This nation has been fortunate to have the right leaders at crucial times in our history. FDR during the Great Depression and WWII, military leaders like MacArthur commanding allied forces in the South Pacific, Admiral Nimitz in the Central Pacific, and Eisenhower, commanding the European Theater during WWII. Brilliant statesmen such as George Marshall, Dean Acheson, and George Kennan were the architects of policies that rebuilt Europe, checked the expansion of Soviet communism, and set the course of history that, at least to this day, prevented direct confrontation between Russian and American troops.
On the world stage were towering figures of Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin, and General de Gaulle.
With FDR’s death in April 1945 and the war still raging, the modest, unprepared VP, Harry Truman, steps onto the world stage to lead the nation in war and its aftermath. The lingering shadow of FDR would be as great a challenge as the Republicans and the monumental decisions he would be facing.
How did this unschooled, unlikely man of modest achievement, get there?
As a 35-year-old WWI veteran and failed business man (a haberdashery in Kansas City), a local political boss offered him the chance to run for commissioner of Jackson County. Truman won the race, and during a time marked by graft and corruption, established a reputation for honesty and good government.
In 1934 a U.S. Senate seat came open. The Kansas City Democratic Machine, led by Tom Pendergast who would later serve time for corruption, named Truman its candidate — only after four earlier choices declined. Truman beat two other more experienced candidates in the Democratic primary. With his surprising victory, the New York Times immediately dismissed Truman as “a rube.”
Even after championing FDR’s New Deal for the next six years, FDR refused to campaign for, or even endorse, Truman during the election of 1940. But even as an underdog, Truman would win again. Roosevelt would also win, with Henry Wallace as Vice President.
For the presidential election of 1944 it was clear that Henry Wallace would be off the ticket. After a contentious meeting of influential Democrats with FDR, they decided on Truman. An aid to FDR admitted that “We chose Truman because all of us were tired.” During deliberation, FDR’s Chief of Staff had asked, “Who the hell is Harry Truman?” Upon his nomination, Time Magazine described him as “The mousy little man from Missouri.”
Today, every U.S. Senator believes they are presidential timber, and would run over their grandmother with a dump truck to get to Washington to be running mate of a popular sitting president. As related in Joe Scarborough’s recent book on Truman, “Saving Freedom”, when the Chair of the Democratic National Committee informed Truman that he was FDR’s choice for VP, Truman’s response was, “Tell him to go to Hell!” FDR responded on the phone, loud enough for Truman to hear, “Well, you tell the senator that if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of the war, that’s his responsibility.”
Truman picked up the phone, weakly protested further, and finally responded, “Yes, sir. Well, if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do.”
With the war still raging in Europe and the Pacific, FDR’s January 1945 inauguration was modest, with Truman hoping that FDR’s health would carry him through his fourth term. He would have been gloomier still, had he known of FDR’s searing chest pains after the swearing-in ceremony and could have foreseen FDR’s impending April death.
On May 7 Germany surrendered. With war in Europe over, war with Japan raged on. Victory in the bloody battle for Okinawa secured it as the staging ground for invasion of Japan, expected to cause another one-half to one million more allied deaths.
Today the President and VP act as a team. Incredibly, especially considering his ill health, FDR seriously erred in not preparing Truman for assuming the presidency. As VP, Truman had been told absolutely nothing about the Manhattan Project and development of the atomic bomb.
With the successful nuclear explosion at New Mexico’s Trinity Site in August, Truman believed he had no choice but to use it to end the war.
With War’s end came challenges of rebuilding Europe, preventing the Soviet Union’s expansion of communism to Western Europe, and conversion of the economy to peacetime. The political challenge was to overcome America’s strong isolationist tradition and desire to wash its hands of Europe’s problems.
The modest man from Missouri successfully worked with sophisticated cultured men including Dean Acheson, and the accomplished George Marshall who understood that it was essential to rebuild Europe. With the aid of the knowledgeable George Kennan, NATO was formed, and the foundations for rebuilding Western Europe established. Truman’s team used tremendous effort and political skill to obtain the necessary Republican cooperation through such men as Senator Vandenberg to counter opposition of isolationists led by Senator Robert Taft.
The election of 1948 was seen as a foregone conclusion. The “unqualified man from Missouri” was predicted to lose in a landslide to Thomas Dewey. But again, Truman defied the odds and emerged victorious.
His second term would be fraught with more controversy. Truman would be blamed for “losing China” as the Communists took over in 1949, even though China was never “ours” to lose. After over a decade of Democratic domination, Republicans found their issue — Democrats were dismissed as “soft on communism.”
On June 25, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea. Again, Truman saw no choice — he would not be blamed for losing Korea. During that war, he had another “no choice” to make — to sack the popular General MacArthur who wanted to expand the war to China.
Truman left office in 1952 with low ratings, pilloried by his political enemies and the media. Although lacking formal education, as a boy, he was a voracious reader of history — probably understood it better than congressional ivy leaguers of today.
Above all, he knew his own limitations and relied on knowledge and experience of others. His mark on history is exemplified by words of Winston Churchill, that Truman, “more than any other man…saved civilization.”
— John Waelti of Monroe can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears monthly in the Monroe Times.
