Harry S . Truman Harry S . Truman ( May 8 , 1884December 26 , 1972 ) was the 33rd President of the United States ( 1945 – 1953 ) . The final running mate of President Franklin D . Roosevelt in 1944 , Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12 , 1945 , when Roosevelt died after months of declining health . Under Truman , the U . S . successfully concluded World War II ; in the aftermath of the conflict , tensions with the Soviet Union increased , marking the start of the Cold War . Truman was born in Missouri , and spent most of his youth on his family ' s farm . During World War I , Truman served in combat in France as an artillery officer in his National Guard unit . After the war , he briefly owned a haberdashery and joined the Democratic Party political machine of Tom Pendergast in Kansas City , Missouri . He was first elected to public office as a county official , and in 1935 became U . S . senator . He gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee , which exposed waste , fraud , and corruption in wartime contracts . While Germany surrendered a few weeks after Truman assumed the Presidency , the war with Japan was expected to last another year or more . Truman ordered the use of atomic weapons against Japan , intending to force Japan ' s surrender and spare American lives in an invasion ; the decision remains controversial . His presidency was a turning point in foreign affairs , as the nation supported an internationalist foreign policy in conjunction with European allies . Working closely with Congress , Truman assisted in the founding of the United Nations , issued the Truman Doctrine to contain communism , and passed the $ 13 billion Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe , including the Axis Powers of both World Wars , whereas the wartime Ally Soviet Union became the peacetime enemy , and the Cold War began . He oversaw the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and the creation of NATO in 1949 . When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950 , he immediately sent in U . S . troops and gained UN approval for the Korean War . After initial success , the UN forces were thrown back by Chinese intervention and the conflict was stalemated through the final years of Truman ' s presidency . On domestic issues , bills endorsed by Truman often faced opposition from a Congress controlled by Republicans , but his administration successfully guided the American economy through a post - war recession and started the racial integration of the military . Corruption in Truman ' s administration , which was linked to certain members in the cabinet and senior White House staff , was a central issue in the 1952 presidential campaign which Adlai Stevenson , Truman ' s successor as Democratic nominee , lost to Republican Dwight D . Eisenhower . Popular and scholarly assessments of his presidency were initially negative , but eventually became more positive after his retirement from politics . Truman ' s 1948 election upset for his full term as president is routinely invoked by underdog candidates . Early life and career . Harry S . Truman was born on May 8 , 1884 , in Lamar , Missouri , the oldest child of John Anderson Truman ( 1851 – 1914 ) and Martha Ellen Young Truman ( 1852 – 1947 ) . His parents chose the name Harry after his mother ' s brother , Harrison " Harry " Young ( 1846 – 1916 ) . They chose " S " as his middle initial to please both of his grandfathers , Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young . The " S " did not stand for anything , a common practice among the Scots - Irish . A brother , John Vivian ( 1886 – 1965 ) , was born soon after Harry , followed by one sister , Mary Jane ( 1889 – 1978 ) . John Truman was a farmer and livestock dealer . The family lived in Lamar until Harry was ten months old , when they moved to a farm near Harrisonville . The family next moved to Belton , and in 1887 to his grandparents ' 600 - acre ( 240 - ha ) farm in Grandview . When Truman was six , his parents moved to Independence , so he could attend the Presbyterian Church Sunday School . Truman did not attend a traditional school until he was eight . As a boy , Truman was interested in music , reading , and history , all encouraged by his mother , with whom he was very close — as president , he solicited political as well as personal advice from her . He got up at five every morning to practice the piano , which he studied twice a week until he was fifteen . Truman was a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention at Convention Hall in Kansas City ; his father had many friends who were active in the Democratic Party and helped young Harry to gain his first political position . After graduating from Independence High School ( now William Chrisman High School ) in 1901 , Truman worked as a timekeeper on the Santa Fe Railroad , sleeping in hobo camps near the rail lines . He then worked at a series of clerical jobs , and was employed briefly in the mailroom of the " Kansas City Star . " He returned to the Grandview farm in 1906 , where he remained until entering the army in 1917 . During this period , he courted Bess Wallace and proposed to her in 1911 . She turned him down . Truman said that before he proposed again , he wanted to be earning more money than a farmer did . Truman is the most recent U . S . president to not have earned a college degree . When his high school friends went off to the state university in 1901 , Truman enrolled in Spalding ' s Commercial College , a Kansas City business school , but only remained a semester . In 1923 – 25 he took night courses towards a law degree at the Kansas City Law School ( now the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law ) , but dropped out after losing his government job . World War I . Truman had been turned down for appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point , which was his childhood dream , because of poor eyesight . He then enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard in 1905 , serving until 1911 in a Kansas City - based artillery battery . At his induction , his eyesight had been an unacceptable 20 / 50 in the right eye and 20 / 400 in the left . The second time he took the test , he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart . With the onset of American participation in World War I Truman rejoined the Guard , although as the sole male in the family he was exempt from conscription . To his surprise , the men elected Truman as an officer , making him first lieutenant of a battery . Before deployment to France , Truman was sent to Camp Doniphan , Fort Sill , near Lawton , Oklahoma , for training . He ran the camp canteen with Edward Jacobson , a clothing store clerk he knew from Kansas City ; under the two men the canteen returned $ 10 , 000 in dividends in six months . At Fort Sill Truman met Lieutenant James M . Pendergast , nephew of Thomas Joseph ( Tom ) Pendergast , a Kansas City political boss , a connection that was to have a profound influence on Truman ' s later life . Now a captain , Truman in July 1918 became battery commander in an artillery regiment in France . His new unit , Battery D , 129th Field Artillery , 60th Brigade , 35th Infantry Division , was known for its discipline problems , and Truman was initially unpopular . During a sudden attack by the Germans in the Vosges Mountains , soldiers began to flee . Using profanity that he had learned while working on the Santa Fe railroad , Truman encouraged his men to stay and fight ; they were so surprised to hear Truman use such language that they immediately obeyed . On September 26 , 1918 , at the opening of the Meuse - Argonne Offensive , Truman ' s unit joined in a massive pre - arranged assault barrage . They advanced with difficulty over pitted terrain to follow the infantry , and when they were west of Cheppy they set up an observation post . A decision by Truman to act against orders probably saved American lives . Through his binoculars on September 27 , he saw an enemy artillery battery setting up across a river so that they could target the neighboring 28th Division . Truman ' s