First Term
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the US after Franklin D. Roosevelt. He wasn't elected for his first term which is pretty unique. He was vice president for Roosevelt and then when Roosevelt died only a couple months into his term, Truman became president. When he became president it was a bit of a shock, he wasn't prepared for it at all. Truman was quoted saying "Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you , but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me." Truman and Roosevelt hadn't communicated very well during Roosevelt's presidency so Truman was a little in the dark. He'd never been informed of the plans for the top secret testing of the world's first atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project. Truman later the atomic bomb as "We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesised in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous ark."
As a president Truman demanded respect from his cabinet (which he kept the same as Roosevelt). He wanted them behind his decisions and to support him.
Probably the biggest decision Truman made was dropping atomic bombs in Japan. The first one, named Little Boy, was dopped on Hiroshima. The second one, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki. There was definitely some speculation there but overall it was a success since the Japanese surrendered soon after on August 14th.
After WWII there were problems with strikes and inflation. One of the most famous ones was the railway strike. Truman threatened to draft the workers into the army. It worked but of course the workers weren't happy with Truman so his career took a little hit.
Truman also recognized the Jewish expansion in Palestine/State of Israel. This wasn't the most popular decision of his. In fact, some people think he was being pushed by Jewish lobbyists.
One of Truman's bigger accomplishments was the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin Airlift was when US cargo planes dropped food, fuel, etc into Western Germany during the Cold War. They had to do it by air because all other routes were blocked.
A few acts passed were the Truman Doctrine (US supported Greece and Turkey against the Soviets), the Marshall Plan (stronger economic foundation in Europe), and the National Security Act of 1947. He also merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military establishment which created the Air Forc, CIA, and National Security Council.
Second Term
The main contestants for the 1948 election were Truman (democrat), Thomas E. Dewey (republican), and and Strom Thurmond (dixiecrat). However, the democratic party had a three way split so Dewey seemingly had a lead. In fact, everyone thought he'd win. Dewey's strategy was to avoid any topic that could be controversial. He was very vague on what he'd actually try to accomplish as president. Truman, on the hand, did that opposite. He was very outspoken and heavily criticized Dewey. It seems a little crazy because now 3/4 of what candidates advertise and talk about is how much better they are than the other candidates. Dewey keeping neutral on everything was an advantage Truman had to winning along with how well he did as president after FDR died.
Truman, of course, won the election but it was a close match between him and Dewey. Truman won 303 electoral votes, Dewey won 189, and Thurmond won 39. Truman won a little over 2 million more popular votes than Dewey.
During his second term Truman did some pretty important things. He's known for desegregating the military. He was a supporter of NATO. In 1950 he sent the US Navy to China to prevent outbreaks during the Chinese Civil War. The Korean War however made Truman less popular. People thought he blamed other people for the problems. Specifically, MacArthur. Those two didn't get along very well. Truman was one of the few presidents who have had assassination attempts carried out. In late 1950 while he was staying at the Blair house because of white house renovations, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo tried to kill him. Griselio was killed during the shootout and Oscar was sentenced to life in prison.
Truman had a few scandals during his presidency but the only one I found that seemed big enough was the possibility of soviets and communists being in government positions that Truman knew about. McCarthyism was a problem with this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Presidency_1945.E2.80.931953
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_Berlin_Airlift_about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1948
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