Harry S Truman Facts - 33rd President of USA

The thirty-third president of the United States of America Harry S Truman facts. He was born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884.

Harry S Truman Life

He was the oldest child of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young. He had a brother, John Vivian, and a sister, Mary Jane. Truman's father was a livestock dealer and farmer.

The family lived in the Lamar area until Harry was ten months old, and then they moved to a farm near Harrisonville, then Belton, and then in Grandview to his grandparents' farm. When he was six, the family moved to Independence, where Harry could attend Sunday School at the Presbyterian Church.

Harry S Truman Education

He began a traditional school when he was eight years old. Truman was interested in history, reading, and music. His mother encouraged him, and they remained very close.

He got up early at five a.m. daily in order to practice playing the piano and he went to a local music teacher two times per week until he was fifteen years old.

When he graduated high school, he worked for the Santa Fe Railroad as a timekeeper.  Later he returned to the Grandview farm from 1906 until 1917 when he entered the military.

Harry S Truman Marriage

He had already met Bess Wallace and proposed to her in 1911, but she had turned him down. He decided that he needed to make more money than a farmer made before he proposed to her again, and when he came back as a Captain from the first world war, he proposed in 1918, and this time she accepted.

Truman was the only president after 1897 not to have a college degree. He was unable to apply to West Point due to his poor eyesight. His financial constraints kept him from being able to get a degree anywhere else. He did get two years of schooling towards a law degree in the early 1920s.

President Harry S Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States. He was Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president, and he became President when FDR died. Most historians consider Truman to be one of the greatest United States Presidents.

He faced many challenges in domestic affairs. The economy was in trouble with shortages, strikes, as well as the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act.

He won re-election in 1948, which was a huge surprise. He started orders to begin desegregating the U.S. military. He also created loyalty checks which resulted in the dismissal of thousands of communist supporters from office.

He also made the decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan, was a part of the founding of the United Nations, supported the Marshall Plan which was intended to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine, with the goal of containing communism, and the beginning of the Cold War.

Harry Truman died on December 26 when he was 88 years old. He was first admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with pneumonia and lung congestion, but he then had multiple organ failure.

Truman and his wife, who died about ten years later, are buried at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.

Read Harry S Truman Facts

NICKNAME
Give 'Em Hell Harry

BIRTH
Harry Truman was born May 8, 1884
in Lamar, Missouri

MOTHER
Martha Ellen Young

FATHER
John Anderson

SISTER
Mary Jane

BROTHER
Vivian

MARRIAGE
Elizabeth Virginia Wallace on June 28, 1919
Independence, Mo.

CHILDREN
Margaret

EDUCATION
Graduated from public high school university of Missouri at Kansas City Law Schoool
(1923-1925) didn't graduate

RELIGION
Baptist

PRE-PRESIDENCY PROFESSION
Railroad timekeeper, bank clerk, farmer,
haberdasher and businessman

MILITARY SERVICE
Missouri National Guard
Captain in 129th Field Artillery (1918-1919)

POLITICAL LIFE

Jackson County, Missouri, administrative judge, Jackson County Presiding judge (1926-1934)
US Senator (1935-1945)
Vice President (March-April, 1945)
US President, two terms
(Assumed the office upon the death of President Roosevelt)

POLITICAL PARTY
Democrat

INAUGURATION
April 12, 1945, at the age of 60
Harry Truman - Inaugural Address

Harry Truman Administration

PRESIDENCY
Two terms (April 12, 1945-January 20, 1953),

VICE PRESIDENT
Alben Barkley (1949-1953)

FIRST LADY
Bess Wallace Truman
Facts about Bess Truman
Biography of Bess Truman

SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS
Harold H. Burton (1945)
Frederick M. Vinson (1946)
Sherman Minton (1949)

AMENDMENTS ENACTED
22nd Amendment

Harry Truman Cabinet

SECRETARY OF STATE
James F. Byrnes (1945-1947)
Dean Acheson (1949-1953)

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Frederick M. Vinson (1945-1946)
John W. Snyder (1946-1953)

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
James V. Forrestal (1947-1949)
Louis A. Johnson (1949-1950)
George C. Marshall (1950-1951)
Robert A. Lovett (1951-1953)

SECRETARY OF WAR
Robert P. Patterson (1945-1947)
Kenneth C. Royall (1947, July-September)

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Thomas C. Clark (1945-1949)
J. Howard McGrath (1949-1952)
James P. McGranery (1952-1953)

POSTMASTER GENERAL
Robert E. Hannegan (1945-1947)
Jesse M. Donaldson (1947-1953)

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
James V. Forrestal (1945-1947)

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
Harold L. Ickes (1945-1946)
Julius A. Krug (1946-1949)
Oscar L. Chapman (1949-1953)

SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
Clinton P. Anderson (1945-1948)
Charles F. Brannan (1948-1953)

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
Henry A. Wallace (1945-1946)
W. Averell Harriman (1946-1948)
Charles Sawyer (1948-1953)

SECRETARY OF LABOR
Lewis B. Schwellenback (1945-1948)
Maurice J. Tobin (1948-1953)

POST PRESIDENCY LIFE

Writer

DEATH
December 26, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 88

BURIAL PLACE
Independence, Mo.

LANDMARKS
Lamar, Mo. (birthplace)Key West Little White House Museum,
Key West, Florida
Harry S. Truman National Historic Site (adult home) and
Harry S. Truman Library and Museum (and Grave), Independence, Mo.