orders limited him to targets facing the 35th Division , but he ignored this and patiently waited until the Germans had walked their horses far away from their guns before he opened fire and scattered the enemy . Truman was chewed out by his commander , Colonel Karl D . Klemm , but he was not court - martialed . In other action during the Meuse - Argonne fighting , Truman provided support for George S . Patton ' s tank brigade . On November 11 , 1918 , his artillery unit fired some of the last shots of World War I towards German positions in Hermeville before the armistice took effect at 11 am . Under Truman ' s command in France , the battery did not lose a single man , and his men presented Truman with a large loving cup after their return to the United States . The war was a transformative experience that brought out Truman ' s leadership qualities . Despite beginning 1917 as a family farmer who had been unsuccessful in several business ventures , Truman ' s war record made possible his postwar political career in Missouri . Politics . Jackson County judge . At the war ' s conclusion , Truman was mustered out as a captain ; he returned to Independence , and married Bess Wallace on June 28 , 1919 . The couple had one child , Mary Margaret ( February 17 , 1924 – January 29 , 2008 ) . Shortly before Truman ' s marriage , he and Jacobson had opened a haberdashery at 104 West 12th Street in downtown Kansas City . After brief initial success , the store went bankrupt during the recession of 1921 . Truman did not pay off the last of the debts from that venture until 1934 , when he did so with the aid of a supporter . Jacobson and Truman remained close friends , and Jacobson ' s advice to Truman on Zionism later played a role in the U . S . government ' s decision to recognize Israel . In 1922 , with the help of the Kansas City Democratic machine led by Tom Pendergast , Truman was elected a judge of the County Court of the eastern district of Jackson County — an administrative , not judicial , position similar to county commissioners elsewhere . Truman was not re - elected in 1924 , losing in a Republican wave led by President Calvin Coolidge . His two years in the political wilderness selling automobile club memberships convinced him that a public service career was safer for a man approaching middle age who had never been successful in the private sector . With the support of the Pendergast machine , Truman in 1926 was elected the presiding judge for the county court , and re - elected in 1930 . Truman helped coordinate the " Ten Year Plan " , which transformed Jackson County and the Kansas City skyline with new public works projects , including an extensive series of roads , construction of a new Wight and Wight - designed County Court building , and the dedication of a series of 12 Madonna of the Trail monuments honoring pioneer women . In 1933 , Truman was named Missouri ' s director for the Federal Re - Employment program ( part of the Civil Works Administration ) at the request of Postmaster General James Farley . This was payback to Pendergast for delivering the Kansas City vote to Franklin D . Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election . The appointment confirmed Pendergast ' s control over federal patronage jobs in Missouri and marked the zenith of his power . It also created a relationship between Truman and Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins , and assured Truman ' s avid support for the New Deal . U . S . Senator . After serving as judge , Truman wanted to run for Governor or Congress , but Pendergast rejected these ideas . Truman thought that he would serve out his career in some well - paying sinecure at the county level . Instead , after four other men turned him down , Pendergast reluctantly backed Truman as a Democratic candidate for the 1934 U . S . Senate election for Missouri . During the Democratic primary , Truman defeated two congressmen , John J . Cochran and Jacob L . Milligan , with the solid support of Jackson County , which was crucial to his candidacy , as were the contacts he had made statewide as a county official . Truman then defeated the incumbent Republican , Roscoe C . Patterson , by nearly 20 percentage points . Truman assumed office with a reputation as " the senator from Pendergast " . Though he gave patronage decisions to Pendergast , Truman always maintained he voted his conscience . He later defended the patronage decisions by saying that by offering a little to the machine , he saved a lot . In his first term as a U . S . Senator , Truman spoke out against corporate greed and the dangers of Wall Street speculators and other moneyed special interests attaining too much influence in national affairs . He was largely ignored by President Roosevelt , and had difficulty getting calls to the White House returned . In 1940 , United States Attorney Maurice Milligan and former governor Lloyd Stark challenged Truman in the Democratic primary . Truman was politically weakened by Pendergast ' s imprisonment for income tax evasion the previous year ; the senator had remained loyal , claiming that Republican judges , not the Roosevelt administration , were responsible for the boss ' s downfall . St . Louis party leader Robert E . Hannegan ' s support of Truman proved crucial ; he would later broker the deal that put Truman on the national ticket . In the end , Stark and Milligan split the anti - Pendergast vote in the Senate Democratic primary , and Truman won by 8 , 000 votes . In the November election , Truman defeated Republican Manvel H . Davis by 51 % to 49 % . Late in 1940 , Truman traveled to a number of military bases . The waste and profiteering he saw led him to use his subcommittee chairmanship in the Committee on Military Affairs to begin investigations into abuses while the nation prepared for war . A separate committee to conduct a formal investigation was set up under Truman ; the Roosevelt administration supported this plan rather than weather a more hostile probe by the House of Representatives . Chairmanship of what came to be known as the " Truman Committee " made him a national figure . Activities of the Truman Committee ranged from criticizing the " dollar - a - year men " hired by the government , many of whom proved ineffective , to investigating a shoddily built New Jersey housing project for war workers . The committee is reported to have saved as much as $ 15 billion ; its activities put Truman on the cover of " Time magazine " magazine . According to the Senate ' s historical minutes , in leading the committee , " Truman erased his earlier public image as an errand - runner for Kansas City politicos " and " no senator ever gained greater political benefits from chairing a special investigating committee than did Missouri ' s Harry S . Truman . " Vice presidency . Vice President Henry Wallace , though popular among Democratic voters , was viewed as too far to the left and too friendly to labor for some of Roosevelt ' s advisers . Knowing that Roosevelt might not live out a fourth term , both the President and several of his confidantes moved to replace Wallace . Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Frank C . Walker , incoming chairman Hannegan , party treasurer Edwin W . Pauley , strategist Ed Flynn , Chicago Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly and lobbyist George E . Allen all wanted to keep Wallace off the ticket . Roosevelt told party leaders he would accept either Truman or Supreme Court Justice William O . Douglas . State and city party leaders strongly preferred Truman , and Roosevelt agreed . Truman himself did not campaign for the Vice - Presidential spot though he welcomed the attention as evidence that he had become more than the " Senator from Pendergast " . Truman ' s nomination , dubbed the " Second Missouri Compromise " , was well received , and the Roosevelt – Truman ticket went on to a 432 – 99 electoral - vote victory in the election , defeating Governor Thomas E . Dewey of New York and Governor John Bricker of Ohio . Truman was sworn in as vice president on January 20 , 1945 . Truman ' s brief vice - presidency was relatively uneventful . Roosevelt rarely contacted him , even to inform him of major decisions ; the President and Vice President met alone together only twice during their time together in office . In one of his first acts as vice president , Truman created some controversy when he attended the disgraced Pendergast ' s funeral . He brushed the criticism aside , saying simply , " He was always my friend and I have always been his . " He had rarely discussed world affairs or domestic politics with Roosevelt and was uninformed about major initiatives relating to the war and the top - secret Manhattan Project , which was about to test the world ' s first atomic bomb . Truman had been vice president for only 82 days when President Roosevelt died on April 12 , 1945 . That afternoon , Truman presided over the Senate as usual . He had just adjourned the session for the day and was preparing to have a drink in House Speaker Sam Rayburn ' s office when he received an urgent message to go immediately to the White House . Truman assumed that President Roosevelt wanted to meet with him , but Eleanor Roosevelt informed him that her husband had died after suffering a massive cerebral hemorrhage . Truman ' s first concern was for Mrs . Roosevelt . He asked if there was anything he could do for her , to which she replied , " Is there anything we can do for you ? You are the one in trouble now ! " Presidency 1945 – 1953 . First term ( 1945 – 1949 ) . Assuming office ; atomic bomb . Shortly after taking the oath of office , Truman said to reporters : Upon assuming the presidency , Truman asked all the members of FDR ' s cabinet to remain in place , and told them that he was open to their advice , but laid down a central principle of his administration : he would be the one making decisions , and they were to support him . Although Truman was told briefly on the afternoon of April 12 that the Allies had a new , highly destructive weapon , it was not until April 25 that Secretary of War Henry Stimson told him the details . Truman benefitted from a honeymoon period in the aftermath of Roosevelt ' s death , and from the Allies ' success in Europe , wrapping up the war there . Truman was pleased to be able to issue the proclamation of V - E Day on May 8 , 1945 , his 61st birthday . In the wake of Allied victory , Truman journeyed to Europe for the Potsdam Conference , and he was there when he learned that the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb on July 16 had been successful . He hinted to Joseph Stalin that the U . S . was about to use a new kind of weapon against the Japanese . Though this was the first time the Soviets had been officially given information about the atomic bomb , Stalin was already aware of the bomb project , having learned about it ( through espionage ) long before Truman himself did . In August , after the Imperial government refused surrender demands , Truman authorized the atomic bombing of Japan . Although it was not known how devastating the explosions and the aftermath would be , Truman , like most Americans , was not inclined to be merciful towards the Japanese in the wake of the long years of war . Truman always stated that his decision to bomb Japan saved life on both sides ; military estimates for an invasion of the Japanese home islands were that it could take a year and result in 250 , 000 to 500 , 000 American casualties . He also knew that the program could cost $ 2 billion , and so he was not inclined to forgo an alternative that might quickly end the war . Hiroshima was bombed on August 6 and Nagasaki on the 9th . When the Japanese were still slow to surrender , Truman ordered a massive conventional air raid on Tokyo for August 13 ; Japan agreed to surrender the following day . Supporters of Truman ' s decision argue that , given the tenacious Japanese defense of the outlying islands , the bombings saved hundreds of thousands of lives that would have been lost invading mainland Japan . In 1954 , Eleanor Roosevelt said that Truman had " made the only decision he could , " and that the bomb ' s use was necessary " to avoid tremendous sacrifice of American lives . " Others have argued that the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary and inherently immoral . Truman wrote , later in life , that , " I knew what I was doing when I stopped the war . . . I have no regrets and , under the same circumstances , I would do it again . " Strikes and economic upheaval . The end of World War II was followed by an uneasy transition from war to a peacetime economy . The costs of the war effort were enormous , and Truman was intent on decreasing government expenditures on the military as quickly as possible . Demobilizing the military and reducing the size of the various services was a cost - saving priority . The effect of demobilization on the economy was unknown , but fears existed that the nation would slide back into a depression . A great deal of work had to be done to plan how best to transition to peacetime production of goods while avoiding mass unemployment for returning veterans . There was no consensus among government officials as to what economic course the postwar U . S . should steer . In addition , Roosevelt had not paid attention to Congress in his final years , and Truman faced a body where a combination of Republicans and conservative southern Democrats formed a powerful voting bloc . The president was faced with the reawakening of labor - management conflicts that had lain dormant during the war years , severe shortages in housing and consumer products , and widespread dissatisfaction with inflation , which at one point hit 6 % in a single month . Added to this polarized environment was a wave of destabilizing strikes in major industries , and Truman ' s response to them was generally seen as ineffective . A rapid increase in costs was fueled by the release of price controls on most items , and labor sought wage increases . A serious steel strike in January 1946 involving 800 , 000 workers — the largest in the nation ' s history — was followed by a coal strike in April and a rail strike in May . The public was angry , with a majority in polls favoring a ban on strikes by public service workers and a year ' s moratorium on labor actions . Truman proposed legislation to draft striking workers into the Armed Forces , and in a dramatic personal appearance before Congress , was able to announce settlement of the rail strike . His proposal passed the House of Representatives , but failed in the Senate . For commodities where price controls remained , producers were often unwilling to sell at artificially low prices : Farmers refused to sell grain for months in 1945 and 1946 until payments were significantly increased , even though grain was desperately needed , not only for domestic use , but to stave off starvation in Europe . Although labor strife was muted after the settlement of the railway strike , it continued through Truman ' s presidency . The President ' s approval rating dropped from 82 % in the polls in January 1946 to 52 % by June . This dissatisfaction with the Truman administration ' s policies led to large Democratic losses in the 1946 midterm elections , when Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since 1930 . The 80th Congress included Republican freshmen who would become prominent in the years to come , including Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy and California Congressman Richard Nixon . When Truman dropped to 32 % in the polls , Democratic Arkansas Senator William Fulbright suggested that Truman resign ; the President in response indicated that he did not care what Senator " Halfbright " said . Truman cooperated closely with the Republican leaders on foreign policy , though he fought them bitterly on domestic issues . The power of the labor unions was significantly curtailed by the Taft – Hartley Act , which was enacted over Truman ' s veto . Truman twice vetoed bills to lower income tax rates in 1947 . Although the initial vetoes were sustained , Congress overrode his veto of a tax cut bill in 1948 . The parties did cooperate on some issues ; Congress passed