Top 10 Facts about Harry S. Truman

By Bundesarchiv – Wikimedia

Top 10 Facts about Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33^rd President of the United States. He was born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri. Truman became president after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945.

Growing up in Missouri, Truman helped in the family farm after high school. He also served in World War I.  

Truman’s political career started in 1922 when he was voted in as the Missouri County Judge. In 1934, he was elected to the United States senate.

He became vice president in 1945 and three months later became president. Truman was re-elected in 1948 beating Thomas Dewey.

President Truman is remembered as the President who used the atomic bomb against Japan, he also led the United States in the Korean war between 1950 and 1953.    

Here are the top 10 facts about Harry S. Truman.

1. The S in his name is just a letter

By Hare Studios of Independence, Missouri – Wikimedia

Truman was not given a middle name by his parents. They instead gave him a middle initial that represented both his paternal and maternal grandfathers.

His father was a farmer and a mule trader. Together with his mother, they could not decide whose name, from their families, Truman would have.

His paternal grandfather was named Solomon, while his maternal grandfather was named Shipp. So they settled for the first letter of their names.

Since it was just a letter, Truman did not include a period after it. The period was added by editors from the Chicago style manual to make it grammatically correct.

2.  Truman ran for County Judge office

Truman went into business but it did not do well. He decided to run for office as the county judge in Jackson County, Missouri. He lost in a rerun in 1924 and this was the one and only election that he lost.

Two years later, he was elected as a judge then in 1934, he was elected as a senator. In 1944, President chose him as his running mate. Roosevelt was running for the fourth term.

A few months later, Roosevelt died and Truman became president. As President, Truman headed a committee that investigated wartime corruption as well as wasteful spending.

3. The bad economy forced him to close his business

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Truman and a friend started a men’s clothing business in Kansas City n 1919. They closed shop three year later due to a bad economy. Truman opted to run for office as the county judge.

Before opening the business, Truman had gone to university to study law but he did not graduate. Their business was greatly affected by the post-war economy.

Truman was debt-free from the loan he borrowed to start the business 15 years after it failed. During the tough times he faced, after the business failure and getting into politics, Truman never declared being bankrupt.   

4. Truman took odd jobs after high school

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Truman did not go to college immediately after graduating from high school. He took up odd jobs to help his family such as working on the farm. Other jobs that Truman took included banking and oil drilling.

Five years later in 1905, he joined the National Guard but left in 1911 then re-joined to go fight in World War 1. He had earlier signed up to join the United States Military Academy in New York but poor eye-sight got him rejected.

5. Truman applied for a law license while he was president

While serving as president in 1947, Truman applied for a license to practice law. His application needed to be notarized and the process took longer than he expected.

This process took longer and Truman changed his mind about getting it notarized. He was awarded a posthumous honorary law license in 1996 by the Missouri Supreme Court after his application was found.

6. He married his childhood sweetheart

Truman and Elizabeth on their wedding day -Wikimedia

Truman and Elizabeth “Bess” Virginia Wallace were childhood friends. They both attended a finishing school in Kansas City, they later went back to Independence.

They tied the knot after World War I. After he became president, Elizabeth spent little time in Washington. It is said she did not like her role as First Lady. She served as First Lady twice.

7. Truman mostly dealt with the senate as Vice President

While serving as the Vice President under President Roosevelt, he was kept in the dark about war issues. The two had very little contact as Truman was ordered to work on matters relating to the senate.

His reputation at the senate was good as he increased regulation of American shippers. He also oversaw military spending to avoid wastage or overspending.

This attribute is what made President Roosevelt choose him as his running mate.

It was no surprise then that Truman was in shock after the death of President Roosevelt. Truman found out facts about the war in Europe and Asia as well as the U.S secret atomic program.

8. President Roosevelt kept him in the dark

By Ianlopez12 – Wikimedia

Roosevelt kept a secret from his vice president Truman on matters that involved bringing an end to the war. Truman only learnt about it after he was sworn in.

The secretary of War, Henry Stimson briefed him on an atomic weapon project that the government secretly worked on. He later ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

The atomic bomb in Japan brought an end to the war. When he was asked if he had any regrets, Truman said he made the best decision at that time.

More than 200,000 people died and thousands of others were maimed, not to mention births with defects. the Hiroshima attack was a lesson from the US to Russia the powerful American military.

9. His government was the first to recognize Israel as a state in Palestine

America was among the first countries that identified Israel as the state in Palestine in 1948. His advisors believed that the creation of a Jewish state would put an end to the holocaust. America was also going to greatly benefit from this.

He also helped rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan while setting up bases throughout the continent.

Truman was one of the state leaders who supported the creation of the United Nations in 1945 after the end of World War II.

10. Truman got pulled over once

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

President Truman enjoyed driving and at one time went on a cross country drive with his wife Elizabeth. While on the trip, they were pulled over for driving 55 in a fast lane.

They went on a 19-day trip but it was not what they had planned. People easily recognized them at rest stops, diners and convenience stores. They stopped them and out of curiosity asked where they were headed.