Harry S. Truman was very busy during his first days in the White House. In 1946 it seemed that the Communist menace was everywhere. The Soviets were threatening Turkey and Greece. Moreover, they loomed over a devastated Eastern and Western Europe. In Asia, Communism in China was flexing its...

Every day, the change in the President became more obvious. Ironically, it had been the sweeping Republican triumph in the congressional elections that had given Harry Truman a new lease on life. At last, he was free from the shadow of Franklin Roosevelt. Charlie Ross told White House reporters,...

Harry S. Truman was a product of a frontier city with deep roots in an agrarian culture. To be exact, he came out of what was also then the frontier of the United States. Both had a lot to do with growing up to be a populist. Soon, Harry would encounter three presidential hopefuls who happened...

In springtime 1948, the President was in good high humor, cheerful, chipper, but also very busy. Among new appointments he named Perle Mesta to be the new minister to Luxembourg, an appointment of no great importance but remembered fondly because it inspired a hit Broadway musical, Call Me...

Mr Truman went to Washington in the midst of the Great Depression. In May 1934 he filed as a Democratic candidate for the Senate. On August 7 he defeated incumbent Republican Roscoe C. Patterson. On January 3, 1935 Truman was sworn in as a US Senator along with 12 other Democrats. By the...

Much was going on during the Campaign of 1948, including the laying of the groundwork for what would be called “The Marshall Plan.” Next, we focus on the forces that led to the Plan as well as re-visiting a famous speech. As already noted, Secretary of State George C. Marshall (1880–1959)...

We have arrived at the edge of Harry S. Truman, politician. But he was no ordinary politician. Already, we have inferred how populism was in the background. In the Introduction, we briefly defined what we mean by Progressive Populism. There nonetheless is a gap to be filled. We need to...

Many years ago I had my first encounter with Harry S. Truman. It was the summer of 1964. I was writing my Master's thesis in economics, which covered the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) under President Truman, as well as under other Presidents. On a whim, I decided to visit the...

On April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the 33rd president of the United States upon the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the days immediately after becoming President, Alben Barkley advised Truman: “Have confidence in yourself. If you do not, the people will lose...

1948. World War II was not far from memory but in its wake, another war was about to begin. While Truman was planning his Presidential Campaign, Stalin was to make a new play in Berlin which would require immediate, decisive action by the President…