TRUMAN, Harry (Truman Harry)

1884-1972
Harry Truman was born May 8, 1884 in the small family farmer. In 1890 his father, John Anderson Truman lived in Independence, Missouri, where Harry finished school. He did not get a chance to attend college because his father lost everything on speculation in the grain market and was forced to sell home in Independence and moved to Kansas City where he found work at the elevator. Truman and his brother decided to choose the activities of banker. From 1906 to 1907 along with his father and brother worked on a farm grandmother. When his father died in 1914, Truman took the lead now and obviously succeeded. Unlike other farmers in the region Truman introduced crop rotation and started raising cattle. Together with his partner, he also invested zinc and lead mines in Oklahoma, and participated in oil wells, which, however, proved to be poorer. At this time, it awakened interest in politics. He welcomed the election of Woodrow Wilson, U.S. president, joined the National Guard and fought during World War II under the command of General Pershing at the front in France. In April 1919, resigned from the army as a captain, . married Elizabeth Wallace Firman, . his youthful love of Independence, . is always kept in the background, and later almost did not participate in public life in Washington, . but that Truman always informed about important policy decisions,
. Together with his partner, Truman opened a shop at his home masculine dress. Economic recession in 1921 -22 years has led to the closure of the shop. After this left 25 000 dollars of debt, which Truman had to pay in the next decade.

After the collapse of a business Truman seized the opportunity to be elected to official control. Truman was terribly bad speaker, but he had a lot of advantages: he was a supporter of Democrats, a powerful party of the South, he is known in the constituency and it was supported by former colleagues on the shelf. Its main activity as "the presiding judge in Jackson County encompassed responsibility for the maintenance of county roads, sewage disposal and management of the home for the elderly and in need of outside help citizens. In close cooperation (and possibly, depending) with the local party leadership of the Democrats, led by Tom Pendergesta he managed to create a modern management district. Thus Truman came in close contact with the protectionist system of American political parties of the time. When approached by the end of his activities in the state of Jackson in 1934, the United States were just in the middle of the world economic crisis. At first it seemed that Truman should go back to the farm. Due to many happy circumstances and conflicts in the Democratic Party, he, however, succeeded by Senator at the election of 1934.

At the age of 50 years, Senator Harry Truman of Missouri arrived in Washington. He had no experience in federal politics, but as "presiding judge" a large district, he saw that the federal government can do for needy people during the depression. The first meeting with President Roosevelt was successful, and Truman was a staunch supporter of the "New Deal". He plunged into work, and he was lucky with the appointment of a committee. So, . example, . he participated in formulating the law on the regulation of air traffic, . made a name for himself in the pursuit of illegal machinations among the managers of the railway and along with Bert Wheeler of Virginia has prepared a law on transport of 1940,
. After his re-election with a slight advantage in 1940, he headed the Emergency Committee for the Exploration weapons program of the Federal Government. Through these activities, which, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has acquired great importance, Truman has yet national fame, it opened in 1944, the way to the post of Vice-President. Truman Committee, as he soon became known, oversaw the U.S. military activities, constructive, do not throw a bomb into the criticism and was soon adopted by various political groups and institutions. The President openly on foreign policy issues and advocated American participation in international organizations after the war, in part, the isolationist country was not at all taken for granted.

. The main reason for Truman's rise to the post of vice-president was then, . that the democratic party leaders strongly opposed the re-election of the Vice-President Henry Wallace, . which is regarded as a supporter of the left wing and the dreamer, . without any impact on the Senate,
. Truman's vice-presidency after the Democrats win with a relatively small advantage in November 1944 passed without sensationalism, he did not participate in military conferences, and he was not informed about the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb.

. When Truman after Roosevelt died April 12, 1945 assumed the post of president, then collided with the dramatic situation
. The war in Europe came to an end. Soviet-American Relations at the last conference have deteriorated significantly. Conflict began to develop in Eastern Europe and on the transmission system on loan or lease, which Truman finished a few days before the German capitulation. On the other hand, Truman went on the most important political and economic projects of the Roosevelt administration: the creation and building of the United Nations, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Truman was interested in good relations with Stalin and at the same time, like Roosevelt, had problems with the policy of British Prime Minister, Wiston Churchill. On his first meeting with Stalin at the Potsdam conference, he praised in his diary. After the election of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, whom he considered a weak man, Truman began to appreciate his predecessor, while its positive attitude to Stalin rapidly decreased. He was angry about the Soviet-Polish agreement on the Oder - Neisse. Communist system considered a police state, which was no better than Hitler's Germany or Mussolini's Italy. When he was aboard the cruiser Augusta on his way back to the United States, it received on August 6 reported the explosion of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Truman informed Stalin even on July 24 about a new weapon, not to mention clearly that we are talking about the atomic bomb. It was clear that this war against Japan will be significantly reduced, probably will end earlier than the Russian exercise their ad to oppose Japan.

