Harry Truman was the 33rd President of the
United States from about the end of World War 2 and from the beginning of the
Cold War in 1945 until he retired in January, 1952.
Harry Truman was born in 1884, in Missouri. In April 1945 Truman assumed office
as the President on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
From the 16th of July to the 2nd of August the Potsdam conference was held in
Potsdam, Berlin. Truman and Stalin and Churchill attended the conference until
Churchill was beaten in an election by Atlee and replaced. Truman was worried
about this encounter with Stalin as he was not very well informed on him, as
Roosevelt had not involved him in political issues therefore he lacked the
knowledge on how to handle Stalin. The main issue at the conference was on
Germany. They established the principle occupations, which were to
de-nazify,de-militerise, de-centeralise de-industrialise and democrasise all of
Germany. Germany’s reparations were decided. They also established that
Germany’s future would be jointly worked out, no separate development without
consultation of forgien ministers.
Also at Potsdam the Polish borders were defined, and Russia agreed entry to the
Pacific War.
Truman distrusted the Russians before the conference and by the end of the conference
in August Truman had developed an even larger distrust towards Russia. He felt
the Russians had been given too much at Yalta and he was adopting a harder
attitude. He also felt that with the power he held with the Atomic bomb, USSR
were under control. The relationship between the superpwers worsened
considerably at Potsdam.
On the 6th of August 1945 Truman authorised an Atomic bomb to be dropped on
Hiroshima, a city in Japan and another in Nagasaki, two days later, they caused
horrendous damage, and many thousands of people died. After the bombs were
dropped US troops occupied Japan not allowing any other forces in.
Truman had told Stalin little about the bomb, first informing him at Potsdam
and when he authorised the drop, he had not consulted or warned Stalin, this
angered him as he had wanted to gain some Japanese territory before the end of
the war and the tension began to build.
The rise of two new “superpowers”developed after the war, the USA and the USSR,
both wanting to be the more powerful nation. There was a rising tension between
Truman and Stalin, as Truman had a different attitude to the USSR and Stalin
than Roosevelt had previously.
Roosevelts ideas to give USSR a large post-war reconstruction loans, were
dropped by Truman as he was not going to give USSR any economic assistance, as
it was a threat to communist expansion.
Tension contiued to build through the rest of 1945. When Truman spoke to
Molotov the Soviet foreign minister, he did not express any agreement with USSR
in having a pro-communist government in Poland. Truman failed to see how
important Poland was to USSR, leaving an increasingly angered Stalin.
1945 also saw the beginning of the arms race as USA held the only atomic bombs.
In 1946 the USA proposed that the United Nations should assume control of
atomic energy and research, but the USSR rejected the proposal on the grounds
that this would enable the USA to maintain its monopoly over atomic weapons.
America’s sole possesion to the atomic bomb ended in 1949 when the USSR had
developed their own atomic bomb.
1947 saw the beginning of the Truman doctrine, it’s main aim was to assist
countries which were threatened by commuist expansion. Truman sent a message to
the US congress, pledging American support for ‘free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures’. (dictionary
of 20th centuary...). prompted by the need to give military and economic aid to
Greece and Turkey, the Truman doctrine marked a change to positive anti-communism
on the part of the administration.
On the 5th of June1947 General Marshall, offered American finiancial aid for a
programme of European recovery, on a condition that the European countries
themselves took the first steps towards economic collaboration. The plan was
supprt by the west but the Russian foreign minister,Molotov rejected it. After
long consulation the Western powers organised a conference for July ‘47, the
OEEC was set up and this organisation, which stands for Organisation for European
Economic cooperation consisted of 18 European countries and USA and Canada. The
OEEC administered Marshall Aid,otherwise known as the Marshall Plan which
totalled 17 billion dollars, it stimulated the speedy recovery of Europe from
the disturbance of war.
The Presidential Elections of 1948 saw a re-election of Truman against Dewey
which confounded all predictions of Trumans ability, as he won convincingly.
1949 saw the introduction of the ‘four point programme’, or Point Four as it
came to be called, it’s idea was to be a broad programme aimed at giving aid to
under developed countries. Although Truman was very enthuiastic about this, his
Secretary of State, Dean Acheson did not support this idea. Acheson offered
absolute loyalty and an appreciation of the Presidents requirments, surpassing
any of Trumans other Secretaries of State.(Man of the people :p510). Instead of
trying to talk Truman out of it, he dragged it through the planning process and
let it fade in Congress. In the end, it recieved 26.9 million in Sept 1950,
unfortunately for Truman this was hardly enough to assist many countries to
recover a country after war, let alone a large proportion of the under
developed world.
A North Atlantic treaty was signed on 4th April 1949, in Washington by 12
signatories of major Eastern European and North American states stating that
they would provide mutual assistance should any one member be attacked, mainly
directed at the threat of USSR . As a result the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation was set up, otherwise known as NATO. Truman worked hard to promote
NATO, as the most dominant part of his policy to stop the spread of communism,
was to give aid to under developed countries threatened by USSR. (World
History;p618/ Dict of 20th...;p305)
In 1950 Truman authorised the US intervention into Korea and nominated Douglas
Macarthur as commander-in-chief of the UN forces. When the Chinese communist
troops entered North Korea Macarthur demanded forces to attack Chinese
territory, Truman refused this advance and after Macarthur’s appeals to the
people of the USA, Truman dismissed him to emphisise USA’s limited involvment
in Korea in support of the UN.
(Who did what?;p162)
In 1951 Truman signed a mutual defence treaty with the Phillipines, after the
US had given the them over 800 million US dollars in economic aid since 1946 to
assist their development as a republic. (International affairs;p113)
Also in 1951 the US drew up a draft peace treaty with Japan without consulting
USSR. This was rejected by Stalin and accepted by the other western powers. The
Treaty was signed on the 8th of sept 1951 by 48 countries. It came into effect
on the 28 April 1952, and at the same time the allied occupation of Japan
officially ended.
At the same time as the peace treaty a security pact was signed by the US and
Japan, permitting US troops to stay in Japan until it was definite there was no
threat to the region. Mainly in reference to the war in Korea. The over all
affect of the treaty was to convert Japan into an ally of the USA. The
conservative governments that prevailed in Japan after 1947 were anti-communist
and pro-western. Truman thought it was imperitive that part of Japan’s forward
defense system in the Pacific should be set up to help contain communist
China.(internat. affairs;p120)
Truman realised the intellectual need to give up presidency, but the decision
was emotionally difficult. He announced his decision on March 29th 1952 in a
speech in Washington stating that he “shall not be a candidate for reelection”
(man of the..;p605). He concluded retirment after hearing Dwight D. Eisenhower
was standing for election, although Truman was not Republican he supported
Eisenhower who became his succeessor as president, previously Eisenhower had
been the chief of staff in Washington and the supreme commander of NATO forces
in Europe.
In January 1953 Truman retired into private life in Independance, Missouri.
Where he died on Dec 26th 1972 at the age of 90./