For you are the one in trouble now. And he was. It seems safe to say that few people if any have come to the presidency of the United States who seem so unqualified for that job, as harry truman did in april of 1945. When he became president , no one knew anything about him. What they did know was not reassuring. It was made worse by the fact that he followed one of the legendary president s in all of American History, frank lindy roosevelt. Income franklin d roosevelt. In contrast to this little man for missouri seemed ordinary, even as appearance. Harken back to the days of an earlier president ial misfit, Warren Harding. At least Warren Harding look like a president. Truman set i look like any other 50 people you meet industry, and he did. He seemed to be hard to caricature, he had no particular distinctive features, sort of generic person. Even his name, by the way, seemed inadequate. Harry s. Trumanto know the s stood for . Nothing. He simply added the s because he thought his given name was inefficient. It did not stand for anything insufficient. The s did not stand for anything. His character i would be characterized as mediocre if that. He was for example the first president since Grover Cleveland and the only in the 20th century not to have a college education. He had been an average student in school and thereafter tried his hand at different occupations. Including farming, banking, with little success at either. Nor was he more successful socially. It seems the only woman he dated or courted, was bess wallace, his family was or thought it was far superior to the trumans. So trumans affection for bess was unrequited for many, many years. The only person he ever courted. Finally she acquiesced. Not with the blessings of her mother who never seem to think harry was suitable for her daughter, not even after he was president. But trumans greatest success early in life, in his 30s, was as an artillery commander in france during world war i. Thereafter he retired to missouri, where he wanted with a friend and they started a haberdashery business, leading to his often being referred to as haberdashery harry. He became involved in local politics. Truman was, if not terribly successful, always regarded as a likable fellow. And plenty smart despite a lack of formal education. In 1934 truman have been elected to the u. S. Senate from missouri where he remained until chosen as fdr as his Vice President ial running mate in 1944. Roosevelt felt it necessary to drop his bend Vice President , henry wallace, who had become regarded as to radical and chummy with the soviets. Roosevelt chose truman because he was not wellknown enough to detract from roosevelts own candidacy. Truman was well aware of his limitations as Vice President. There is a story one day he was walking on the street with a friend of his in washington. And they walked past the white house. The friend said to him, harry, turnaround and take a look, you will live there soon, twitch truman replied, im afraid i am to which truman replied, i am afraid that i am, and it scares the hell out of me. That did come to pass on april 12, 1945, the realization he would now be president , made him feel as he told reporters, like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me. There is ample reason for truman to be awestruck. In addition to his limitations, it came at a time of extreme crisis. Yet once he moved into the white house, truman performed with considerable ability, far exceeding the dire expectations americans had Many Americans had at the time. The greatest media problem the greatest immediate problem. There he has with roosevelt and being sworn in with thats president. There he is with roosevelt and being sworn in as president with his wife and daughter. The greatest problem confronting him at the time was several batters to deal with foreign affairs. One fist first major decisions was when he announced the organizational meeting of the United Nations take place in San Francisco as scheduled in late april, 1945. Truman assured the nation that the roosevelt plan performed just proposed for collective security would be carried out. A month after he took office the United Nations charter was signed. The most dangerous problem facing truman and the most immediate was the continuing war in the pacific against japan. Germany surrendered a few weeks after his taking office in early may of 1945. Japan was another matter. In spring and early summer of 1945, it was widely believed by military strategists, that to bring about the defeat of japan which was fighting desperately by this point, was believed to be necessary to invade the home islands. That was calculated to require as many as 5 million troops, with a possible casualty toll in excess of one million men. So even with aid from russia, which they promised, it was a dismal prospect. But there were a small handful of men in the u. S. That work on the development of a highly secret project, known as the Manhattan Project. And there was one that and it was one that we will get to in a moment. It was topsecret. The project that would ultimately mean no invasion of japan