The Greatest of All Time is rarefied territory. However there is no doubt in my mind that Truman was a tremendous president. Certainly Top Ten. I believe that his legacy should be celebrated by both parties.
Here is a list of his key accomplishments. Harry S Truman..
- Worked to ensure the unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945 and negotiated the post war order that would exist on the continent.
- Accepted the surrender of Japan.
Surrender of Japan - Wikipedia. Signed on board the USS Missouri
- Implemented the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine to check Communism in Western Europe. Different perspectives on the Cold War and Truman Doctrine Aids Greece Against Communism
- Played a key role in establishing NATO as a military alliance opposed to Soviet expansion.
- Gave the go ahead and oversaw the famed Berlin Airlift in 1948–1949 to counter the Soviet blockade of the former German capital.
West Berlin children celebrating the airlift Source: Why the Berlin Airlift Was the First Major Battle of the Cold War
- Set in motion the desegregation of the Army (completed by Eisenhower) - Executive Order 9981.Executive Order 9981
- Signed into law the Housing Act of 1949 that increased the scope of public housing (major victory in the Fair Deal). https://www.innovations.harvard....
- Merged the Armed Forces in 1947 (National Security Act). Also established the Air Force as a separate unit.
- Played a key role in the establishment of the CIA and the NSA.
- Recognized the State of Israel as an Independent Country
- Dispatched US troops to the Korean peninsula which prevented the entire region from being engulfed by the Communist forces of North Korea (with later Chinese backing).
- Had a lead role in drawing up the UN Charter in San Francisco.
- Pulled off an election upset in 1948 when he defeated a strong and experienced challenger in Thomas Dewey while fending off Dixiecrat (Strom Thurmond) and Progressive (Henry Wallace) opposition.
Truman defeated Dewey in another election that the media got wrong. Source: It's happened before: Truman's defeat of Dewey had hints of Trump-Clinton
Here are the Controversies of his Presidency and some of the shortfalls
- The dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman described this as the ‘ the most terrible bomb in the history of the world’. The debate still rages today as to whether this was the most prudent move. I believe that it was (a topic for another question) . However Truman struggled immensely with this decision. The link here describes the various alternatives that were looked at. Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (U.S. National Park Service)
- Truman was criticized for his handling of the Korean War. US Casualties would reach a level of over 128,000 + including 33, 686 killed. The war was successful in that it saved South Korea from being absorbed by the North but it largely ended in a stalemate. Truman’s dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur was a highly unpopular decision at the time (indeed he faced impeachment) although in retrospect it may have been a necessary one to ensure civilian control of the military. In Truman’s own words
If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military. Policies are to be made by the elected political officials, not by generals or admirals. Yet time and again General MacArthur had shown that he was unwilling to accept the policies of the administration. By his repeated public statements he was not only confusing our allies as to the true course of our policies but, in fact, was also setting his policy against the President's... If I allowed him to defy the civil authorities in this manner, I myself would be violating my oath to uphold and defend the Constitution Source: Truman, Harry S. (1965). Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope. New York: New American Library.
Pres. Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur Source: Military Officers and Politics: The Fraught Relationship between MacArthur and Truman - Modern War Institute
- Truman’s Fair Deal was largely unsuccessful. Other than the Housing Act discussed above it failed passage through Congress.
- Strike Action dominated Truman’s early years as President. The strike wave of 1945–46 was the largest in US labor history. Truman tried to veto the Taft-Hartley Act that restricted and limited the power of Labor unions but failed. The Postwar Strike Wave of 1945-46.
Harry Truman was a very unlikely President. He was not a part of FDR’s inner circle (nor was he member of the East Coast elite establishment) but he was forced into the difficult predicament following FDR’s death, of accepting the surrender of Germany and negotiating a post war peace in Europe that would not repeat the tragedy of Versailles.
He had to deal with a strong adversary in Josef Stalin whose troops had occupied most of Eastern Europe. While the agreement in Potsdam was far from perfect it did protect the integrity of Western Europe and staved off a possible clash with the powerful land force of the Red Army. It could have been a lot worse.
With respect to Japan, Truman needed to end the war in this region as soon as possible to minimize the loss of life. The dropping of the bombs was the best of several awful alternatives, While it now seems that Japan’s decision to surrender was motivated more by the Soviet entry into the war, without the luxury of hindsight, it is difficult to fault Truman here. Remember that the taking of the Island of Okinawa alone had seen 160,000 causalities on both sides. An invasion of Japan itself would have greatly multiplied this loss rate.
Truman’s brilliance though was in his swift recognition that the closure of World War II had created another problem for the Free World. The Cold War was a reality. The Iron Curtain had descended.
The US had to take the lead in combating the Soviet threat, and the isolationist policies of early years would have to give way to a more robust defense of the democracies. The US could ill-afford to sit back when so much was at stake.
Truman set up the infrastructure to carry out this new responsibility. He would suffer some setbacks but it was during his Presidency that the ground work to halt Soviet Expansion and eventually turn back the tide of Marxist-Leninist advancement was rooted.
This speaks volumes as to the vision of the man from Lamar, Missouri. He may have been an accidental President but he rose to meet the challenge with ingenuity and homegrown pragmatism and was indeed a great servant of the nation.
Sources
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