(1884-1972) 33rd president of the US 1945–53, a Democrat. In Jan 1945 he became vice-president to F D Roosevelt, and president when Roosevelt died in April that year. He played an important role at the Potsdam Conference, used atomic bombs against Japan to end World War II, launched the Marshall Plan to restore Western Europe's postwar economy, and nurtured the European Community (now the European Union) and NATO (including the rearmament of West Germany). He believed in the United Nations (UN) and when South Korea was invaded by North Korea 1950, had US forces join the UN forces, with General MacArthur at their head. He fired MacArthur 1951 when the general's war policy conflicted with UN aims.
Born in Lamar, Missouri, he was an officer in World War I, was a partner in a clothing store that was bankrupted by the Depression, and ran for various local political offices. He became a senator 1934, was selected as Roosevelt's fourth-term vice-president 1944, succeeded to the presidency 1945, and in 1948 was elected for a second term in an upset victory over Republican Thomas Dewey (1902–71). At home, Truman had difficulty with Congress and with labor groups in converting the economy back to peacetime conditions; he also failed to prevent the Congressional witch hunts on suspected Communists (see Hiss, McCarthy). He enunciated the Truman Doctrine, which called for aid to nations threatened by Communist expansion. His policy of containment of Soviet expansionism initiated the long cold war with the Soviet Union. Truman retired to Independence, Missouri. + prikaži više