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Harry Truman Essay

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Harry Truman

Harry Truman, a president who witnessed and was a part of some of the most memorable events in U.S. and world history, is said to have had a reputation for being an honest and efficient man. Born in the town of Lamar, Missouri on May 8, 1884, Truman was used to living a humble life. Growing up as a Baptist on a farm near Independence,
Missouri, Truman was the eldest of three children. His parents were John and Martha
Truman.
As a youth, Truman had weak eyesight which resulted in keeping him out of the regular army. Truman, in 1905, then decided to join the Missouri National Guard. He ended up serving in World War I as the commander of an artillery battle. Upon his return in 1919, Truman married his best …show more content…

Truman accomplished many things while in office, including the successful bombing of Japan. Though Roosevelt began the Manhattan Project, which consisted of constructing the world’s first atomic bomb, Truman was the man that made the final decision to use the bomb. Just two weeks after becoming president, Truman was presented with the atom bomb and the history of what Roosevelt had been trying to accomplish with the Manhattan Project. Truman decided to form the Interim Committee, which made recommendations regarding the bomb’s use in war. On August 6, a b-29 aircraft called the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed “little boy” 2,000 feet above Hiroshima. This city had been chosen as a target because it was a center Japanese defense industries and the base for the Southern Japanese army. The estimation of lives lost was about 70,000-100,000 in Hiroshima alone. After the attack, the U.S. dropped leaflets to inform the Japanese people of the atomic bomb and to encourage their government to surrender. The Japanese government refused, causing the U.S. to airstrike once again, this time on Nagasaki, killing an additional 40,000 to 60,000 people.
The Empire of Japan finally surrendered on August 14. Truman dealt with many other issues during his presidency. He continued
Roosevelt’s “New Deal” with the “Fair Deal”, his postwar domestic program. Another important issue was that of the beginning of the “Cold War” with

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