Subsequently dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are often criticized. Perhaps it would be better to warn the Japanese to hold a trial reset, or at least between the two applications allow more time. But these arguments ignore the fact that before were only two atomic warheads, the test could not succeed, and the bomb was created to use it. Perhaps, . Truman, . as shown by a quotation, . very impressed with the Japanese conduct of war: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack, . the Philippines, the Japanese death marches of prisoners held, . and during the war there were numerous reports of mistreatment of prisoners of war,
. Truman himself thought that I should not regret the decision, as it is, in his opinion, saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and Japanese who would have been killed in the invasion. However, he is constantly engaged in this topic. When General MacArthur in 1951 demanded the expansion of the Korean War, Truman refused to give permission. His thoughts constantly circled around the use of atomic bombs, especially when China entered the war on the side of North Korea. But, as during the Berlin blockade in 1948, when the Minister of the Army Kenneth Royall endorsed a preemptive strike, he refused on moral and strategic and diplomatic reasons. Truman saw the atomic bomb primarily a political weapon, which in future will be used only in direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, if it goes on the existence of the United States.

. At the end of World War II revealed that the winners of the alliance can not be saved
. True, there were free elections in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, but not in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Together with the French occupation power, the Soviet administration in Germany is not subject to a central economic rule in occupied Germany. The unilateral transfer of territories east of the Oder-Neisse line to Poland before the peace treaty contributed to exacerbate the tension. Such conflicts have arisen in Korea, where the Soviet Union stood for satellite state, and in Iran, where he tried to get the scope of special interests. The Soviet government refused to cooperate with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, institutions that provided by U.S. authorities as a central planning to revive the global economy.

. Of course, the causes of those tensions were not only the actions of Stalin, but Truman was unquestionably that he opposes the statesman who does not keep his word
. This Truman concluded that the Soviet Union in no mood to cooperate with the West to maintain the balance of forces, and will try to extend its authority, wherever possible. Totalitarian state, thought Truman, and with it the majority of Americans who rely on military force or threat of violence to accomplish their interest. Education in 1947, the Cominform, seemed to indicate that the Soviet Union and wants to continue to act as a political and ideological spearhead of the communist world revolution.

. The assumption of the Soviet threat to Western Europe, no matter how one-sided and problematic it was, it was close to the need for support and security of Western Europe in the interest of U.S. national security
. Western Europe and Japan was given the strategic importance for the protection of the United States. Neither the Pentagon nor the State Department nor the secret services, neither President Truman did not expect a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union suffered heavily from German attacks and the war, and it will take years to rebuild the country. Seemed more important fact that Soviet policy was to lead to a psychological effect on the population to the same extent weakened Western democracies. For Truman existed a direct correlation between economic well-being, psychological self-awareness and defensibility. If we can not instill confidence in the Europeans, early recovery, it could have been foreseen, Moscow will become a massive influence.

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. From these considerations, there was a "policy of containment, which at first as" dual containment "was directed against the Soviet Union and Germany
. She was supposed to establish global military balance of powers, and at the same time to form in Europe and Japan, new centers of power, which could in the future to gain a foothold against the Soviet policy. Soviet and revisionist historians in the United States and other countries have argued in the 60's and 70's, that the United States perereagirovali against Soviet policy. As new research, it is possible that the West has stopped attempts to co-operation earlier than did Stalin. New study of British politics, . however, . show, . that both the Conservative government of Churchill, . and Attlee's Labor government before the American leaders came to believe, . that the Soviet Union can not work long term.,

. None of the American presidents are not so strongly influenced the development in Europe in the postwar period, as Truman
. In 1947, he proclaimed the "Truman Doctrine" when called on Congress to Greece and Turkey's military and economic assistance to protect them from allegedly threatening the communist seizure of power. Since Britain was no longer able to act as a counterweight on the Soviet Union in this region, . the U.S. became the dominant force in the Mediterranean region and pledged its full economic potential for containment of communism.,

. Even more important was the Marshall Plan
. As the main objectives of planning authorities in Washington have identified to prevent further economic stagnation in Western Europe, . stop economic chaos, . which is considered a breeding ground for the spread of communist ideology, . and to encourage democracy in Western Europe for economic and political cooperation,
. Revisionist historians have criticized Truman that the Marshall Plan, he tied with West Germany to the West, giving the force the division of Germany and Europe. These documents are presented after the political turning point in the world 1989-90 in a new light.

. As with the election of George Marshall Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1947, just as Truman was lucky with the appointment of his successor, Dean Acheson in 1949
. Marshall and Acheson loyally supported the policy of Truman, were convinced of the special significance of Western Europe in the global conflict with the Soviet Union and helped to protect the foreign policy in internal clashes.