the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 , making the Speaker of the House rather than the Secretary of State next in line to the presidency after the vice president . As he readied for the 1948 election , Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the New Deal tradition , advocating national health insurance , the repeal of the Taft – Hartley Act , and an aggressive civil rights program . Taken together , it all constituted a broad legislative agenda that came to be called the " Fair Deal . " Truman ' s proposals were not well received by Congress , even with renewed Democratic majorities in Congress after 1948 . Only one of the major Fair Deal bills , the Housing Act of 1949 , was ever enacted . On the other hand , the major New Deal programs still in operation were not repealed , and there were minor improvements and extensions in many of them . Marshall Plan , creation of United Nations , start of Cold War . As a Wilsonian internationalist , Truman strongly supported creation of the United Nations , and included Eleanor Roosevelt on the delegation to the UN ' s first General Assembly . With the Soviet Union expanding its sphere of influence through Eastern Europe , Truman and his foreign policy advisors took a hard line against the USSR . In this , he matched American public opinion , which quickly came to view the Soviets as intent upon world domination . Although he claimed no personal expertise on foreign matters , Truman won bipartisan support for both the Truman Doctrine , which formalized a policy of Soviet containment , and the Marshall Plan , which aimed to help rebuild postwar Europe . To get Congress to spend the vast sums necessary to restart the moribund European economy , Truman used an ideological argument , arguing that Communism flourishes in economically deprived areas . As part of the U . S . Cold War strategy , Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 and reorganized military forces by merging the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment ( later the Department of Defense ) and creating the U . S . Air Force . The act also created the CIA and the National Security Council . Berlin airlift . On June 24 , 1948 , the Soviet Union blocked access to the three Western - held sectors of Berlin . The Allies had never negotiated a deal to guarantee supply of the sectors deep within the Soviet - occupied zone . The commander of the American occupation zone in Germany , General Lucius D . Clay , proposed sending a large armored column across the Soviet zone to West Berlin with instructions to defend itself if it were stopped or attacked . Truman believed this would entail an unacceptable risk of war . He approved a plan to supply the blockaded city by air . On June 25 , the Allies initiated the Berlin Airlift , a campaign that delivered food and other supplies , such as coal , using military aircraft on a massive scale . Nothing like it had ever been attempted before , and no single nation had the capability , either logistically or materially , to have accomplished it . The airlift worked ; ground access was again granted on May 11 , 1949 . Nevertheless , the airlift continued for several months after that . The Berlin Airlift was one of Truman ' s great foreign policy successes ; it significantly aided his election campaign in 1948 . Recognition of Israel . Truman had long taken an interest in the history of the Middle East , and had read many books on ancient history and the events related in the Bible . He was sympathetic to those who sought a Jewish homeland in Mandatory Palestine . As a senator , he had assured Jewish leaders of his support for Zionism , and at a 1943 rally in Chicago had called for a homeland for those Jews who survived the Nazi regime . A Jewish homeland in Palestine was widely popular in the United States , and Jewish support could be key in the upcoming presidential election . However , State Department officials were reluctant to offend the Arabs , who were opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state in their midst . Secretary of Defense James Forrestal warned Truman of the importance of Saudi Arabian oil in another war ; Truman replied that he would decide his policy on the basis of justice , not oil . Furthermore , when diplomats were called home from the Middle East to advise Truman and promoted the Arab point of view , Truman told them he had few Arabs among his constituents . American policy makers in 1947 – 48 agreed that the highest foreign policy objective was containment of Soviet expansion as the Cold War unfolded . From the perspective of many officials , Palestine was secondary to the goal of protecting the " Northern Tier " of Greece , Turkey , and Iran from Communism , as promised by the Truman Doctrine . Truman was weary of both the convoluted politics of the Middle East and of the urgings of Jewish leaders through his term in office , and was undecided on his policy . He later cited as decisive in his decision to recognize the Jewish state the advice of his old business partner , Eddie Jacobson , a non - religious Jew whom Truman absolutely trusted . Truman made the decision to recognize Israel over the objections of Secretary of State George Marshall , who feared it would hurt relations with the Arab states . Marshall believed the paramount threat to the U . S . was the Soviet Union and feared that Arab oil would be lost to the United States in the event of war ; he warned Truman that U . S . was " playing with fire with nothing to put it out " . Truman recognized the State of Israel on May 14 , 1948 , eleven minutes after it declared itself a nation . Truman later wrote : 1948 election . The 1948 presidential election is remembered for Truman ' s stunning come - from - behind victory . In the spring of 1948 , Truman ' s public approval rating stood at 36 % , and the president was nearly universally regarded as incapable of winning the general election . The " New Deal " operatives within the party — including FDR ' s son James — tried to swing the Democratic nomination to General Dwight D . Eisenhower , a highly popular figure whose political views and party affiliation were totally unknown . Eisenhower emphatically refused to accept , and Truman outflanked opponents to his nomination . At the 1948 Democratic National Convention , Truman attempted to unify the party by placing a vague civil rights plank in the party platform ; the aim was to assuage the internal conflicts between the northern and southern wings of his party . Events overtook the president ' s efforts at compromise , however . A sharp address given by Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis — as well as the local political interests of a number of urban bosses — convinced the Convention to adopt a stronger civil rights plank , which Truman approved wholeheartedly , but all of Alabama ' s delegates , and a portion of Mississippi ' s , walked out of the convention in protest . Unfazed , Truman delivered an aggressive acceptance speech attacking the 80th Congress , which Truman called the " Do Nothing Congress " , and promising to win the election and " make these Republicans like it . " Within two weeks of the convention , Truman issued Executive Order 9981 , racially integrating the U . S . Armed Services . Truman took considerable political risk in backing civil rights , and many seasoned Democrats were concerned that the loss of Dixiecrat support might destroy the Democratic Party . The fear seemed well justified — South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond declared his candidacy for the presidency on a Dixiecrat ticket and led a full - scale revolt of Southern " states ' rights " proponents . This rebellion on the right was matched by one on the left , led by Wallace on the Progressive Party ticket . Immediately after its first post - FDR convention , the Democratic Party found itself disintegrating . Victory in November seemed a remote possibility , with the party not simply split but divided three ways . For his running mate , Truman accepted Kentucky Senator Alben W . Barkley , though he really wanted Justice Douglas , who turned