would be necessary. And it also would mean the world would never be the same again. Harry truman did not know anything about the development of the atomic bomb when he became president. He had never divulge word of that operation, roosevelt had never told him about the operation. Roosevelt seldom spoke to truman at all after he was sworn in, allegedly talk to him twice after inauguration. The closest truman came to find out about the Manhattan Project was during his days as chairman of the senate investigate and committee, that made him aware of large expenditures of money, for this mysterious project. Truman threatened to hold an investigation. This incident was prevented by a plea from a highly agitated secretary of war stimson. Henry stimson said to truman, sir, i cannot tell you what it is, but it is the greatest project in the history of the world. It is most topsecret. Many people engaged in the work have no idea what it is. And we could do would appreciate your not going to those plans. One of the few times in his life, truman backed down and did hold those investigations. The result of this is when he became president , he knew nothing of the bomb, which was probably less than Joseph Stalin new. After his first Cabinet Meeting after trumans first Cabinet Meeting after trumans first Cabinet Meeting in late april, 1945, secretary stimson told truman about development of this mighty new weapon. Days later he received information about it from a member of the Manhattan Project staff. Admiral lahey remained after the conference to give truman the benefit of his knowledge on the matter. Speaking of the bomb he said, that is the biggest thing we have ever done. That dam thing will never go off, and i say that as an expert on explosives. It was about this time truman embarked on what would be the last of the highlevel wartime conferences. It was to be held at pottstown in july pots dam at potsdam, in july of 1945. Atlee replaced winston churchill. Im meeting with atlee and Joseph Stalin, the main purpose of the meeting was to coordinate the final war effort, what they hoped would be the final war effort. And since the bomb had not yet been tested, and there were many whose shared and relay hes admiral lakeys skepticism about whether it would work, truman was still intent on getting the russians to enter the war against japan which they had pledged but still had not done in which they were not due for some time. Stalin promised to do eventually. But during this potsdam conference, a message whose applications were such that russian intervention would not make any difference, this message came from alamogordo new mexico, the testing grounds. It read, code operated on this morning, diagnoses not complete, resulting satisfactory, already exceed expectations. In other words, the bomb had been tested, and it worked. A few days later, truman casually mentioned to stalin that the United States developed quote a new weapon of unusual Destructive Force quote. As truman later recalled, the russian leader showed no particular interest. All he said was that he was glad to hear it and hoped we would make good use of it against the japanese. Well, make good use of it is what the United States did. When word of the successful test reached Choate Truman at potdam , he at along with atlee issued the potdam declaration or ultimatum in which the japanese were warned to surrender unconditionally or face quote prompt and utter destruction. It did not specific mention the atomic bomb, nor did it mention the emperor could be retained. It made no concessions but said they would face destruction. Two days later the japanese rejected that ultimatum, calling it unworthy of public notice. A week after that, a b29, names the enola gay, took off from guam carrying a single bomb, which at 8 15 a. M. On the morning of august 6, 19 for the five come of that bomb was 1945, that bomb was dropped on hiroshima. 60,00070,000 persons were killed. Still no japanese surrender. In the interim russia did declare war on japan. The second bomb was dropped on nagasaki on august 9, and the following day, august 10, the japanese did at last surrender, bringing world war ii to an end. But, the historiographical battle was just beginning, the battle over the decision to use the bomb, and whether or not it was justified. Studies by these revisionist historians question the use of the bomb, have focused on a number of significant questions. To what degree it was the bomb a decisive factor to bring the war to an end . Was it really necessary, or was used primarily for reasons other than sibley strategic ones . Now, it may be assumed initial reaction most americans to the news of the bombing of hiroshima and the ensuing japanese surrender, was simply one of relief. The war was finally over. Also a form of revenge against japan for. The invasion of pearl harbor. And i suspect that most people accepted it out of as a legend met weapon. The soldiers themselves thought if the japanese are germans had bombed had the bomb, they would not have hesitated to use it against us. Moreover, some claimed, as did secretary stimson, that the bomb actually