. The establishment of NATO (1947) also had the first term of Truman's presidency
. Like the Berlin airlift "the development of NATO clearly showed that Truman understood the psychological importance of political decisions. Establishment of NATO and the Berlin "air bridge" should be understood as a political signal to the Soviet Union. In both campaigns, it was about defensive measures. The peoples of Western Europe needed to create the impression that the United States is closely linked their fate to the further development of democracy.

In the postwar period could certainly talk about American hegemony in Western Europe. Truman did not succumb to the initial impulse to urgently reduce transoceanic activity, and pursues a foreign policy that takes on the economic and military commitments and simultaneously acted as a catalyst for political unification of Europe. This role America would have been impossible, . if the U.S. did not find, . especially in the UK, . in the Benelux countries after the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, . Partners, . who would understand the American presence in Europe as the need for national survival,
. From this point of view should also be considered and the Marshall Plan and the associated production of the American campaign.

Despite a common rhetoric, Truman had neither the intention nor the military means to use the U.S. as "world policeman". "Long telegram" and the article "M-ra X" did not contain specific recommendations, . and an urgent request to the author George Kennena attention of the American public on global issues of security policy since 1945, and remind her of the increased responsibility,
. More than anything that had happened at first. In the security policy the Truman administration until 1950 it was the policy of economic containment of real or imaginary Soviet expansionist ambitions. Have been introduced in bilateral economic aid, sanctions, trade liberalization and monetary policy to stop the growth of Soviet influence. But have yet been made expansion oennyh structures and structures of political security. Truman Doctrine was intended primarily to influence the American public and reluctant Congress, which was to provide funding for economic stability in Europe.

. The main objective of the Marshall Plan should also be considered in the context of security policy
. This was an attempt to prevent the undermining of Western Europe, implemented through the dissemination of hunger, poverty and hopelessness. The Marshall Plan has replaced the failed bilateral assistance to European nations and had to create a balance of forces in Europe. Coup in Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1948 and the Soviet blockade of Berlin had not yet led to a significant expansion of military weapons. Redeployment of B-29 bombers to England was, first and foremost, a means of psychological warfare, because these planes were not at all suitable for nuclear weapons. Truman's restraint in the expansion of military activity also manifested in its decision in any case not to interfere with U.S. ground troops in the conflict between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek. Limited financial resources for concentration of efforts in Europe, which was carried out.

. Against this background, the creation of NATO meant not so much the formation of a military alliance, although this has occurred, as a political complement to the policy of economic containment
. The starting point were the demands of Great Britain and France on American support. NATO treaty does not contain an automatic obligation on the protection of Europe, and put these actions in reliance on the consent of Congress. Only since 1951, NATO possessed by U.S. forces. Neither the military nor Truman proceeded from the fact that NATO is associated with the creation of a permanent U.S. presence in Europe.

. Policy of the Truman administration, . however, . changed under the influence of successful tests of the first Soviet atomic bomb, and after becoming known as NSC 68 (1950) analysis of U.S. security policy, . conducted by the National Security Council,
. A crucial milestone for Truman was, however, the North Korean attack on South Korea in June 1950, and the conflict has been interpreted as a "second Greece" and as the beginning of military aggression on the initiative of the Soviet Union. This was probably sverhreaktsiey, as the situation in Asia, in fact, it was difficult to compare with the situation in Europe. But for Truman and his advisers, it became clear that the Soviet Union is pursuing with China, global expansionist policies.

. The policy towards Palestine, there were serious disagreements between the White House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
. Truman positive attitude to the creation of the Israeli state in Palestine, as well as sympathy for the victims of mass destruction. He believed that the State Department too stands up for the Arab States and American oil interests, and in support of Jewish immigration to Palestine, he saw a chance to win Jewish votes for the election in September 1948. Truman's decision on the recognition of Israel in May 1948 still did not mean the U.S. guarantee of survival, but it marks the beginning of entering the U.S. in the development of the Middle East crisis.

. In recent years, internal politics in the Truman administration has attracted a renewed attention
. Truman has identified himself with the "new, course, but he had great difficulty with the liberal advisers, Roosevelt, who accused him that he launched the inheritance of the President or not extend his. Ultimately, this here was a problem of personal style in politics than about the substantive differences, and in 1948, many liberal advocates of "New Deal" kept Truman in the election campaign for the presidency. After the Republicans already in the midterm elections in 1946 won a majority in both houses of Congress, the chances of Truman in 1948 were extremely bad. The Democratic Party is in crisis, and the president has received competition from its own ranks as from the conservative Southerners who did not trust his racial politics, and the leftist forces around the former vice-president Wallace. While pollsters and the press has "buried" and the Truman declared the winner of the Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, under the influence of the Berlin crisis, the president has a sensational return to form of minimum benefits in 1916 votes.