down the nomination . The campaign was a remarkable presidential odyssey . In a personal appeal to the nation , Truman crisscrossed the U . S . by train ; his " whistle stop " speeches from the rear platform of the observation car " Ferdinand Magellan " came to represent his campaign . His combative appearances , such as those at the town square of Harrisburg , Illinois , captured the popular imagination and drew huge crowds . Six stops in Michigan drew a combined half - million people ; a full million turned out for a New York City ticker - tape parade . The large , mostly spontaneous gatherings at Truman ' s railcar events were an important sign of a change in momentum in the campaign , but this shift went virtually unnoticed by the national press corps , which continued reporting Republican Thomas Dewey ' s apparent impending victory as a certainty . One reason for the press ' inaccurate projection was polls conducted primarily by telephone in a time when many people , including much of Truman ' s populist base , did not own a telephone . This skewed the data to indicate a stronger support base for Dewey than existed , resulting in an unintended and undetected projection error that may have contributed to the perception of Truman ' s bleak chances . The three major polling organizations also stopped polling well before the November 2 election date — Roper in September , and Crossley and Gallup in October — thus failing to measure the period when Truman appears to have surged past Dewey . In the end , Truman held his progressive Midwestern base , won most of the Southern states despite the civil rights plank , and squeaked through with narrow victories in a few critical states , notably Ohio , California , and Illinois . The final tally showed that the president had secured 303 electoral votes , Dewey 189 , and Thurmond only 39 . Henry Wallace got none . The defining image of the campaign came after Election Day , when an ecstatic Truman held aloft the erroneous front page of the " Chicago Tribune " with a huge headline proclaiming " Dewey Defeats Truman . " Second term ( 1949 – 1953 ) . Truman ' s inauguration was the first ever televised nationally . His second term was grueling , primarily because of foreign policy challenges connected directly or indirectly to his policy of containment . He quickly had to come to terms with the end of the American nuclear monopoly ; with information provided by its espionage networks in the U . S . , the Soviet Union ' s atomic bomb project progressed much faster than had been expected and they exploded their first bomb on August 29 , 1949 . In response , on January 7 , 1953 , Truman announced the detonation of the first U . S . hydrogen bomb . Korean War . On June 25 , 1950 , Kim Il - sung ' s North Korean People ' s Army invaded South Korea , starting the Korean War . In the early weeks of the war , the North Koreans easily pushed back their southern counterparts . Truman called for a naval blockade of Korea , only to learn that due to budget cutbacks , the U . S . Navy could not enforce such a measure . Truman promptly urged the United Nations to intervene ; it did , authorizing troops under the UN flag led by U . S . General Douglas MacArthur . Truman decided that he did not need formal authorization from Congress , believing that most legislators supported his position ; this would come back to haunt him later , when the stalemated conflict was dubbed " Mr . Truman ' s War " by legislators . However , on July 3 , 1950 , Truman did give Senate Majority Leader Scott W . Lucas a draft resolution titled " Joint Resolution Expressing Approval of the Action Taken in Korea " . Lucas said Congress supported the use of force , that the formal resolution would pass but was unnecessary , and that the consensus in Congress was to acquiesce . Truman responded that he did not want " to appear to be trying to get around Congress and use extra - Constitutional powers , " and Truman added that it was " up to Congress whether such a resolution should be introduced . " By August 1950 , U . S . troops pouring into South Korea under UN auspices were able to stabilize the situation . Responding to criticism over readiness , Truman fired his Secretary of Defense , Louis A . Johnson , replacing him with the retired General Marshall . With UN approval , Truman decided on a " rollback " policy — conquest of North Korea . UN forces led by General MacArthur led the counterattack , scoring a stunning surprise victory with an amphibious landing at the Battle of Inchon that nearly trapped the invaders . UN forces then marched north , towards the Yalu River boundary with China , with the goal of reuniting Korea under UN auspices . However , China surprised the UN forces with a large - scale invasion in November . The UN forces were forced back to below the 38th parallel , then recovered . By early 1951 the war became a fierce stalemate at about the 38th parallel where it had begun . Truman rejected MacArthur ' s request to attack Chinese supply bases north of the Yalu , but MacArthur nonetheless promoted his plan to Republican House leader Joseph Martin , who leaked it to the press . Truman was gravely concerned that further escalation of the war might lead to open conflict with the Soviet Union , which was already supplying weapons and providing warplanes ( with Korean markings and Soviet fliers ) . Therefore , on April 11 , 1951 , Truman fired MacArthur from his commands . The dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur was among the least politically popular decisions in presidential history . Truman ' s approval ratings plummeted , and he faced calls for his impeachment from , among others , Senator Robert Taft . Fierce criticism from virtually all quarters accused Truman of refusing to shoulder the blame for a war gone sour and blaming his generals instead . Others , including Eleanor Roosevelt , supported and applauded Truman ' s decision . MacArthur meanwhile , returned to the U . S . to a hero ' s welcome , and addressed a joint session of Congress , a speech which the President called " a bunch of damn bullshit . " The war remained a frustrating stalemate for two years , with over 30 , 000 Americans killed , until an armistice ended the fighting in 1953 . In February 1952 , Truman ' s approval mark stood at 22 % according to Gallup polls , which was , until George W . Bush in 2008 , the all - time lowest approval mark for an active American president . Worldwide defense . The escalation of the Cold War was highlighted by Truman ' s approval of NSC - 68 , a secret statement of foreign policy . It called for tripling the defense budget , and the globalization and militarization of containment policy whereby the U . S . and its NATO allies would respond militarily to actual Soviet expansion . The document was drafted by Paul Nitze , who consulted State and Defense officials ; it was formally approved by President Truman as official national strategy after the war began in Korea . It called for partial mobilization of the U . S . economy to build armaments faster than the Soviets . The plan called for strengthening Europe , weakening the Soviet Union , and for building up the U . S . both militarily and economically . One tragedy , early in Truman ' s second term , came with the death of Secretary of Defense Forrestal , soon after his retirement . Forrestal had burned himself out through years of hard labor during and after the war , and began to suffer mental issues . He retired in March 1949 ; soon after , he was hospitalized and committed suicide in May . Truman was a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , which established a formal peacetime military alliance with Canada and many of the democratic European nations that had not fallen under Soviet control following World War II . The treaty establishing it was widely popular and easily passed the Senate in 1949 ; Truman appointed General Eisenhower as commander . NATO ' s goals were to contain Soviet expansion in Europe and to send a clear message to communist leaders that the world ' s democracies were willing and able to build new security structures