Truman Born: The Haberdasher Who Shaped the Cold War

Harry S. Truman was a farmer's son from Missouri who became president and made some of the most consequential decisions of the twentieth century without ever having sought the role. Born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri, he grew up on the family farm in Independence, worked as a railroad timekeeper and bank clerk, and served as an artillery captain in France during World War I. He entered politics through the patronage of Tom Pendergast, the Kansas City political boss, serving as a county judge and then winning election to the United States Senate in 1934. He was a competent but unremarkable senator until 1944, when Franklin Roosevelt chose him as his running mate for the fourth presidential term, replacing the liberal Henry Wallace. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, just 82 days into his fourth term. Truman inherited the presidency with almost no preparation. He did not know about the atomic bomb until after taking office. Within four months, he authorized the use of nuclear weapons against Japan, ending World War II. He then presided over the early Cold War, establishing the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which committed the United States to containing Soviet expansion and rebuilding Western Europe. He integrated the United States military by executive order in 1948, ordered the Berlin Airlift, recognized the state of Israel, helped establish NATO, and committed American troops to Korea in 1950. He fired Douglas MacArthur for insubordination. He left office in January 1953 with a 22 percent approval rating, one of the lowest in presidential history. His reputation improved dramatically in subsequent decades. Historians now consistently rank him among the top ten presidents for the quality of his decisions under extraordinary pressure.