USS Harry Truman (CVN 75) - Naval Cruise Book

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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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for eastern judge of the Jackson V. County Court He was elected in I 1922 for at two-year term p Onward to the,Senate A ' Mayl 934 Truman made During his term, as county judge, Truman and his wife I welcomed their only child to the world, Mary Margaret, who was born February 17, 1924 in the Wallace home. H, j He. lost his bid for re-election to the county court during the 1924 elections. It would be the only election he ever lost. Afterleaving office, he Worked as a membership salesman for the Kansas City Automobile Club. In ' 1926, he was back in politics when he was elected presiding judge i of the Jackson County Court, an office he held until 1934. He won approval for bond issues creating a county hospital, new jail, A , courthouse and a system of paved highwaysj . . - .4 . 1 , . up his mind to make a run for A the Senate. Registering as a' democrat, Truman campaigned through the summer to win the nomination. In November, he was elected to the United States Senate by defeating incumbent Republican Roscoe C. Patterson by 262,000 votes. Truman kept a low profile during his first term, but after being re-elected in 1940, the senator found himself using his integrity and demand for justice to prevail at a time that tested his country's resolve. E Months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, Senator Truman proposed that the Senate create a special committee to investigate defense contracts. The Senate, Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, nicknamed . the Truman Committee, . was established by Truman and saved American taxpayers about S15 billion. A The senator from Missouri, who already had a reputation for playing fair in his home state, had now brought that reputation to bear on the A national stage. A I Drafted into Vice Presidency 'I 4 -Franklin D. Roosevelt 2 ' AWEISA in his third term as , President of the United' States. The World wasfat 'waronges .5 again,and FDR1was doing ' Q everything he could to keep his ' A nation focused on the goal of suppressing the Axis menace The Democrats wanted a strong running mate for the election of 1944, they Wanted the go-getter from Missouri. Truman was less eager to put himself a mere step away from the presidency. Truman had . been summoned to a hotel room one afternoon in a final attempt to change his mind. FDR called and asked the party chairman if he had 'fgot that fellow lined up yet? f'No,,' he said. 'tHe is the contrariest shffsbff mule from Missouri I ever dealt with. Well, you tell the senator that if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of a war, that's his rehsponsibilitylv Then FDR slammed down the phone. . On Nov 7, 1944, FDR was elected to an unprecedented fourth term as president, with Harry Truman his vice president. The Moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me. V. . Leading the nation out of the Great Depressionand, through most of World War Il had taken its toll on Roosevelt. On April l2,l945, while posing for a portrait during a spring vacation at Warm Springs, Ga., Roosevelt complained of a 'severe headache and then collapsed. He never regained consciousness., 1 if ' 2

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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'