. To a large guiding domestic policy reforms Truman belonged to the abolition of racial division in the Army
. It would not be incorrect to assume the beginning of the civil rights movement the reign of Truman, as president in addition to the army cared about the interests of people of color in society. Another senator advocated the equality of colored citizens in the world of work. He prog losoval for the abolition of poll tax in certain states, supported a law banning lynching and cared about the interests of their colored voters in Missouri. As the President suggested that Congress create a permanent commission to ensure equal opportunities of education and receipt of the profession for black. But due to resistance from conservative Democrats from southern states to further reform has become very difficult. In principle, Truman believed in civil rights for all Americans, in public "fair deal" as he called it. Although he ultimately failed to obtain the consent of Congress to reform its system, it is remarkable that the revisionist historians, with all the sharpness of criticism of his foreign policy is a positive assessment of its policy of civil rights.

. Truman's relations with the leaders of major trade unions were strong fluctuations
. Immediately after the war, when in connection with the transition from military to civilian economy is having a conflict over wage increases and measures to stabilize, they were more violent. Improvement occurred during the election campaign for the presidency in 1948, when Harry Truman was able to use its veto against the Taft-Hartley Act, issued by the conservative forces of the Congress to reduce the influence of trade unions. The deterioration has come again, when Harry Truman during the Korean War made for control of wages and prices.

. If the relationship between President Truman and the trade unions have often been contradictory, is not it better was his attitude toward big industry
. When in 1952 a conflict arose in the steel industry, . caused by, . According to the president, . was the inflexibility of Manufacturers, . he, . without thinking twice, . ordered April 8, 1952 to allocate the steel mills to the Government to resolve the conflict,
. The Supreme Court declared the emergency measure in early June 1952 unconstitutional, and it lasted until the end of July, while employers and trade unions have not come to a compromise.

. The most contentious domestic policy decisions of the Truman is a loyalty program, an attempt to ensure the national security of the United States and through monitoring of left political dissidents
. This has led not only to restrict civil liberties and ideological persecution of alleged communists in government under the leadership of Senator Joseph McCarthy, but also to the poisoning of domestic political climate in the U.S.. In this context, Truman's often accused of that, he too stressed the Soviet threat to the United States to win the Congress to support his policies in Europe and Asia, and thus unleashed the anti-communist witch-hunt. Against this interpretation, lately there have been objections, . that the American public, . the latest since 1946, . more tuned to anti-Soviet, . reacting thus to the Soviet policy in Eastern Europe, . and that Truman was trying only to control Congress,
. In spite of this, "directed by the wrong way the loyalty program," as it was called, remains the most problematic head of Truman's presidency.

. The relationship between Harry Truman and U.S. Congress have been burdened by many factors: after his election as president in 1948, he presented covers the 25-point program of "fair rate"
. It included price controls, credit, industrial products, exports, wages and rents. She promised to increase civil law, . cheap housing, . minimum wage by 75 cents per hour, . rejection of the Taft-Hartley, . compulsory health insurance, . better provision of social security and federal aid to education,
. Given the Republican majority in Congress, this ambitious program could not be done, but it points the direction of expansion according to European standards is still not developed the American social system.

. Conflicts between Truman and Congress participation during Truman's second term as president, as Republicans to the President in sharp form of "losing China" Mao's Communists
. During two periods of 4 Truman opposed the Congress that each time the majority was right on his domestic policy. Truman did not hesitate to make free use of veto power, to reflect the Republican initiative and stay the course. The largest successes of his presidency, no doubt, include the fact that he was able to oblige the Republican-controlled 80-th Congress (1946-48) to "nadpartiynoy foreign policy". View of increasing domestic criticism of Truman in the spring of 1952 announced his withdrawal from the next nomination. Congress had already adopted the 22-th addition to the constitution, which limited the presidency to two terms. Truman is still would not touch because it is only 6 years served as president. His successor elected governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson, who, however, clearly inferior to a popular general Dwight D. Eisenhower. In his memoirs, Truman wrote that to be president means to be "lonely, very lonely during the big decisions". From Independence, which in 1957 was opened by the library, Harry C. Truman, ex-president has closely followed the political events and was delighted when, in 1961, represented by John F. Kennedy in the White House once again became a Democrat, and when, Lyndon B. Johnson since 1964 have been implemented many of his plans and reforms.

Truman died on Dec. 26, 1972 at age 88 in Kansas City. At the funeral, Johnson praised him as "a giant of the twentieth century", which, like no other before him, had an impact on the world - score, which today is shared by most American historians. This posthumous positive assessment, not least facilitated by the, . that with the opening of the archives is becoming increasingly clear, . that Truman, . despite the many personal attacks, . possessed a strong will, . in difficult situations, he took all decisions, . even if they were not popular, . never deviated from accepted,
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Source: Peoples.ru