5th Grade - U.S. Presidents
1st Place - Nick L.
Harry S. Truman

General Information
Harry S. Truman was born May 8th, 1884 in Lamar Missouri. Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President of the United States of America after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

By the time he left office he weighed 175 pounds and was near sighted. But other than that he was healthy. Truman was a feisty and outspoken President. He was determined and always thinking about his fellow Americans.

Early Life of Harry Truman
Harry Truman's early life paved his way to the Presidency. Truman grew up on a Farm in Missouri with his father, mother and two younger siblings. His father, John Anderson Truman, worked as a farmer and livestock salesman. His mother's name was Martha Young Truman and was a native of Missouri just as his father was. His younger brother's name was Vivian Truman and his younger sister's was named was Mary Jane Truman.

Harry was prone to accidents and couldn't play sports because he wore expensive glasses and was a self proclaimed sissy that was always running away to avoid a fight.

Harry began taking piano lessons at the age of eleven. He usually practiced two hours a day before he walked to school. He even considered playing professionally. Although he was a very good player, he decided that he did not have enough talent to be a concert pianist.

Harry learned how to read before he was 5 years old and by the time he graduated from grammar school he had read all 2000 books from the library and read the family bible over 3 times.

During Sunday School at the age of 6 he met a beautiful blonde girl named Bess Wallace who was 5 years old. They met again later during fifth grade, where she also sat behind him in the sixth, seventh, and high school grades. She was very athletic and very smart.

He graduated from Independence High School where he received good grades, but was not one of the best in his·class.

Harry joined the Missouri National Guard on June 14th, 1905 when he was only twenty-one years old. This was after he had been denied to go to West Point because his eyesight was so poor and his family had no money to help pay for the school.

Over the years Harry was a bank clerk for a little while but mainly worked on the family's farm that was over 600 acres. While in the National Guard he would train several weeks during the summer's months on the latest weapons.

When war was declared for World War I, Congress drafted the National Guard. During the War, Harry became Captain of Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery in the 35th division. In order to serve his country he memorized the eye chart.

In 1919 he returned from the war and married Bess Wallace. He also went into the Haberdashery business with a friend of his Edie Jacobsen. A Haberdashery in those days was a clothing store. The store did well for a while, but by 1922 they closed the store as the country went into a recession and very few people could afford new clothing.

On February 17th, 1924 Mary Margaret Truman was born and was the only child Harry Truman would have. Mary Margaret spent the first night sleeping in a drawer until her father Harry could go out during a big snow storm the following day to buy her a crib.

Political Career
A good friend of Truman's from the war was Mike Pendergast, who encouraged Harry to run for the county Judge. Mike's brother, Tom Pendergast was influential of the Democratic Party at that time and helped Harry's campaign. Harry won by a landslide.

He lost his re-election due to the Ku Klux Klan campaigning against him. Since he had a family to feed, he had to find other ways to earn a living and went to work for the Automobile Club of Kansas for several years.

In 1926 Tom Pendergast talked him into running for Chief Judge of Jackson County which he won. He was County Judge for over 8 years and was known best for being an honest person.

In 1934 Harry ran for Senator and on January 3rd, 1935 he became a Senator from Missouri. As a Senator, Harry Truman gained a strong reputation as a favorable politician.

In 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt asked Harry to become his Vice-President. In April of 1945, after only being a vice-president for 82 days, President Roosevelt died and Truman instantly became the President of the United States. President Roosevelt never discussed any aspect of the war or his relationship with Stalin and Churchill with him. Harry clearly had no idea of what was going on, and had realized that he was going to have to do one of the fastest catch-up jobs in history.

He soon after learned about a secret weapon that we were making here in America, which was the Atomic Bomb. He had been advised by his staff that it was worth dropping the bomb in Japan as it would save many lives in the long run. After giving Japan a warning to surrender, they didn't. So Truman ordered the first bomb to be dropped.

On August 6th, 1945 we dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. President Truman then ordered Japan to surrender again. On August 9th, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. On August 14th Japan had surrendered.

