Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman started off his presidency by overcoming the biggest upset in election history. It was an upset because the Democrats had been in power for 16 years, and the people were getting tired of the new deal. They also wanted to see new blood as the head honcho. He was involved in the 1948 election. He ran against Thomas E. Dewey and Storm Thurmond. Harry Truman represented the democrat party. Truman won the popular vote by a slim margin, but won the electoral vote by a lot.
Truman strongly supported civil rights, and before he was even elected he started working on getting black people their rights. With Truman's stand on civil rights being what they were it caused the democratic party to split. The new party formed what was called "The Dixiecrats" had a lower quality leader which made Truman look even better and won himself the election.
Truman has many accomplishments during his presidency. His biggest decision made was the use of the atomic bomb while we were at war with Japan. Truman's goal of using the bombs was to end the war quickly without having any more casualties. Truman was also president during the Nuremburg Trials where 22 Nazi leader's were pushished for what they did during WWII. Out of the 22 tried for crimes against humanity only 19 were convicted. This was the start of world peace and the creation of the United Nations.
Truman also believed in helping other nations defend themselves from a greater power. He created the Truman Doctrine. The United States joined with Great Britain to fight the Soviet blockade. The US dropped over 2 million tons of supplies into Europe to help them get back on their feet.
During Truman's presidency congress passed the 22nd amendment stating a president can serve no more than two terms. Truman did not seek re-election in 1952, instead he resigned to Independence, Missouri where he would stay a life long Democratic supporter.
I think that Harry Truman did a great job with the civil rights campaign. He served our country very proudly and made the right decisions even though they may have been the toughest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1948
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h898.html
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/harrystruman/p/ptruman.htm
Comments