saves lives in the long run, because it eliminated the necessity for the continuing use of the firebombed raids against japan, which were killing thousands and thousands of people as the war went on. So stimson said, the use of the bomb was, in his words, the least abhorrent choice. But, those mushroom clouds had scarcely dissipated over the pacific, before certain critics began to question that use. Support was given to critics by report of the u. S. Strategic bombing survey, which estimated that, and this is a quote. By the end of the year, japan what have surrendered, even if the atomic bomb had not been dropped, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated. So the big question fundamental is how close was japan to surrender . I do not think anybody has a conclusive answer to that. What the critics suggest was perhaps there was some alternative to actually dropping about . They could have done something else, perhaps, they say. Maybe a test of the bomb that the japanese could watch. If the japanese could see it tested on some deserted Pacific Island . The answer to that given by defenders of the use of the bomb , first of all, it would not do sufficient damage to impress them, it had to destroy things and if you drop in on an island there is nothing to destroy. Theres a big cloud but nothing is obliterated, no buildings, so it might not of been that impressive. Another consideration is, it might not have worked at all, and would have been an embarrassment to bring the japanese leaders out and say this is what is going to happen to you if you do not surrender, watch this. And then he drops it, thought. Thud, not very impressive. And then others who say we do not have bombs to waste. Do you know how many we had at that time . Two, and we dropped both of them. In atomic historiography, some scholars of this period, say, i will give you a quote. Dropping of the atomic bombs was not so much the last military act of the second world war, as it was the first major operation in the cold diplomatic war. Now, the thesis of this is, it is predicated on the belief japan was essentially ready to surrender so it was not necessary militarily. Then why was it necessary . They claim truman and his associates knew this well. But they dropped the bomb to ds play to displaythey had determined the soviets were going to be our big adversary. They wanted to impress the soviets to show them the power he possessed so the soviets would be more tractable in the postwar world. I could see possibility to that. But i tend to agree with the observation of another historian, and this is a quote. The decision to use the bomb was taken in good faith, not to unleash a weapon in vengeance against an enemy, but primarily to bring an end to a barbaric war. Secondarily, to drive the benefits of a timely victory. 2d arrive the benefits of a timely secondarily to derive the benefits of a timely victory. And might be well to remember it was never really a debatable question among the persons responsible for making this decision. Church hill made it clear in his memoirs that he supported the use of the bomb. And trumans position was certainly clear. This is what he wrote in his memoirs. Let there be no mistake about it, he wrote. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon. I never had any doubt that it should be used. Later, he said quote, i cannot worry about what history would say about my personal morality. I made the only decision i ever knew how to make. I did what i thought was right. And, he said, he could not have lived with himself, if another american soldier had died, with him knowing that the war could have ended and saved that person. He continued to maintain the decision to use the bomb. One vignette i think is illustrative. The story is, the scientist robert oppenheimer, instrumental in developing the bomb. He was like many scientists. They helped develop it and then it was used to had second thoughts about it. Oppenheimer was one of those. He called upon truman one day in the oval office and explained that the bomb having been used he said now, we scientists. I feel i have blood on my hands. Whereupon truman took out his handkerchief said here, do you want to wipe your hands off . And then, after often hyper left, truman said to an associate and then after oppenheimer left, i do not want to see that sob in this office ever again. Soon was touched off the cold war with the soviet union. The basis was the spread of soviet communism in Eastern Europe after the war. The soviet armies occupied much of Eastern Europe, and continue to stay there, until the russians establish control over those countries. The u. S. Response was developed by a career diplomat, george kennan. His philosophy was containment. The idea is the u. S. Must do whatever is necessary to contain the spread of communism, not to destroy it. Some attacked out and set was not Strong Enough because it not to go after it and get rid of it, but its said two week must contain the spread of communism. In order to do that the u. S. Undertook initiatives. In 1947, the truman doctrine was a plan that gave aid to two countries