Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953). He spent most of his adult life in Independence, Missouri + Jackson County, served on the Jackson County Court (the county’s executive body) during the Pendergast era, and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in 1934 with Pendergast machine support. He served as Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt, assumed the presidency upon Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, oversaw the end of WWII (including the decision to use atomic weapons against Hiroshima + Nagasaki), launched the Marshall Plan, ordered desegregation of the armed forces, and faced the early Cold War + Korean War. He returned to Independence after leaving the presidency in 1953 + lived there until his death in 1972.

Biography

Early life

Harry S. Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. The middle initial “S” famously stood for nothing — both grandfathers’ names began with “S” + his parents could not choose between them.¹

His family moved several times before settling in Independence, Missouri around 1890, when Harry was about six (after earlier stops in Harrisonville, Belton, and Grandview).² In 1906 Truman moved to the Young-Truman family farm in Grandview to help work it, and he farmed there until he left for military service. The Grandview farm was about 600 acres — reduced from the roughly 1,500 acres his grandfather Solomon Young had held at his death in 1892.² Truman never attended college, a rare circumstance for a U.S. President.

Military service + WWI

Truman enlisted in the Missouri National Guard in June 1917 and shipped to France during World War I. He took command of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery on July 11, 1918 — a notoriously unruly unit he brought to order. Under his command Battery D suffered no combat deaths; its first action came in the Vosges Mountains in late August 1918 (an incident Truman’s men dubbed “the Battle of Who Run”), followed by the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives.³ His WWI service was the making of his civic-political identity.

Home from the war, Truman married Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919, and that November opened a business in downtown Kansas City (see below) before turning to politics.²

The Truman & Jacobson haberdashery (1919–1922)

On November 28, 1919, Truman and his army friend Eddie Jacobson opened Truman & Jacobson, a men’s clothing and furnishings store (a haberdashery), at 104 West 12th Street in downtown Kansas City, across from the Muehlebach Hotel.⁴ The store did well at first but failed in the postwar recession, closing in September 1922 and leaving both men deeply in debt. Rather than declare bankruptcy, Truman spent years paying off the debt — a choice later cited as evidence of his personal integrity.⁴ The failure pushed him toward the political career the Pendergast organization was ready to open for him.

Pendergast-era political rise (1922-1934)

After his store failed, Truman entered Democratic Party politics with the support of the Pendergast machine (tom-pendergast). His Jackson County offices are often misstated; the actual sequence was:

• Eastern Judge of the Jackson County Court (an administrative, not judicial, office) — elected 1922 with T. J. Pendergast’s endorsement; defeated for re-election in 1924 (his only electoral loss)²
• Presiding Judge of the Jackson County Court — elected 1926 and 1930²
• U.S. Senator from Missouri — 1934 (re-elected 1940)

His Pendergast-machine ties were always politically problematic. Truman maintained throughout his career that he had accepted machine support but never compromised his personal integrity. Historical consensus generally supports this — Truman appears to have been honest, scrupulous, and personally clean even when working within machine politics.

U.S. Senate (1935-1945)

Truman served two terms in the U.S. Senate (1935-1945). His most significant Senate work was the Truman Committee (Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, 1941-1945) — which investigated waste, fraud, and inefficiency in WWII defense spending. The committee’s work saved an estimated $15 billion + established Truman’s national reputation as a serious legislator.

Vice President (1945)

Truman was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third Vice President, taking office in January 1945. The selection of Truman as Vice President in 1944 was the result of Democratic Party machine politics + party-leader maneuvering — Roosevelt was visibly ill, and party leaders wanted a Vice President who could plausibly become President.

Truman served as Vice President for only 82 days before Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945.

Presidency (1945-1953)

Truman became President at one of the most consequential moments in 20th-century American history. Major decisions + events:

WWII conclusion (April-September 1945)

• Took office during the final weeks of war in Europe (V-E Day: May 8, 1945)
• Authorized the use of atomic weapons against Hiroshima + Nagasaki (August 6 + August 9, 1945)
• WWII ended with Japan’s surrender (September 2, 1945)

Post-war reconstruction + Cold War

• The Truman Doctrine (1947) — committed the US to containing Soviet expansion
• The Marshall Plan (1948) — economic reconstruction of Western Europe
• Founding of NATO (1949)
• Recognition of Israel (1948)

Domestic policy

• Executive Order 9981 (1948) — ordered desegregation of the U.S. armed forces
• The Fair Deal — Truman’s domestic policy program; partial implementation

1948 election

The 1948 election was Truman’s defining political moment. Trailing badly in polls + facing both a left-wing Democratic challenger (Henry Wallace) + a right-wing Democratic split (Strom Thurmond + the Dixiecrats), Truman conducted a famous whistle-stop tour across the country + defeated Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey in one of the greatest upsets in American electoral history.

The famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline of the Chicago Daily Tribune (printed before votes were fully counted) became iconic. Truman returned to Kansas City + arrived at Union Station the next day, where he was photographed holding the erroneous headline.

Korean War (1950-1953)

The Korean War began in 1950. Truman’s decision to dismiss General Douglas MacArthur as commander of UN forces (1951) was politically costly + remains historically debated.

Post-presidency (1953-1972)

Truman declined to run for re-election in 1952. He returned to Independence, Missouri + spent his remaining decades as a quietly distinguished elder statesman. He oversaw construction of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence (opened 1957) + remained politically active in Democratic Party affairs.

Death (1972)

Truman died on December 26, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri at age 88. He is buried at the Truman Library in Independence.

Defining contributions to Kansas City + Independence

1. The only U.S. President from the Kansas City area. Truman’s lifelong Jackson County identity makes him KC’s most-famous native son in national politics.
2. The Truman Library + Museum in Independence is a major civic institution + attracts visitors nationally.
3. Independence as a national presidential-history destination through the Truman connection.
4. The Truman Sports Complex (Royals + Chiefs stadiums) is named for him.

Cultural legacy

Truman is consistently ranked among the top 10 most-respected US Presidents by historians + the public. His combination of: surprise rise to the presidency, decisiveness on consequential issues, personal modesty, and post-presidency dignity has earned him broad historical respect.

In Kansas City specifically, Truman occupies a quasi-iconic position. His Independence home is preserved as the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site. His grave at the Truman Library draws visitors. The Truman Sports Complex + Truman Library + Truman Road all reference him.

Pendergast-era complexity

Truman’s career was permanently entangled with the Pendergast machine question. His political rise depended on Pendergast support; his Senate seat was secured with machine votes. But Truman appears to have maintained personal integrity throughout — declining to engage in machine corruption, refusing to use his Senate office for machine-favors, and (when Pendergast was indicted in 1939) declining to disavow Pendergast but also declining to defend the machine’s actions.

In January 1945 — three months before Roosevelt’s death — Truman attended Tom Pendergast’s funeral, an act that was politically risky but reflected his loyalty. Truman explained: “He was always my friend, and I have always been his.”

This Pendergast-question remains a defining complexity of Truman’s KC legacy. Historians generally judge Truman as personally honorable while acknowledging the machine connections that enabled his rise.

Sites in KC + Independence associated with Truman

• Truman Home, Independence, MO — National Historic Site
• Truman Library + Museum, Independence, MO
• Truman Sports Complex (Royals + Chiefs stadiums)
• Truman Road (major east-west KC street)
• Union Station — where Truman arrived in November 1948 after his election upset

Sources

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Harry S. Truman” biography. ↩

2. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum — “Prepresidential Years” and Young-Truman Farm materials. https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/trivia/prepresidential-years — Confirms: move to Independence ~1890; 1906 move to the ~600-acre Grandview farm (from Solomon Young’s ~1,500 acres, d. 1892); June 1917 National Guard enlistment; marriage to Bess Wallace June 28, 1919; elected eastern judge 1922 (Pendergast endorsement), defeated 1924, presiding judge 1926 and 1930. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. National Park Service — “Harry S. Truman and the Influences of His Service in World War I” / “Captain Harry Truman.” https://www.nps.gov/articles/harry-s-truman-and-the-influences-of-his-service-in-world-war-i.htm — Confirms: command of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery from July 11, 1918; no combat deaths under his command; first action in the Vosges (late Aug 1918), then Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. ↩

4. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum — “Truman & Jacobson.” https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/student-resources/places/kansas-city/truman-and-jacobson — Confirms: haberdashery opened Nov 28, 1919, at 104 West 12th Street across from the Muehlebach Hotel; co-owned with Eddie Jacobson; closed September 1922 in the postwar recession, leaving heavy debt. ↩ ↩²