When Harry Truman ran for his presidential re-election in 1948, he traveled all around America stopping in various cities to talk to large groups of people from the Caboose of the train about why he is the best candidate for president. They called this the Whistle Stop Campaign. He defeated opponent Thomas Dewey in what was called the "Upset of the Century".

In 1950 we were in the middle of what was thought could be World War III, but in fact it was the Korean War. Korea had been split into two parts in the 1800's. Half of it was run by a communist and the other half by Korean democracy. During the war the USA captured over 130,000 North Korean prisoners which more than half of them claimed that they did not like living under the current dictatorship. North Korea tried to strike a deal where they would get the prisoners returned. Harry Truman refused as he feared that the prisoners would be killed if he sent them back. In 1953, just before Truman left White House, the Korean War ended, and on President Truman's terms.

Accomplishments
During his two terms as President of the United States of America he faced many challenges. Some of his most famous accomplishments were making hard decisions during wartime, but also he had other great accomplishments.

In 1947 he announced the Truman Doctrine which was a policy that was to help other countries oppose communism. And in 1948 he began rebuilding Europe after the war under the Marshall Plan.

He presented his "Fair Deal" program to promote housing, civil rights, education and social security. He was also an important part in forming the United Nations, which is a global peacekeeping organization.

He also ordered an Executive Order #9981 which was to end the discrimination in the US. Military.

Interesting Facts
Some interesting facts about Harry Truman:

• He couldn't play sports as he wore expensive glasses.
• At six years old he was the oldest Vice President to succeed to the Presidency.
• In his first six months as President Truman brought an end to World War II, which included dropping two atomic bombs on Japan.
• In 1948, during his re-election campaign, the newspapers had already declared his opponent the winner, when in fact, Truman had won the election.
• November 1, 1950 Truman escaped attempted assassination by two Puerto Ricans.
• President Truman was the first President to travel under water in a modem submarine. He was underwater for almost an hour off of Key West, Florida.
• One of Harry's famous sayings was, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." He meant you need to take responsibility for what you do.
• Truman was the first President to have his inauguration televised. He was the first President to give a speech on television.
• Harry S. Truman was the first political leader to urge the rich nations to aid the world's poor.

Some very unusual facts about Harry Truman

• To honor his grandfathers, Shippe and Solomon, Harry's parents gave him the middle initial "s" instead of a middle name.
• Despite his poor eyesight, Harry memorized the eye chart to be in the Army so that he could serve his country.
• In 1950, President Harry Truman threw out the first ball twice at the opening day Washington DC baseball game, once right handed and once left handed.
• Seven of the U.S. presidents were left-handed, they are:
  • 1. James A. Garfield (1881) 20th
  • Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) 31st
  • Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) 33rd
  • Gerald Ford (1974-1977) 38th
  • Ronald Reagan (1981 -1989) 40th
  • George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) 41st
  • Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 42nd
• He had a pet goat named "Dewey's Goat".
• Harry Truman was the great-great-great nephew of John Tyler (10th President)
• When Harry's mother Martha Ellen Truman came to visit Harry at the White House, she was told she was going to sleep in Abraham Lincoln's bed. She refused and said that she would sleep on the floor before she ever slept in Lincoln's bed.
• Bess never found a laundry she liked in Washington, so she sent the family's clothes back to Independence, Missouri to be washed.
• A piano leg went through the floor of the White House in 1948 during Truman's term.

Later Years
In 1953 Harry S. Truman decided not to run for re-election and retired  to his hometown of Independence, Missouri. He spent many years writing his memoirs and pending time with his wife, children and grandchildren in his hometown Independence, Missouri.

He spent much of his time overseeing the building of the Truman Library that was built not far from his hometown. He made sure to re-create certain rooms that portrayed the many jobs that he held as the President, including the Oval Office that even had the sign that he kept on his desk that said "the buck stops here".  The other rooms were the Chief Executive; Chief of State; Presiding at different ceremonies; as a legislator; as a leader of his political party; as a Commander and Chief in the Army, Navy and Air Force, and as a Director of our Nations Foreign Policy.

Harry S. Truman died on December 26th, 1972 at the age of eighty-eight.

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