in particular, that were believed to be in danger of falling to call me nessim to communism, greece and turkey. That was expanded to the Marshall Plan bella by george c marshall, noted general in world war ii, and secretary of state under truman. The Marshall Plan expanded the concept of aid to countries in danger of succumbing to common nessim, to any succumbing to communism, to any country that would accept it. So many European Countries did benefit from the Marshall Plan. And the spread of communism in europe was pretty much stopped at that point. It was not eradicated where it existed, but it did not essentially spread. Then, there was, later on in trumans presidency, the berlin airlift in 1948, where the u. S. Flew supplies into west berlin. The east germans tried to block it off and force the western powers out. So the berlin air left allowed west berlin to survive. Then, later, implementation of this, there was the establishment of nato, the nato, in 1949. While this was going on, truman had domestic problems. Economic and postwar, was troubled by inflation. Even now when people talk about the rate of inflation so bad, almost as bad as postworld war ii or worse than that. At that time a tremendous inflation. It touched off labor disputes. The country was almost brought to a halt by nationwide strikes. One was the railroad strike. Truman had an interesting solution. They were threatening to strike and sherman b known if they did strike, truman let it be known if they did strike he would draft the Railroad Employees into the military. You can imagine your job youre going to work and the next thing you know youre drafted. The strike was avoided. It is indicative of the labor disputes that took place at the time. All of this eventually led to the passage of the tafthartley act, still may the primary labor act. Among other things it did, it was regarded as antilabor. One reason labor was not a strong post tafthartley was that it permitted states, a federal law that permitted states to pass what we refer to as right to work laws and a number of states did and virginia was one of them. There were also rum legs of civil rights issues. Trumans views on those, support of such arguments for civil rights in various ways, alienated much of the segregationist south. This brings us to the 1948 election. An interesting one, to say the least. Most people thought truman had no chance to be reelected. It was widely regarded as a failure. He was why the regarded as a failure. It was almost universally believed that new york governor tom do a wide feed him. Because of his bungling of Domestic Affairs truman was discredited. I new york make thing came out with a frontpage headline that said truman should quit. In his various blunders, agree just in themselves, were compounded by personal uncouthness. Trumans behavior set the record then for four letter words, and unbecoming behavior. One example, his daughter market was, as was truman cashs daughter margaret trumans daughter margaret was a musician. People thought it was terrible that he also performed publicly. Annmargret was a singer. I do not know how good. On one occasion where his daughter margaret gave a recital, it was panned by a music critic of the washington post, whereupon truman, as president of the United States sent in the following note. I never met you, he wrote. But if i ever do, you will need a new nose. Here we have the president threatening to punch out a newspaper credit critic. Some people thought that was unseemly. A lot of jokes went around. One was the president was late to a News Conference because he was stiff and the joints and had trouble putting his foot in his mouth. Even his secretary said things like quote you sort of forget about harry until he makes another mistake. Truman himself seemed to admit to his demise early and his administration when he lamented, label is mad at managed labor is mad at management and theyre both mad at me. And the military is mad at me. And so are the arabs and the jews and the dar. They all wish roosevelt would be back and said why. By 1948, a change of mind, and he decided he would run for reelection. He was to be challenged by dewey, and exceed kratz Strom Thurmond dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, and seeming communist incisor henry wallace, the previous Vice President. With attacks from all sides, and dewey had run a credible campaign against fdr in 1944. It seemed hopeless, until truman decided, he would undertake a Whistle Stop Campaign, and take the case right to the people. Television was in existence, but not a medium that was used much. So if you want to reach the people, truman set i have to go out to the people. So he undertook this whistle stop it was stop and typically he would come out and introduce his wife and sometimes his daughter, margaret. And then he would make a short, pointed speech attacking boldly attacking the republicans. From what she got the reputation people shouted to him from the crowds, give them hell, harris. To it she responded, alleges to the truth and wrote the republicans think it is hell. Just the kind of things some people