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The Round Tablette November 2005 Volume 14 Number 3 Published by WW II History Roundtable Edited by Jim Gerber Welcome to the November meeting of the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War Two History Roundtable. Tonight is our annual Dr. Harold C. Deutsch lecture. Ken Hechler will be talking about his association with President Harry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman became President of the United States when Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. During his eight years in office, Truman was faced with enormous challenges in both foreign and domestic affairs. His foreign policies, especially against the Soviet Union in the early part of the Cold War, would become the basis of American foreign policy for generations. On the domestic front, Truman guided the country from a war-time to a peace-time economy. Truman was born on May 8 1884 in Lamar, Missouri but grew up in Independence. He loved history and literature and played the piano enthusiastically. He wanted to become a soldier but his poor eyesight prevented him from going to West Point. He was unable to afford to go to a four year college and so he worked on the family farm between 1906 and 1914. It was during this time that he met and fell in love with Virginia “Bess” Wallace. Bess refused Harry’s marriage proposal in 1911 but the romance continued and they were finally married in 1919 and five years later had their only child, Mary Margaret. In 1917, Truman’s National Guard unit shipped out to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force to fight in the World War. Soldiering suited Truman well and his artillery battery became a top notch unit. After the war, Truman opened a men’s furnishings store with an army buddy. The shop failed after a few years and Thomas Pendergast, the Democratic boss of Kansas City, asked Truman to run for a judgeship on the county court. He served one term and in 1926 he became a presiding judge serving until 1934. In 1934, Truman was elected to the US Senate and supported Roosevelt’s New Deal. He became a national figure during WW II when he chaired the “Truman Committee” which investigated government defense spending. Roosevelt chose Truman as his running mate in the 1944 presidential campaign largely because the Missourian passed muster with the Southern Democrats and party officials. He only served 82 days as vice president before the death of Roosevelt made him the thirty-third President of the United States. Truman took office as the action in the European theater was drawing to a close. Hitler committed suicide in Berlin two weeks after Truman took office and VE day took place on May 7, 1945. The war in the Pacific was far from over. Most experts believed that it would last another year and might require an invasion of Japan. The American government had secretly begun to develop the world’s most deadly weapon, the atomic bomb. Truman was informed of this and had to make the difficult decision to use the atomic bomb. After its completion and successful testing, Truman approved its use against Japan. After the dropping of the bombs on August 6th and 9th, Japanese emperor Hirohito agreed to surrender, bringing World War II to a close. During the first years of his presidency, Truman faced unprecedented challenges in international affairs. The relations with the Soviet Union, which began to deteriorate before the end of WW II, continued to worsen. In response to Soviet threats, the Truman administration developed foreign policies to contain the Soviet Union’s political power and counter its military strength. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which would last for over forty years, had begun. At home, Truman lobbied for a continuing government role in the immediate post-war economy and for a liberal agenda based on the New Deal. Republicans and conservative Democrats attacked this strategy and the President mercilessly. Truman’s political fortunes reached their low point in 1946 and 1947. Few believed that he could recover to win a second term. Truman took steps to energize his liberal Democratic base in order to be reelected. He faced Republican Thomas Dewey in 1948. The President waged a tireless and vigorous campaign and defeated Dewey in the November election. This victory capped one of the most stunning political comebacks in American History. Truman viewed his reelection as a mandate for a liberal agenda which he called “The Fair Deal”. The President miscalculated as the American public and conservatives in both parties on Capitol Hill rejected most of his program. Significant foreign policy challenges persisted into Truman’s second term. The President committed the US to the defense of South Korea in the summer of 1950 when that nation was invaded by its communist neighbor, North Korea. The conflict settled into a bloody and grisly stalemate that would not be resolved until Truman left office in 1953. The Korean War globalized the Cold War and spurred a massive American military build-up that began the nuclear arms race in earnest. Truman’s popularity sank during his second term, largely due to accusations of corruption, charges that the administration was soft on communism and the stalemated Korean War. Truman’s legacy has become clearer and more impressive in the years since he left office. He took important first steps in civil rights, protected many of the New Deal’s gains and presided over an economy that would enjoy nearly two decades of unprecedented growth. In foreign affairs, Truman and his advisors established many of the basic foundations of American foreign policy that would guide the nation in the decades ahead. More Reading on tonight’s topic: Working With Truman; A Personal Memoir of the White House Years By Ken Hechler University of Missouri Press 1996 Truman By David McCullough Simon and Schuster New York, New York 1992 Harry S. Truman and The Bomb Edited by Robert H. Ferrell High Plains Press Worland, Wyoming 1996 The Truman White House. The Administration of the Presidency 1945 – 1953 By Francis H. Heller Regents Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 1980 Twin Cities Civil War Roundtable November 15 - Life of General William Franklin Contact: Marjorie Bingham (952)934-6429 St. Croix Valley Civil War Roundtable November 28 – William LeDuc and the LeDuc Mansion Awada’s in Woodbury Dinner – 5:30 PM Program – 7:00 Contact: Steve Anderson (715)381-1955