in support of democratic ideals . The U . S . , Britain , France , Italy , the Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg , Norway , Denmark , Portugal , Iceland , and Canada were the original treaty signatories . The alliance resulted in the Soviets establishing a similar alliance , called the Warsaw Pact . General Marshall was Truman ' s principal adviser on foreign policy matters , influencing such decisions as the U . S . choice not to offer direct military aid to Chiang Kai - shek and his Nationalist Chinese forces in the Chinese Civil War against their communist opponents . Marshall ' s opinion was contrary to the counsel of almost all of Truman ' s other advisers — he saw that even propping up Chaing ' s forces would drain U . S . resources in Europe needed to deter the Soviets . When the communists took control of the mainland , driving the Nationalists to Taiwan and establishing the People ' s Republic of China , Truman would have been willing to maintain some relationship between the U . S . and the new government , but Mao was unwilling . In June 1950 , Truman ordered the U . S . Navy ' s Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent further conflict between the communist government on the China mainland and the Republic of China ( ROC ) on Taiwan . Soviet espionage and McCarthyism . In August 1948 , Whittaker Chambers , a former spy for the Soviets and a senior editor at " Time " magazine , testified before the House Un - American Activities Committee ( HUAC ) stating that an underground communist network had been working within the U . S . government since the 1930s , of which Chambers had been a member , along with Alger Hiss , until recently a senior State Department official . Although Hiss denied the allegations , he was convicted in January 1950 for perjury for his denials under oath . The Soviet Union ' s success in exploding an atomic weapon in 1949 and the fall of the nationalist Chinese the same year led many Americans to conclude that subversion by Soviet spies was responsible , and to demand that communists be rooted out from the government and other places of influence . Following Hiss ' s conviction , Secretary of State Dean Acheson announced that he stood by him . This and other events , such as the revelation that British atomic bomb scientist Klaus Fuchs was a spy , led current and former members of HUAC , including Congressman Nixon of California and Karl Mundt of South Dakota to decry Truman and his administration , especially the State Department , as soft on communism . Wisconsin Senator McCarthy used a Lincoln Day speech in Wheeling , West Virginia to accuse the State Department of harboring communists , and rode the controversy to political fame . In the following years , Republicans used Hiss ' conviction to castigate the Democrats for harboring communists in government ; Congressman Nixon gained election to the Senate in 1950 on an anti - communist platform , defeating the liberal Helen Gahagan Douglas , whom he called " the Pink Lady " . Charges that Soviet agents had infiltrated the government were believed by 78 % of the people in 1946 , and became a major campaign issue for Eisenhower in 1952 . Truman tried to steer a middle course , both seeking to show that he was concerned with internal security , but fearing that innocents would be harmed and government activities disrupted . In 1949 he called American communist leaders , whom his administration was prosecuting , " traitors " , but in 1950 he vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Act , though it was passed over his veto . Truman would later state in private conversations with friends that his creation of a loyalty program had been a " terrible " mistake . White House renovations ; assassination attempt . In 1948 , Truman ordered a controversial addition to the exterior of the White House : a second - floor balcony in the south portico that came to be known as the " Truman Balcony . " The addition was unpopular ; some stated it spoiled the appearance of the south facade , but it gave the First Family more living space . The work uncovered structural faults which led engineering experts to conclude that the building , much of it over 130 years old , was in a dangerously dilapidated condition . That August , a section of floor collapsed and Truman ' s own bedroom and bathroom were closed as unsafe . No public announcement about the serious structural problems of the White House was made until after the 1948 election had been won , by which time Truman had been informed that his new balcony was the only part of the building that was sound . As a result , the Truman family moved into nearby Blair House . As the newer West Wing , including the Oval Office , remained open , Truman found himself walking to work across the street each morning and afternoon . In due course , the decision was made to demolish and rebuild the whole interior of the main White House , as well as excavate new basement levels and underpin the foundations . The famous exterior of the structure , however , was buttressed and retained while the renovations proceeded inside . The work lasted from December 1949 until March 1952 . On November 1 , 1950 , Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate Truman at Blair House . The attack , which could easily have taken the president ' s life , drew new attention to security concerns surrounding Truman ' s residence at Blair House . He had jumped up from a nap , and was watching the gunfight from his open bedroom window until a passerby shouted at him to take cover . On the street outside the residence , Torresola mortally wounded a White House policeman , Leslie Coffelt . Before he died , the officer shot and killed Torresola . Collazo , as a co - conspirator in a felony that turned into a homicide , was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in 1952 . Truman later commuted his sentence to life in prison . Acknowledging the importance of the question of Puerto Rican independence , Truman allowed a plebiscite in Puerto Rico in 1952 to determine the status of its relationship to the U . S . Nearly 82 % of the people voted in favor of a new constitution for the " Estado Libre Associado . Steel and coal strikes . In response to a labor / management impasse arising from bitter disagreements over wage and price controls , Truman instructed his Secretary of Commerce , Charles W . Sawyer , to take control of a number of the nation ' s steel mills in April 1952 . Truman cited his authority as Commander in Chief and the need to maintain an uninterrupted supply of steel for munitions to be used in the war in Korea . The Supreme Court found Truman ' s actions unconstitutional , however , and reversed the order in a major separation - of - powers decision , " Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co . v . Sawyer " . The 6 – 3 decision , which held that Truman ' s assertion of authority was too vague and was not rooted in any legislative action by Congress , was delivered by a Court composed entirely of Justices appointed by either Truman or Roosevelt . The high court ' s reversal of Truman ' s order was one of the notable defeats of his presidency . Scandals and controversies . In 1950 , the Senate , led by Estes Kefauver , investigated numerous charges of corruption among senior administration officials , some of whom received fur coat s and deep freezers in exchange for favors . A large number of employees of the Internal Revenue Bureau ( today the IRS ) were accepting bribes ; 166 employees either resigned or were fired in 1950 , with many soon facing indictment . When Attorney General J . Howard McGrath fired the special prosecutor in early 1952 for being too zealous , Truman fired McGrath . Truman submitted a reorganization plan to reform the IRB ; Congress passed it , but the corruption was a major issue in the 1952 presidential election . On December 6 , 1950 , music critic Paul Hume wrote a critical review of a concert by Margaret Truman : Harry Truman wrote a scathing response : Truman was criticized by many for the letter . However , he pointed out that he wrote it as a loving father