found unbecoming of a president , but that was his style. Now, the pollsters were unanimous one magazine polled 50 top political scientists in the United States and asked their prediction, out of the 50 there is the roper poll and the gallup poll, humans under the election, roper stopped taking polls, and gallup who perhaps should have quit continued to predict right up to it and even during election day that dewey would win easily. Well, that Chicago Tribune headline i guess was the most famous journalistic faux pas in history, there is truman winning as he held at the early addition of that newspaper with the press, with the headline dewey defeats truman. As you know, there has never been a president dewey. It was a close election. Truman won the popular vote by about 2 million, he got 24 million votes to 24 million for dewey 22 million for dewey. Against all odds, he had snatched victory from jaws of defeat. It seems like he was going to end, this reminds me as it always does when i talk about this election of a famous anecdote. It was that allegedly dewey was so confident in winning and everybody else was, allegedly dewey said to his wife as he retired to bed on Election Night , he said to his wife, just think, tomorrow night you were going to be sleeping with the president elect of the United States. To which, when the votes came in the next morning, misses dewey turned to her husband and said well, tom, im not going over to the white house nor is harry coming over here. I think it is an interesting anecdote, but i think it was apocryphal. I thought it was indicative of the times and a cute story, but i always thought it was apocryphal. One time i told and a student when i said it was apocryphal the students were nodding and nodding vigorously, i said what is . What is it . She said no that is a true story. And i said what how do you know that is a true story . And she said Something Like that her mother had been this is a long time ago, her mother had been misses deweys College Roommate and the two had remained in touch and that she was told misses dewey said that really did happen. Whether or not its true, it is in an interesting story and indicative of how what a big upset it was even within the do we have sold apparently dewey household apparently. Historians have analyzed this election ever sense trying to figure out how it happened, i did not have a picture of tandoori, but maybe you can picture a dapper figure, a little mustache. In any case, someone would describe him as looking like the proud groom on top of a wedding cake. Some people jokingly said that dewey lost by a whisker and you get the point there. It has been suggested it was due to his overconfidence, a lack of Campaign Effort on the part of the republicans, trumans aggressive campaign, the Whistle Stop Campaign and so on. But when you boil it all down, i think you might come to the conclusion that the election turned on a widespread feeling in the country that was epitomized by a statement made by an iowa farmer who said this, this explains it. He said i talked about voting for dewey all summer, but when voting time came, i just could not do it. I remembered all the good things that have come to me under the democrats and so, in a way, dewey running against truman was in essence as if it was hoover running against roosevelt. Remembering that people still to member the Great Depression was not that far in the past, people remembered it clearly and they were reluctant to vote republican and they did not. This election in 1940 is still the Gold Standard of president ial upset i suppose, 2016 was i guess considered while, it was not predicted lets put it that way. Almost invariably a candidate running remember 48 because of thater 48 stunning upset. Truman then now had a term, second term. A term of his own. Wondered. E program was an extension of the new deal programs. Minimum wage was increased. All the way up to . 75 an hour. There was federal support for housing programs. The main success of the truman presidency came in the area of civil rights. Particularly, his decision in the order to racially integrate the armed forces. World war ii was fought by segregated units. Shoulddetermined that come to an end. There is an enormous outcry, that will never work, the whites and blacks are not going to work well, that was the only way it the order and it did work. The other thing he did was to order in and to discover nation end to to order and discrimination in federal employment. Prior to that you could not hire somebody because they were colored. It worked, the federal employment was integrated by order of truman. Truman was really the first actively problack, procivil rights president since lincoln. Which, by the way truman became quite unpopular in the segregated south. Now, his Second Administration was besmirched by two particular developments. One was the alger hiss controversy. This is a story, the alger hiss story is a long one that could and did in my classes take up probably a whole lecture just because it is a fascinating story. In any case, in brief, hitch was alger hiss was a state Department Official