Today is the 136th birthday anniversary of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd US president who used to be the most underrated chief executive of the US. American students of politics and government now rank him as among the top presidents of that country, mainly for his plain honesty, integrity and uncanny ability
to make great decisions. In his nearly eight years’ reign, he was credited for major achievements like the implementation of the Marshall Plan, the establishment of Nato and the promulgation of the Truman Doctrine.
His biggest and most controversial decision was the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to end the Second World War, and in the process saved more lives by not invading Japan. Then he dropped another bomb during the Korean War when he relieved General Douglas MacArthur as the Supreme Commander of the US-led UN. Allied Forces for insubordination. In his biography, “Plain Speaking,” he admitted that he fired General MacArthur who was lionized all over the world for his military feats “because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the president. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals….” He also recognized the state of Israel despite the strong lobby of the Arab world, which helped stabilize the fledgling state.
One secret of Truman’s success was his unselfishness—a rare commodity of those in power. He once said that “it is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” When asked why the greatest achievement of his administration was called Marshall Plan and not Truman Plan, he replied: “It was called that because I realized that it was going down in history as a very great thing, very important thing, and I wanted General Marshall to get credit for it, which he did. I said to him, “General, I want the plan to go down in history with your name on it. And don’t give me any argument. I’ve made up my mind, and, remember, I’m your Commander-In-Chief.” And that’s how the ambitious “Marshall Plan” that saved Western Europe from economic devastation and the claws of Soviet Russia became known in history. It eventually led to another milestone of his administration, the formation of Nato, the military alliance between North America and its European allies. By 1952, barely four years after it was signed on April 3, 1948 and implemented, Western European economies surpassed their prewar levels. Without doubt, the Marshall Plan provided the much needed boost and impetus for their economic recovery. The fund provided was in the form of a grant so that the beneficiary countries did not have to pay the US back. Winston Churchill called it “the most unsordid act in history.”
He is not given to big words and pompous oratory. You cannot expect him to make a monumental quip and big words for the ages. He described Congress as a “do-nothing-Congress.” He once lamented the social life in the country’s capital by saying that “if you need a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Double-speak is anathema to him. He detested a public official who cheats and lies. He talked of Richard Nixon as “one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out on both sides.” No question he was feisty and minced no words in attacking his political opponent. His irreverent words were piercing, but he did not use gutter language. On the campaign trail, the audience would egg him, “give ‘em hell, Harry,” and the audience loved what he would dish out. It was plain speaking, plain and blunt, but it was always a joy to hear him.
He was self-educated. He studied in a local school, the Spalding’s Commercial College, and enrolled in a law course but dropped out since his family could not afford to send him to college. He originally wanted to attend West Point but he was not admitted due to poor eyesight. But it did not stop him from becoming one of the most well read presidents of the US. He worked as a bank clerk but left it to help his father manage the family farm while serving in the Missouri National Guard. When World War 1 broke out, he was sent to France where he saw action and was promoted captain of his artillery unit.
A product of the politically powerful Pendergast machine, he was elected as a county judge, senator and vice president in the fourth term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When President Roosevelt suddenly died less than three months after being sworn into office, Truman succeeded him and told the reporters later, “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.” And he fell into the arms of his people. When his term ended, he and Mrs. Bess Truman were happy to leave the White House, which he referred to as “the finest jail in the world.” They returned to their old house in Independence, Missouri, where they happily stayed for the next 20 years until his death in 1972. It was not even his house. It belonged to his mother-in-law.
Truman had earned a secured place in history. People remember him as the president who won the war and triumphed in peace.