and not as the president . Civil rights . A 1947 report by the Truman administration titled " To Secure These Rights " presented a detailed ten - point agenda of civil rights reforms . In February 1948 , the president submitted a civil rights agenda to Congress that proposed creating several federal offices devoted to issues such as voting rights and fair employment practices . This provoked a storm of criticism from Southern Democrats in the runup to the national nominating convention , but Truman refused to compromise , saying : " My forebears were Confederates . . . but my very stomach turned over when I had learned that Negro soldiers , just back from overseas , were being dumped out of Army trucks in Mississippi and beaten . " Tales of the abuse , violence , and persecution suffered by many African American veterans upon their return from World War II infuriated Truman , and were a major factor in his decision to issue Executive Order 9981 , in July 1948 , desegregating and requiring equal opportunity in the Armed Forces . After several years of planning , recommendations and revisions between Truman , the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity and the various branches of the military , Army units became racially integrated . Another executive order , also in 1948 , made it illegal to discriminate against persons applying for civil service positions based on race . A third , in 1951 , established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance ( CGCC ) . This committee ensured that defense contractors did not discriminate because of race . Administration and cabinet . All of the cabinet members when Truman became president in 1945 had been appointed by Franklin D . Roosevelt . Judicial appointments . Supreme Court . Truman appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court : Truman ' s judicial appointments have been called by critics " inexcusable . " A former Truman aide confided that it was the weakest aspect of Truman ' s presidency . The " New York Times " condemned the appointments of Tom C . Clark and Sherman Minton in particular as examples of cronyism and favoritism for unqualified candidates . The four justices appointed by Truman joined with Justices Felix Frankfurter , Robert H . Jackson , and Stanley Reed to create a substantial seven - member conservative bloc on the Supreme Court . This returned the court for a time to the conservatism of the 1920s . Other courts . In addition to his four Supreme Court appointments , Truman appointed 27 judges to the Courts of Appeals , and 101 judges to federal district courts . 1952 election . In 1951 , the U . S . ratified the 22nd Amendment , making a president ineligible for election to a third term or for election to a second full term after serving more than two remaining years of a term of a previously elected president . The latter clause would have applied to Truman ' s situation in 1952 except that a grandfather clause in the amendment explicitly excluded the amendment from applying to the incumbent president . At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary , no candidate had won Truman ' s backing . His first choice , Chief Justice Fred M . Vinson , had declined to run ; Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson had also turned Truman down , Vice President Barkley was considered too old , and Truman distrusted and disliked Senator Kefauver , who had made a name for himself by his investigations of the Truman administration scandals . Truman had hoped to recruit General Eisenhower as a Democratic candidate , but found him more interested in seeking the Republican nomination . Accordingly , Truman let his name be entered in the New Hampshire primary by supporters . The highly unpopular Truman was handily defeated by Kefauver ; 18 days later the president announced he would not seek a second full term . Truman was eventually able to persuade Stevenson to run , and the governor gained the nomination at the 1952 Democratic National Convention . Eisenhower gained the Republican nomination , with Senator Nixon as his running mate , and campaigned against what he denounced as Truman ' s failures : " Korea , Communism and Corruption " . He pledged to clean up the " mess in Washington , " and promised to " go to Korea . " Eisenhower defeated Stevenson decisively in the general election , ending 20 years of Democratic presidents . While Truman and Eisenhower had previously been good friends , Truman felt betrayed that Eisenhower did not denounce Joseph McCarthy during the campaign . Similarly , Eisenhower was outraged when Truman , who made a whistlestop tour in support of Stevenson , accused the former general of disregarding " sinister forces . . . Anti - Semitism , anti - Catholicism , and anti - foreignism " within the Republican Party . Eisenhower was so outraged he threatened not to make the customary ride down Pennsylvania Avenue with the departing president before the inauguration , but to meet Truman at the steps to the Capitol , where the swearing - in takes place . Post - presidency . Upon leaving the presidency , Truman returned to Independence , Missouri , to live at the Wallace home he and Bess had shared for years with her mother . Once out of office , Truman quickly decided that he did not wish to be on any corporate payroll , believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the nation ' s highest office . He also turned down numerous offers for commercial endorsements . Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful , he had no personal savings . As a result , he faced financial challenges . Once Truman left the White House , his only income was his old army pension : $ 112 . 56 per month . Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package ; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support . In 1953 , however , there was no such benefit package for former presidents , and he received no pension for his Senate service . Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office , and then set about establishing another precedent for future former chief executives : a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office . Ulysses S . Grant had overcome similar financial issues with his own memoirs , but the book had been published posthumously , and he had declined to write about life in the White House in any detail . For the memoirs , Truman received only a flat payment of $ 670 , 000 , and had to pay two - thirds of that in tax ; he calculated he got $ 37 , 000 after he paid his assistants . However , the memoirs were a commercial and critical success ; they were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956 by Doubleday ( Garden City , N . Y ) and Hodder & Stoughton ( London ) : " Memoirs by Harry S . Truman : Year of Decisions " and " Memoirs by Harry S . Truman : Years of Trial and Hope " . The former president was quoted in 1957 as saying to then - House Majority Leader John McCormack , " Had it not been for the fact that I was able to sell some property that my brother , sister , and I inherited from our mother , I would practically be on relief , but with the sale of that property I am not financially embarrassed . " The following year , Congress passed the Former Presidents Act , offering a $ 25 , 000 yearly pension to each former president , and it is likely that Truman ' s financial status played a role in the law ' s enactment . The one other living former president at the time , Herbert Hoover , also took the pension , even though he did not need the money ; reportedly , he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman . Truman ' s predecessor , Franklin D . Roosevelt , had organized his own presidential library , but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar had not been enacted . Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library , which he donated to the federal government to maintain and operate — a practice adopted by his successors . He testified before Congress to have money appropriated to have presidential papers copied and organized , and was proud of the bill ' s passage in 1957 . Max Skidmore , in his book on the life of former presidents , noted that Truman was a well - read man , especially in history . Skidmore added that the presidential papers legislation and the founding of his library " was the culmination of his interest in history . Together they constitute an enormous contribution to the United States — one of the greatest of any former president . " Truman supported Adlai Stevenson ' s second bid for the White House in 1956 , although he had initially favored Democratic Governor W . Averell Harriman of New York . He continued to campaign for Democratic senatorial candidates for many years . Upon turning 80 in 1964 , Truman was feted in Washington , and addressed the Senate , availing himself of a new rule that allowed former presidents to be granted privilege of the floor . After a fall in his home in late 1964 , his physical condition declined . In 1965 , President Lyndon B . Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S . Truman Library & Museum and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor the former president ' s fight for government health care while in office . Death . On December 5 , 1972 , Truman was admitted to Kansas City ' s Research Hospital and Medical Center with lung congestion from pneumonia . He developed multiple organ failure and died at 7 : 50 am on December 26 at the age of 88 . Bess Truman opted for a simple private service at the library for her husband rather than a state funeral in Washington . A week after the funeral , foreign dignitaries and Washington officials attended a memorial service at Washington National Cathedral . Bess died in 1982 ; they both are buried at the Harry S . Truman Library & Museum in Independence . Tributes and legacy . Legacy . Citing continuing divisions within the Democratic Party , the ongoing Cold War , and the boom and bust cycle , an American Political Science Association prize - winning 1952 book stated that " after seven years of Truman ' s hectic , even furious , activity the nation seemed to be about on the same general spot as when he first came to office . . . Nowhere in the whole Truman record can one point to a single , decisive break - through . . . All his skills and energies — and he was among our hardest - working Presidents — were directed to standing still " . When he left office in 1953 , Truman was one of the most unpopular chief executives in history . His job approval rating of 22 % in the Gallup Poll of February 1952 was lower than Richard Nixon ' s 24 % in August 1974 , the month that Nixon resigned . American public feeling towards Truman grew steadily warmer with the passing years ; as early as 1962 , a poll of 75 historians conducted by Arthur M . Schlesinger , Sr . ranked Truman among the " near great " presidents . The period following his death consolidated a partial rehabilitation of his legacy among both historians and members of the public . Truman died when the nation was consumed with crises in Vietnam and Watergate , and his death brought a new wave of attention to his political career . In the early and mid - 1970s , Truman captured the popular imagination much as he had in 1948 , this time emerging as a kind of political folk hero , a president who was thought to exemplify an integrity and accountability many observers felt was lacking in the Nixon White House . This public reassessment of Truman was aided by the popularity of a book of reminiscences which Truman had told to journalist Merle Miller beginning in 1961 , with the agreement that they would not be published until after Truman ' s death . Truman had his latter - day critics as well . After a review of information available to Truman about the presence of espionage activities in the U . S . government , Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan concluded that Truman was " almost willfully obtuse " concerning the danger of American communism . In 2010 , historian Alonzo Hamby concluded that " Harry Truman remains a controversial president . " However , since leaving office , Truman has fared well in polls ranking the presidents . He has never been listed lower than ninth , and most recently was fifth in a " C - SPAN " poll in 2009 . The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused Truman advocates to claim vindication for Truman ' s decisions in the postwar period . According to Truman biographer Robert Dallek , " His contribution to victory in the cold war without a devastating nuclear conflict elevated him to the stature of a great or near - great president . " The 1992 publication of David McCollough ' s favorable biography of Truman further cemented the view of Truman as a highly regarded Chief Executive . According to historian Daniel R . McCoy in his book on the Truman presidency , Sites and honors . In 1956 , Truman traveled to Europe with his wife . In Britain , he received an honorary degree in Civic Law from Oxford University and met with Winston Churchill . In 1959 , he was given a 50 - year award by the Masons , recognizing his longstanding involvement : he was initiated on February 9 , 1909 into the Belton Freemasonry Lodge in Missouri . In 1911 , he helped establish the Grandview Lodge , and he served as its first Worshipful Master . In September 1940 , during his Senate re - election campaign , Truman was elected Grand Master of the Missouri Grand Lodge of Freemasonry ; Truman said later that the Masonic election assured his victory in the general election . In 1945 , he was made a 33° Sovereign Grand Inspector General and an Honorary Member of the supreme council at the Supreme Council A . A . S . R . Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters in Washington D . C . Truman was also a member of Sons of the American Revolution ( SAR ) and a card - carrying member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans . Two of his relatives were Confederate soldiers . In 1975 , the Truman Scholarship was created as a federal program to honor U . S . college students who exemplified dedication to public service and leadership in public policy . In 2004 , the President Harry S . Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering was created as a distinguished postdoctoral three - year appointment at Sandia National Laboratories . In 2001 , the University of Missouri established the Harry S . Truman School of Public Affairs to advance the study and practice of governance . The University of Missouri ' s Missouri Tigers athletic programs have an official mascot named Truman the Tiger . On July 1 , 1996 , Northeast Missouri State University became Truman State University — to mark its transformation from a teachers ' college to a highly selective liberal arts university and to honor the only Missourian to become president . A member institution of the City Colleges of Chicago , Harry S Truman College in Chicago , Illinois , is named in his honor for his dedication to public colleges and universities . In 2000 , the headquarters for the State Department , built in the 1930s but never officially named , was dedicated as the Harry S Truman Building . Despite Truman ' s attempt to curtail the naval carrier arm , which led to the 1949 Revolt of the Admirals , an aircraft carrier is named after him . The was christened on September 7 , 1996 . The 129th Field Artillery Regiment is designated " Truman ' s Own " in recognition of Truman ' s service as commander of its D Battery during World War I . In 1984 , Truman was posthumously awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal . In 1991 , he was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians , and a bronze bust depicting him is on permanent display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol . In 2006 , Thomas Daniel , grandson of the Trumans , accepted a star on the Missouri Walk of Fame to honor his late grandfather . In 2007 , John Truman , a nephew , accepted a star for Bess Truman . The Walk of Fame is in Marshfield , Missouri , a city Truman visited in 1948 . Other sites associated with Truman include : Bibliography . " Books " " Journals " " Time " " The Washington Post " " New York Times " " Harry S . Truman Library & Museum " " Online sources "