and he was accused alger hiss was accused of having been a communist by a journalist who was admitted a former communist. He had recanted. He pointed to hiss as an example of communist infiltration of the federal government. What hiss was a sophisticated harvard educated diplomat, chambers was a rather unappealing figure, but in any case to make a long story short, it turned out that whereas hiss never it was never proven that he was a communist who did the things that chambers said and he never admitted to anything until his death and that was until he lived a long time after that. This case could arouse arguments for decades thereafter. Did you believe hiss or did you believe chambers . It was a very bitterly contested controversy. The point i should be making with regard to this presentation on truman is the effect it had on truman. He said, when asked about the hiss affair, he said it was a red herring that the republicans are using to try to use to cover up their lack of program that they dont have a program, they just use it as a red herring in the red herring covers up the try to throw off the scent of dogs anyway. This was perceived as truman defending hiss, which meant that truman was soft on communism and so forth. It hurt truman politically, this made him appear to be weak on communism. Interestingly, it was during this time that truman established the federal Employee Loyalty program. I thinkin essence when i redo this quotation, you template forthe mccarthyism, which was soon to erupt. Truman felt that given the timbre of the times, he temper of the times, he had to do something with regard to federal employees being charged as communists and so forth, so this Loyalty Program despite its obvious threat to Civil Liberties was empowered to quote discharge any employee without extending to such employee any hearing whatsoever. If there was any suspicion of disloyalty however remote, that is a pretty broad, sweeping statement. In the five years that followed, the Truman Administration checked the loyalty on 4 million individuals, brought charges against only 9000. Some of those resigned, fewer than 3000 underwent formal hearings of whom the government dismissed 379 for a grand total of 0. 002 of all those who were investigated and even among those who were dismissed, there is not a single clearcut case of espionage. But yet, the ground was laid some would say, in fact, i just read an article today, a new book on mccarthy that says that indeed, mccarthy was just following the blueprint established by the truman Loyalty Program. In any case, that was one thing that damaged his trumans Second Administration. The other, was the korean war. That wart began in june of 1950, it was intended to protect south korea from north koreas aggression, which indeed is when it started, north korea boldly invaded south korea. The war went badly for the u. S. , of course, the u. S. Joined the efforts to stop the effort of north korea under the aegis of the United Nations. Things are going bad as his head for the u. S. And the south koreans until they until the commander of the forces in korea none other than douglas macarthur, the great hero of the world war ii in the pacific. Macarthur was regarded as a genius strategic move at which he ordered an attack to cut off the north korean forces. It worked, the North Koreans had to retreat and they did whereupon u. N. Forces followed them, chased them as they headed to the border of china whereupon china entered the war bringing disaster to the american to the United Nations forces who then had to make a hasty retreat in which many casualties were suffered. In the face of that reversal, macarthur had another idea and that it was he should be allowed to expand the war by attacking into china itself and in particular, to bomb supply lines in manchuria and hinted at least that he might think the use of atomic weapons might be appropriate against the chinese. Well, yes, in china against the North Koreans and the chinese. Bear in mind that hiroshima was quite fresh in peoples mind at that time. The idea of another atomic attack well, truman at this time had somewhat soured on macarthur apparently. He told him in essence, ordered that the war not be pushed into china. Macarthur continued to demand that he extend the war into china, he said there is no substitute for victory. It became increasingly clear that macarthur was determined to defy the president , his commanderinchief to expand the war and as soon as that came became clear, truman could not tolerate it and so to the shock of the public that regarded macarthur as an iconic hero, truman on april 11, 1951 removed the wartime hero from his command in the pacific. To say that was unpopular would be an extreme understatement, most of the American People rally to support of macarthur and condemned truman. The public resented the treatment of the pacific hero who in the minds of most of america was a larger figure than truman himself. That is a view shared by macarthur, whose ego was monumental. Trumans secretary of state dean atchison warned truman that if you remove macarthur you will have the biggest