bomb over the city of ' Hiroshima. '4It was not an easy .decision to make, Truman said. I did not like the weapon., But I had no - qualms if in the long run millions of lives could be saved. The one bomb was not enough to compel Japan to surrender. A second atomic strike was completed on Nagasaki on August 9. I Japan formally surrendered on the USS MISSOURI CBB 635 in Tokyo Bay September 2. Postwar Policies. I On the home front, Truman was 'confronted with the task of reconversion -- the retooling of the nation from a wartime to peacetime economy. On Sept. 6, he presented a 16,000 word message to Congress, calling for a 21 -point domestic program including unemployment

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Truman embarked on a 21,928- mile whistle stop railtour., He. delivered more than 300 speeches in 33 days to an estimated six million citizens. No president before had gone to such lengths to meet the people. He spoke plainly and largely Hoff the cufff' assailing his old enemies, uthe do nothing 800' Congress. In Seattle, Truman was holding an enthusiastic campaign rally when someone cried, 'GGive 'em Hell, Harryln Truman later wrote, 'fl have never deliberately given anybody hell. I just tell the truth on the opposition and they think itis hell. ' Truman was elected president in his own right, contrary to the forecasts of newspapers and poll takers, who had almost unanimously predicted his overwhelming defeat. He pulled off the most celebrated upset in American political history. NATO One of Truman's first acts during his second term was the signing of the North Atlantic Pact on April 4, 1949. The United States, Canada, and 10 Western European countries signed this defense pact which said, in effect, that an attack on one member would be seen as an attack on all members. In addressing Congress, . President Truman announced that our faith and our strength 3' unmistakably clear T to the world. He n considered NATO one of the greatest achievements of his administration, ranking in importance only with the Marshall Plan. must be made i Trouble in Korea On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces crossed the 389 I parallel into South Korea. Truman met with his new secretary A of state Dean Acheson to discuss sending ' A troops intoanother conflict. The next mme Congresslonal healmgs dayfa UN' fmce under the Charge of and historical analysis vindicated General Douglas MacArthur was sent in to aid South Korean -forces. in repellmg Courage In Stlckmg by hls bchefs the Communist forces. At first, things went badly for the South Korean troops, but aggressive tactical moves by 5011125 Home MacArthur aided. in pushing the North Koreans back into their own territory Truman made the 0160151011 that Truman flew to Wake Island in the Pacific to discuss strategies with he Was responslble for the Confhct MacArthur. He made it clear that he wanted the conflict resolved as quickly behmd the Demwratlc Candldate as possible. MacArthur promised the president athe boys Wm be home by against retired general Dwight D - r s t Chmtmasf, Eisenhower Eisenhowe wep A Ho es of a quick end to the conflict as 6 P P were dashed when China entered the States OH Jan 20 1953 Shortgh war in October. General MacArthur after the Ceremony Truman an 15 made nolsecret of his differences with the administration on restrictions placed on him in conducting the war. Truman Retlfement Years saw this as a test of his authority as ommander in chief He relieved In the nearly two decades after c - - - . . , , MacArthur of Commgmdywhjlesthe he left office Truman devoted decision was an unpopular due at the much of his t1me to the founding U V ' P T g I V It 5 - . of the Harry S Truman Library