HARRY TRUMAN
Sometimes referred to as the 'accidental president', Truman had only been Franklin Roosevelt's vice-president for just under 3 months when he became president. He had been elected as a senator for his home state of Missouri in 1936 and gained a level of political prominence during the Second World War as chairman of the so-called 'Truman Committee' that investigated military spending, saving the US government an estimated $10-15 billion, as well as the lives of thousands of US military personnel.
An example of how poorly briefed Truman was is the fact that he was only informed of the existence of the atomic bombs on the first day of his presidency, the use of which was one of the first major decisions of his term in office. His presidency was dominated by the start of the Cold War and the anti-communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Although absent at the Yalta Conference, he sparred with Stalin at Potsdam (largely without the assistance of Winston Churchill who was replaced by Clement Atlee at the start of the conference) as tensions over the future of Germany and Eastern Europe divided the wartime allies.
Anti-Communist paranoia began to spread domestically after a succession of high profile espionage trials, specifically the convictions of Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official, was cleared of espionage but convicted of perjury (the prosecuting attorney was Richard Nixon who used the case as a springboard for a successful political career), while the Rosenbergs were executed for treason. In 1950, McCarthy used fear of communism, and the suspicion that communists had infiltrated government, to attack Truman and the Democratic Party.
Truman was also considered by many to be culpable for the 'loss' of China to communism (under the leadership of Mao Zedong) in 1949 and for the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. It was Truman's inability to end the war that arguably did more than anything to lead to a Republican victory in the 1952 president election and he left office with low approval ratings.
In the last twenty years, Truman's reputation has been rehabilitated by historians and political scientists, to the point that he is consistently ranked highly among all US presidents.
An example of how poorly briefed Truman was is the fact that he was only informed of the existence of the atomic bombs on the first day of his presidency, the use of which was one of the first major decisions of his term in office. His presidency was dominated by the start of the Cold War and the anti-communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Although absent at the Yalta Conference, he sparred with Stalin at Potsdam (largely without the assistance of Winston Churchill who was replaced by Clement Atlee at the start of the conference) as tensions over the future of Germany and Eastern Europe divided the wartime allies.
Anti-Communist paranoia began to spread domestically after a succession of high profile espionage trials, specifically the convictions of Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official, was cleared of espionage but convicted of perjury (the prosecuting attorney was Richard Nixon who used the case as a springboard for a successful political career), while the Rosenbergs were executed for treason. In 1950, McCarthy used fear of communism, and the suspicion that communists had infiltrated government, to attack Truman and the Democratic Party.
Truman was also considered by many to be culpable for the 'loss' of China to communism (under the leadership of Mao Zedong) in 1949 and for the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. It was Truman's inability to end the war that arguably did more than anything to lead to a Republican victory in the 1952 president election and he left office with low approval ratings.
In the last twenty years, Truman's reputation has been rehabilitated by historians and political scientists, to the point that he is consistently ranked highly among all US presidents.
✕