fight of your administration and that is exactly true and less truman removed him. He explained that in a particularly blunt fashion to general eisenhower, dear ike wrote truman, i was sorry to have to reach a parting of the waves with the big man in asia, but he asked what and i had to give it to him. Atchinson was of course correct in predicting an enormous backlash against truman. Taft in ohio who is known as mr. Republican suggested impeachment, so did the Chicago Tribune. The Chicago Tribune had a frontpage editorial that read, president truman must be impeached and convicted, he is unfit morally and mentally for his high honors. And yet, though highly condemned in many corners at that time, historians have subsequently come to the general conclusion that truman was what he was doing was actually fulfilling his constitutional obligations in discharging macarthur. As one put it rather bluntly, the issue at stake was no less than the continuation of civilian supremacy of the president s authority to determine the nations Foreign Policy, or more succinctly, the central question was who was president , truman or macarthur . By his shocking action, truman removed all doubt despite the fact that it caused him considerable unpopularity at the time. In the face of such criticism and with his standing having dropped to an alltime president ial Approval Rating of 26 , that is pretty low, truman announced in 1952 that he would not be running for reelection. What about the Second Amendment that prohibited a third term . He fell within that, he would have seemed to be prohibited by that, but as the incumbent president , he was exempted from that prohibition. Some democrats protested that truman should run again and so forth, but many of them probably breathed a sigh of relief that they would be rid of the man who was so widely unpopular. Well, few president s have it seems to me the lectures in my classes would say that truman might as well not have won, because never would have won, he but then i thought well, what about 48 . They said the same thing, on the other hand, in 1952 he wouldve been running against general eisenhower and i dont think you could have one that one. Now with the Approval Rating he not with the Approval Rating he had, so just as well he did not run. He left office so thoroughly unpopular, nearly disgraced as truman was in 1952. The passage of time has caused this perception to fate and in fade and in fact, truman has been subsequently ranked quite well by historians almost incredibly if you know his standing was like in 1952, almost incredibly he has come to be considered one of the great president s by historians. Generally, he has been ranked recently as one of the near grace, just one step below the near grace near greats, just one step below the level of washington, lincoln, and fdr. It is not difficult to understand why this has happened, and number of factors are involved in this high rating. One is it he carried on the liberal tradition of fdr in most and most historians being of liberal persuasion applaud this. He is also in tradition with the common man, within the jacksonian ideal of equality. He appealed to the underdog sympathies of americans. I cant quote it off the top of my head, but one editorial said when he was running in 1948 it said, harry came into a job unfit for it, but he did the best he could and although he was overwhelmed, he went down fighting with all he had. One historian said truman was an average man who turned out to be an above average president that his greatness lies having done great in battle that anybody had any reason to anticipate. Finally, there is the matter of what might be called negative reference, that is he looks good, generally, compared to much of what came after him. Especially in terms of honesty and personal integrity. So far as i know nobody has ever impugned his integrity. He has become to some extent a bit of a folk hero in that regard. Historical interpretation of truman for the most part has been favorable. Interestingly, there is a revisionist interpretation at work reversing the reason for his high reputation. Usually those who defended him loaded lauded his Foreign Policy, that he was so successful at blocking the spread of communism. The new assessment by some claims just the reverse, they say that his Foreign Policy was too belligerent, it was responsible for the years of conflict with the soviet union. A more restrained policy would have prevented the development of the cold war and so they are generally critical of his Foreign Policy. On the other hand, such critics have reappraised his domestic policy more favorably. They point out that even though the fair deal did not achieve full success, truman did well within the conservative spirit of the times to achieve as much as he did including extension of social security, the raising of the minimum wage and so on. More importantly, they point out truman actually broadened the reform agenda of the new deal by advocating federal responsibility in such areas as health care, education, and most significantly, civil rights. Truman was unquestionably the president who gave impetus to the rights of black americans, thereby paving the way for the brown decision in 1954 but also lay the groundwork for the subsequent advances in civil rights under future democratic administrations. What the historical evaluation of truman will be in the years ahead remains to be seen, revisionism can play strange tricks. One of the most interesting trumanut trooping is he apparently would not have cared much about what people said about him. He had that rare quality, rare in anyone and especially in a president. The rare quality of not taking himself too seriously. He had few illusions or cares about his supposed greatness or lack thereof and at one point while still president , he quote, there are probably a Million People in this country who could do the job better than i. He put it similarly in a letter to his daughter, he wrote your dad will never be record among the great that you can be sure he did his best. The one i quoted about the bomb not going off, he made a comment that some would say came close to his success when he said quote, the only thing you have to worry about is bad luck. I never had bad luck. He never seemed concerned about his place in history. Do your duty, he said, and history will do you justice. And whether or not that is true, truman did not seem to care. He never wanted to mince words or search for an elegant phrase when a simple one would suffice. She said he wanted only one epitaph for posterity, that would be the one he had seen one time on a tombstone out in the old west and that epitaph said simply, he did his damndest. There are few who deny that truman did indeed. Sunday on the presidency, Ronald Reagans president ial Library Director showcases the legacy of the 40th president. Here is a preview. One of my personal favorite displays in the museum is the president s personal diary. One of the things that is interesting about this is that almost every day of his fivedency, he wrote volumes. The reason they did that is when they left the gubernatorial mansion, they did not remember a lot of this stuff. They said ok, we will write this down. It was never meant to be published. It was his nose, thoughts and feelings. Thoughts ands, feelings. There was one entry which i think is extremely poignant. It also gives you an insight into ronald reagan, the man. This was not necessarily going to be published. I will read this short passage. Getting shot hurts. Still, my fear was growing because no matter how hard i tried to breathe, it seemed i was getting less and less air. I focused on the tile ceiling and prayed. I realized i could not ask for gods help. Hatredsame time, i felt for the mixed up young man who shot me. Isnt that the meaning of the lost sheep . We are all gods children and equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold. I dont know about you but that is pretty impressive. The guy tried to kill him and that is what the president was writing. I feel that is wonderful. Electronically go through each of the pages. Watch the full Program Sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern and 5 00 p. M. Pacific here on American History tv. One of my personal favorite displays in the museum is the president s personal diary. What i find interesting about this is that almost every day of the presidency, he actually wrote in his diary. There are five volumes. The reason they did that is when they left the gubernatorial mansion, they did not remember a lot of this stuff. They said we will write this down. It was really never meant to be published. It was his notes and his thoughts and his feelings. Is, there is one entry that stated the day of his assassination attempt which i think is extremely poignant. It gives you an insight into ronald reagan, the man. Remember, this was not necessarily going to be published. I will redo this short passage. Getting shot hurts. Tomatter how hard i tried breathe, it seemed i was getting less and less air. I focused on a tile ceiling and prayed. I realized i could not ask for gods help. At the same time, i felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isnt that the meeting of the lost sheep . We are all gods children. And therefore equally loved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would begin to find his way back to the full. I dont know about you but that is what he impressive. The guy tried to kill him and that is what the president was writing. I feel that is wonderful. You can actually electronically go through each of the pages. You are watching american. Istory tv like us on facebook at cspan history. During the Constitutional Convention in philadelphia, the issue of slavery was frequently debated throughout the summer of 1787. Next, in a discussion hosted by the Colonial Williamsburg foundation, a law professor and to actors who portray free and enslaved blacks at williamsburg discussed the role of compromises over slavery played in drafting the constitution and the enduring legacy of those compromises. This program also includes two dramatic interpretations of 1780s africanamericans
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